Have you ever sat next to a passenger in your car and thought: 'Crikey, I wouldn't much like to have them flung at me at high speeds in a side impact accident?' You have? Well, good news - Hyundai has a solution.
Centre-side airbag
As part of its safety research, Hyundai has developed a new central side airbag. Unlike conventional door-or-seat mounted side airbags, this one fires from the inside of the driver's seat, and is designed to fill the void between the driver and front-seat passenger in the event of a side impact.
If there's no-one in the passenger seat, the 'bag deploys anyway, as it will help to protect the driver from any impact or debris coming from that side of the car.
Reduces injuries by as much as 80 per cent
The new airbag design is expected to reduce injuries from person-to-person collision by as much as 80 per cent. While it may seem like a niche sort of issue, in fact according to the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association's statistics, the rate of secondary damage caused by these kinds of collisions or from hitting interior materials is about 45 per cent.
Hyundai is taking out a number of patents on this new tech, including the design which includes a special internal panel inside the airbag. Called the 'tether' this is designed to maintain the shape and integrity of the airbag when it's dealing with the weight of a driver or passenger in an impact.
Light, so it fits more vehicles
The 'bag has also been carefully designed to minimise its weight and size, and Hyundai reckons it's around 500 grammes lighter than competing systems, which means it can be used in a much greater variety of vehicles.
Hyundai has been developing quite the reputation for its safety systems of late. In the US, Hyundai vehicles have been awarded Five-Star Overall Safety Ratings by the NHTSA, as well as 12 Top Safety Pick+ awards by the IIHS. Those vehicles include the Hyundai Kona, Santa Fe, Tucson and the hydrogen-fuelled NEXO.
"The development of centre side airbag goes beyond adding an additional airbag," said Hyock In Kwon, research engineer from Crash Safety System Engineering Design Team of Hyundai Motor Group. "We will continue striving to further improve passenger safety by being ready for all kinds of accidents."