Hyundai Motor Group Creates Airbags Designed to Stop Head Injuries From ‘Secondary Collision Impact’

Think collisions only involve the car and the passengers inside? Think again. Some collisions also involve passengers colliding with each other. Also called ‘secondary” impacts,’ the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association reported that this passenger collision is accountable for 45 percent of the head injuries in side-impact collisions.

The Hyundai Motor Group solves this problem by creating a new airbag designed to stop front passengers from colliding with each other. Touted by Hyundai as the “lightest-weight center side airbag in the world,” this central ‘side’ airbag is placed in between the driver’s seat and transmission tunnel. It inflates automatically between the driver and passenger in the event of a side-impact collision to prevent passengers from colliding with each other (or with a hard object on the side if there’s no passenger sitting on the side).

“The development of center side airbag goes beyond adding an additional airbag,” said Hyock In Kwon, research engineer from Crash Safety System Engineering Design Team of Hyundai Motor Group. “We will continue striving to further improve passenger safety by being ready for all kinds of accidents.”