car hood airbags protect pedestrians from bad drivers
filed under: future tech | strange and wonderful
June 6th, 2008 post a comment (4) stumble it! digg it! by: karen
When I think of airbags, I picture them inside the car. But what if we equipped cars with outer airbags to protect pedestrians?
That’s exactly what Toyoda Gosei (an offshoot of Toyota) has done with these prototypes: they’ve equipped cars with camera and radar sensors to detect pedestrians and (presumably) activate the outer airbags to protect anyone within range of the car. The hood airbag is supposed to cushion your head while the grill airbag cushions your waist, making the fact that you are getting run over a teensy bit more comfy.
I’m not sure if these cars look awesomely futuristic, ridiculously stupid, or just plain huggable. And I’m not sure that having a pillow pop out of a car that’s slamming into you is going to help all that much. Still, it’s an interesting concept, and who knows? This may become the norm in the future and won’t seem funny-looking at all. Then again, probably not.
[via Fareastgizmos]
June 6th, 2008 post a comment (4) stumble it! digg it! by: karen
tags:
airbag, car, driving, gosei, pedestrians, safety, toyoda, toyota
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4 comments post a comment
1. Dave Smith | June 7th, 2008 at 12:34 am
I think it’s an insane idea, but it just might work. Maybe we could just make those with insane traffic violations get these things for their car so we’ll know from afar who to avoid. Coz you can see those things from a mile away, and those aren’t pretty.
2. asad | June 7th, 2008 at 3:01 am
this will not work because when a person is hit by the vehicle he is been hit from the bumper if there will be airbags on the bumper i think it will be super safe
3. james | June 13th, 2008 at 12:41 pm
Lets put these on pedestrians asses…they like to cross the street at any point….or how about one in their brain, so if the cross the street where they are not supossed to, the thing explodes…this way no incent drivers have to pay the price..
4. Hawaiian Car Seat Covers | July 17th, 2008 at 10:16 am
Someone else is talking about putting air bags on bike riders. Maybe they should figure out how to make the shells from Speed Racer.
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car hood airbags protect pedestrians from bad drivers