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Non-Tech : Simula (SMU) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: michael c. dodge who wrote (928)	2/18/1998 8:46:00 AM
From: michael c. dodge	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 1671

To be published in the March 1 issue of Motor Trend......also, the Army National Automotive enter will show the ITS at its booth in the SAE Congress next week. <G> mcd BMW's safety breakthrough: head airbags. (Head Protection System currently undergoing testing protects passengers from head injuries caused by side impacts)(Brief Article) 690 Words 4538 Characters 03/01/98 Motor Trend 28 Brief Article COPYRIGHT 1998 Petersen Publishing Company Sailing down the test track, the '97 BMW 528i gathered force as it smashed sideways into a cement pole at 20 mph. The door crushed into the driver's seat almost midway across the steering wheel, and the sunroof exploded upward. The crash test dummy's head, smeared with blue paint for the test, smashed like a pumpkin into the pole leaving behind a telltale circle of blue. Sustaining a Head Injury Criterion of 4720 (HIC scores of 1000 signal serious injury), the dummy was thoroughly dead. The test was conducted at the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety's (IIHS) Vehicle Research Center in Ruckersville, Virginia, and it was graphic proof of the startling effects of a relatively low-speed side-impact crash even when an occupant is surrounded by high-priced metal. But it was only the warm-up for the main event--the first independent test of BMW's new Head Protection System (HPS). In the second crash test, a '98 BMW 528i, equipped with HPS, made the same sideways run down the test track. Within milliseconds of impact, the HPS, which resembles a long, tubular neck pillow, dropped across the driver's window in a diagonal slant low on the front A pillar and high on the middle B pillar. The door crushed inward and the sunroof popped as before, but no blue paint was found on the pole. The dummy survived nicely with an HIC of 620--an 86-percent decrease in force of injury from the first crash. This is notable because side impact crashes inflict one third of all fatal road injuries. An IIHS study showed that 64 percent of occupants on the stricken side and 82 percent of occupants on the opposite side received head injuries. Add to that the growing disadvantage to car passengers when colliding with light trucks (80 percent of fatalities are in the car in these accidents), and BMW's HPS is a giant step in auto safety technology. Three years in development, the system was created by an American * company, Simula, which was developing restraint systems for helicopter * pilots. Simula approached all domestic and foreign automakers with its new technology, but only BMW jumped at the idea, and, working with Autoliv, a Swedish auto safety company, the HPS system was born. After * the test at IIHS, however, a Simula spokesman said the "phones were ringing off the hook" with inquiries from other automakers. The HPS system does not deflate after impact, but remains in place as a structural part of the car for six or more seconds, providing cushioning and keeping head and arms inside the car during a crash or a rollover. Unlike standard airbags, the HPS bag is stiff to the touch after inflation and remains that way. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is testing the system as an answer to the problem * of passenger ejection during crashes and rollovers, a Simula spokesman said. Although U.S. regulations specify only one standard dummy for testing, BMW has tested the system with all sizes of dummies. Since the system does not explode from a surface outward, as do standard airbags, but along a lateral line inside the structure, all the force remains inside the device. In out-of-position testing done by BMW, there was no damage to passengers. BMW estimates it costs $300 per car for the system, but says it does not pass that cost on to its customers. HPS is standard on all 5 and 7 Series and will be added to the 3 Series when it is revamped for '99. Brian O'Neill, president of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, calls the HPS system an example of how "the marketplace is working for safety," telling Motor Trend that competition between automakers has produced more safety measures than government standards. Mercedes-Benz and Volvo are also pursuing head protection systems of their own. Mercedes is developing a 6-foot-long airbag "curtain" that extends across front and rear windows. That system will debut on the E-Class and S-Class in Europe an may be in the states in '99. Volvo is also working with Autoliv to develop an inflatable curtain covering the front and rear doors, but as yet has no production date. I0607 * End of document.