Ford to Offer SUV Side Air-Bag Option
Ford Motor Co. will offer a new safety option in its sport-utility vehicles--air bags that cover the side windows like curtains to prevent passengers from being thrown out in rollover crashes.
The new air-bag curtains are Ford’s answer to figures showing passengers in SUVs are four times more likely to be involved in a rollover during a serious accident than passengers in cars. Rollover deaths most often involve passengers being thrown from the vehicle.
The curtains, unveiled Wednesday during the preview of the North American International Auto Show, will be phased in on Ford’s SUVs.
Ford said an unspecified model will get the curtains as an option late this year. The devices should be available as optional equipment on all the auto maker’s SUVs in about three years.
No price has been set. Nor would Ford executives talk about putting the system in pickups, minivans or cars.
Forty-seven percent of all deaths in light trucks, which include SUVs, result from rollovers, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. In comparison, 22% of car deaths involve rollovers.
The system has a sensor that can measure the amount of vehicle tilt and trigger the air-bag curtain. The curtain would deploy downward in milliseconds from the edge of the roof, covering the side windows.
The curtains, attached to the vehicle with tethers, remain inflated for six seconds, the amount of time Ford says it takes the average vehicle to roll over up to three times. The sensor will modulate the force of the air bags depending on the speed of the vehicle, inflating the curtains faster at higher speeds.
Ford said the curtains are also intended to reduce head injuries in side-impact crashes.
Several other auto makes, including Mercedes and Volvo, have air-bag curtains that inflate across the windows. BMW has an air bag that inflates in the shape of a tube that hangs near the top of the window.
Those systems are primarily a means of protecting people’s heads, although auto makers say they could help keep passengers from being thrown out in a rollover.
The Ford system is designed specifically for rollover protection.
