Airbag for cyclists

‘Airbag for cyclists is taken into production in 2015’

An airbag for cyclists may save dozens of lives per year in the Netherlands alone.

A prototype is nearly ready. This autumn Swedish American Autoliv will test the airbag system in Amsterdam’s busy urban traffic.

Text: Michiel Slütter Photography: TNO Automotive

In a couple of years, cars will be able to recognise cyclists and pedestrians and be able to assess for themselves when a collision can be avoided. Thanks to this detection system, an airbag will be activated in the event of a collision so as to considerably cushion the impact of a cyclist’s head on the windscreen. The cyclist will not die from his injuries, and will have a good chance of coming out virtually unscathed.

Swedish American Autoliv is currently developing the detection system. This international company with nearly 40,000 employees specialises in automotive safety. As such, it supplies dozens of car makes with safety belts and airbags. Autoliv is not the only party in the development process: TNO, the Fietsersbond (Dutch Cyclists’ Union), the Dutch Ministry of Transport, Public Works and Water Management and insurer Centraal Beheer Achmea are the other partners.

The inner city of Amsterdam

Once the detection system is finished, it must of course undergo practical tests. The choice has fallen on a city full of cyclists: Amsterdam. ‘The intention is to fit the system in cars that drive a lot of miles in the inner city’, says Thijs van de Broek of TNO Automotive in Helmond, one of the partners in the airbag project. They are looking for a company or organiVogelvrije Fietser, magazine of the Dutch Cyclists’ Union

sation with lots of cars, such as a parcel delivery service.

No airbags will be activated during the test in Amsterdam, as no airbags will actually be fitted. The activation of airbags can be perfectly tested in the lab. The problem is to find out exactly when an airbag must be inflated.

Collision with a pigeon

The test in Amsterdam will take a year. The researchers of Autoliv and TNO Automotive want to know if the sensors on the front of the car will function well under all weather conditions. The test car will be fitted with a button which the driver must push in special situations, such as a collision or near collision. The recordings of the detection system’s cameras will be saved. The researchers want to analyse the observations of the system. A collision sensor is fitted in addition to the sensors - the cameras - that will recognise cyclists. This collision sensor registers when a cyclist is indeed hit and an airbag should be activated.

These extensive tests are needed in order to make sure that the system is fully reliable. The airbags should only be activated when a cyclist or pedestrian is hit. It is not supposed to activate when the car hits a pigeon or post. ‘People must have faith in the system in order for the technology to be accepMarch 2010

ted. The airbag should never be activated without reason, but neither should it fail when it must be activated’, says Van den Broek.

Serial production in 2015

And when will the first cars with the airbag system roll of the lines? ‘The airbag is expected to be taken into production in 2015, but that of course depends on the wishes of consumers and car manufacturers’, says Van de Broek of TNO. ‘That’s an amazing result’, says Theo Zeegers who is responsible for the project on behalf of the Fietsersbond. ‘We’ve come much further than we’d ever hoped for.’ The costs involved are as yet unknown, but Zeegers expects it will be a couple of hundred Euros per car. He pleads for the airbag system to become a compulsory part of each new car. ‘Just compare it to the compulsory introduction of the catalytic converter.’

A compulsory airbag on the windscreen will add a couple of hundred Euros to a car’s price tag. But what does it yield?

According to Zeegers, it may save dozens of cyclists’ lives in the Netherlands. In terms of the EU we are talking hundreds

‘We’ve come much further than we’d ever hoped for’ of lives.

According to Van de Broek of TNO, nearly all European countries will benefit from the external airbags. ‘The airbag is also highly effective in collisions with pedestrians, and more and more people start cycling in large European cities such as Paris, London and Berlin. This makes such an airbag system increasingly vital.’

‘Of course, the introduction of an airbag costs money, but the social costs of fatal accidents are much higher’, says Zeegers of the Fietsersbond. The fact that insurer Centraal Beheer Achmea is a partner in the airbag research demonstrates that it will save not only lives but money as well.

In order to complete the research into external airbags, 2.7 million Euros are needed, half of which has already been promised by the Ministry of Transport, Public Works and Water Management. Other countries and suppliers such as Autoliv are also expected to chip in.

Shocked by crash tests

If you look at the images of crash tests with a cyclist, you immediately know why there should be an airbags for cyclists.

‘I noticed that visitors were truly shocked during the crash tests’, says Van de Broek of TNO. The bang and the sound of breaking glass left a deep impression. But on a screen too, the collisions still look awful. Even at 20 kilometres per hour, the crash dummy still received a nasty blow.

‘These crash tests are the last vital step in establishing the specifications for the detection system and airbag’, Van de Broek explains. A crash simulation computer model was already available, but the crash tests were used to check whether the model was correct.

The model has now been endorsed, as researchers call it. All results from TNO have been sent to Autoliv. This company has already developed a prototype airbag system for pedestrians. maart | april 2010

Vogelvrije Fietser, magazine of the Dutch Cyclists’ Union

The experience and knowledge thus gained by Autoliv speeds up the development of an airbag for pedestrians and cyclists alike.

Fatal head injuries

The airbag system is a big success for the Fietsersbond. ‘In collisions with passenger cars in which the cyclists dies, it is nearly always the head injuries that are fatal. That’s why we’ve been busy for years trying to find out how we can make cars safer for cyclists’, says Zeegers.

TNO carried out an exploratory study on the instructions of the Fietsersbond four years ago. They expected the shape of the front of a car to largely determine the seriousness of the injuries. Ultimately however, it emerged that airbags on the exterior

With an airbag, a cyclist will suffer nothing more than dizziness of a car may save many a cyclist’s life. But they have to be in the right position.

The TNO studies showed that cyclists often benefit little from an airbag system specifically developed for pedestrians. In a collision, pedestrians end up with their heads on the hood or the lower part of the windscreen. That is often different for cyclists however. Their heads usually do not hit the hood, but the upper part of the windscreen. If they are unlucky, their heads even hit the hard metal window stiles. This is where airbags for cyclists should be fitted.

Dead or dizzy

So we know that an airbag can drastically cushion the impact.

But by how much? Researchers express the force of the impact in Head Injury Criterion (HIC). This HIC value should stay below 1,000. For the elderly, this value should even be below 600. During computer simulations carried out by TNO in 2008 it emerged that in a collision at 30 kilometres per hour, the cyclist endures an HIC value of 3,700. Hardly anyone would be expected to survive such an impact. With the airbag however, the HIC value dropped to 590. All a cyclist will suffer from in that case is a headache and dizziness.  For more information on the crash tests, visit www.fietsersbond.nl/botsproeven

The Dutch Cyclists’ Union The Fietsersbond (Dutch Cyclists Union) looks after the interests of everyday cyclists. The association has more than 33,000 members and continues to grow. Its most important work is carried out on a local level. It has more than 150 local branches, fighting for more and better storage facilities, safe routes and comfortable links in towns and cities.

For more information, please visit: www.fietsersbond.nl

Vogelvrije Fietser, magazine of the Dutch Cyclists’ Union