Saturday, June 21, 2014

2015 Ford Mustang features industry-first active glove box knee airbag [video]



Offered as standard equipment


Ford has announced the 2015 Mustang will be equipped as standard with an industry-first active glovebox knee airbag.




Without any doubt, the most important technical evolution of the 2015 Mustang is the adoption of an independent rear suspension but the new pony car has another ace up its sleeve, the first ever active glovebox knee airbag. While typical airbags are made from various types of fabric, Ford has used a pliable, injection-molded plastic bladder that has been sandwiched between the inner and outer glovebox door panels.




In case of an impact, the crash sensor system detects the collision and then an inflator fills the bladder which extends the glovebox outer door panel towards the front passenger's legs. It works like a traditional knee airbag as the outer door provides just about the same level of cushioning.




Compared to a regular airbag, this one does not have to travel that far because it extends straight from the instrument panel and it operates at a lower inflation rate since the glovebox's door distributes the impact load over a larger area.




Thanks to this new design, the end result is a 65 percent lighter and 75 percent smaller knee airbag inflator while offering a similar safety level.




Additional details can be found in the attached press release.


No comments:

Post a Comment