Automotive High-end Seat New Technology Series丨Far side airbag
Automotive High-end Seat New Technology Series-Far side airbag
When we talk about Intelligent cars, we always look up at the LIDAR arrays or gaze at the center screen, but we tend to overlook the technological revolution that is closest to the body - today's car seats are transforming into breathing “second skins”.
From the haptic feedback in Rolls-Royce's Starlight Headliner’s seats’ haptic feedback to the biometrics in Tesla's Model S Plaid, these seemingly static supports are actually hiding interactive interfaces that go beyond smartphones. Newly developed nanoscale piezoelectric sensors capture muscle tremors as small as 0.01 millimeters in real time, quantum gyroscopes monitor changes in sitting posture that are more subtle than a heartbeat, and millimeter-wave radar tucked into the headrests can even anticipate your next yawn. This is not a science fiction movie’s bridge, in the global top 10 car companies’ engineering laboratory, the seat has evolved from a passive accessory to an active “living organism”, they are learning to predict your fatigue, sense your emotions, and even correct your posture.
As seats begin to weave neural networks out of carbon fiber, and as polyurethane foam evolves a temperature-controlled memory, the way we talk to our cars is being redefined.
What is meant by FSAB?
Far side airbag abbreviated FSAB, is relative to why the side airbag is called, located in the front seat on the inside, corresponding to the side of the driver farther from the side of the collision.
FASB play an active and positive role in practical applications, not only improving the safety of the vehicle in the event of a side impact, providing more comprehensive protection for passengers:
-Effectively reduces left and right contact injuries to front occupants in side impacts.
-Reduces contact injuries between occupants and interior components.
-Avoids lateral bending of the occupant's spine and protects the spine.
Where is the technological threshold for FSAB?
As a cutting-edge safety configuration, the FSAB has a relatively high technological threshold, which involves a number of technical challenges and R&D difficulties. The following is a detailed analysis of these technical thresholds:
(1) Airbag materials: It is necessary to use high-strength, high-toughness, low air permeability and environmentally friendly materials to ensure that the impact energy can be effectively absorbed in the event of a collision and to maintain the integrity of the airbag.
(2) Airbag design: The distal airbag adopts the design of two large-volume chambers for the head and thorax, which can play an effective role in side impacts and reduce the left and right contact injuries of the front occupants.
(3) Airbag Trigger Mechanism: Precise sensors and control systems are needed to sense the collision and trigger the deployment of the airbag, which involves complex sensor technology and real-time data analysis capabilities.
(4) System integration: The FSAB needs to be effectively integrated with other safety systems of the vehicle (e.g., seat belts, body structure, etc.) to achieve the best protection effect.
(5) Testing and validation: rigorous testing and validation is required to ensure that the occupants are effectively protected in a variety of collision situations.
Configurations of some commercially available models
FSAB were originally used in some mid-range and high-end models, such as the Tesla Model Y, which comes standard across the board, and is one of the reasons why Tesla dares to advertise its cars as safer.
This application was later popularized, mostly due to the fact that in 2020, the European Union's New Car Safety Assessment Program (Euro NCAP) added “far-end occupant safety” to its evaluation criteria for the first time. Previously, Euro NCAP statistics showed that about a quarter of all traffic injuries were caused by side impacts, with half of all occupant injuries caused by far-end collisions.
So FSAB have not been made mandatory standard equipment in China, but those models that serve the overseas market , especially those exported to Europe, have put effort into distal airbags in order to get high marks in side-impact passive safety.
Since last year, E-NCAP has tested a number of domestic models exported to Europe, the NIO ET7, WEY Coffee 01/Coffee 02 (mocha/latte), Smart #1, ORA(good cat), and even domestically positioned economy cars like the Chery Omengda and the BYD ATTO 3 (Yuan PLUS) export to Europe equipped with distal FSAB.