Volvo have just released the V40 with what is essentially an external pedestrian airbag. Who’d have thought that would come 20 years ago? The same could be said for most advances in automotive safety – engineers had dreams of doing things but didn’t have the tools to make them a reality.
This infographic shows some of the advances in automotive safety technology over the last 100 years. It’s basic, but it’s interesting reading nonetheless.
Click to enlarge.
Have a great Sunday.
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The pedestrian airbag thing is interesting, time will tell whether it saves lives or not. Also, given that the impact required to trigger it is presumably less than that required to activate internal airbags, will there be a number of false actuations requiring expensive resetting and who will be liable?
Much like James May offering to unplug peoples electric cars as they recharge, or locking other peoples bicycles with his lock, It might become a ‘sport’ to go around kicking the front of Volvo V40’s to set the airbag off… assuming there is no minimum speed requirement for it to trigger.
So now these brain-dead idiots who wander the streets with their heads down, texting their playmates, are fair game?
Oh what a great new sport! 🙂