Regulatory News:
Autoliv Inc. – the worldwide leader in automotive safety – presents a
new safety system innovation at the 21st Conference Enhanced Safety of
Vehicles (ESV) in Stuttgart, Germany. It is a new high performance
reversible pre-pretensioner system for seatbelts that resets itself
automatically after triggering. During a multiple collision impact, the
high performance system will pull back the occupants during the usually
softer first impact to allow more optimum protection from the airbags
and seatbelts in secondary impacts.
The enhanced system is a pneumatically actuated reversible seatbelt
pre-pretensioner. The belt pretensioning force comes from a compressed
air motor and generates more than twice the tension forces provided by
conventional electric pre-pretensioners. The higher force significantly
improves the performance especially in multiple impact collisions.
During the first impact, which can be relatively soft and without an
airbag deployment, the occupant is pulled back into an up-right, safe
position, thanks to the high force applied from the pneumatic
pretensioner. With such a seatbelt system the occupant can be
considerably better positioned for the second, more violent, impact when
the airbag deploys for additional occupant protection.
Autoliv accident research data indicates that 25% of all accidents are
of multiple impact nature. They result in a 3-times higher risk for
significant injuries to vehicle occupants and a 4-times higher risk for
fatal injuries.
Studies by Autoliv Research indicate that the average time-gap between
the first and the second impact is approximately one second. Thanks to
the higher force (300N) of the pneumatic system the pre- pretensioner
needs only 0.36 seconds to pull the occupant back into a near upright
position. The higher force will allow the seatbelt to pull back the
occupant in 90% of the cases before a potential subsequent impact.
Interested participants can experience the performance of the pneumatic
seatbelt pretensioner in a demo car at the ESV-conference. Two other
pneumatically reversible safety functions are also shown in the
demo-car: A hood lifter for pedestrian protection and a seatbelt buckle
presenter which makes it easier to attach the belt when buckling up.
The ESV conference is the largest worldwide and most important congress
on car safety and takes place every second year in different locations
around the globe. The ESV program was founded in 1968 on the initiative
of the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)
aiming to reduce the traffic fatalities.
About Autoliv
Autoliv Inc., the worldwide leader in automotive safety systems,
develops and manufactures automotive safety systems for all major
automotive manufacturers in the world. Together with its joint ventures,
Autoliv has ~80 facilities with ~34,000 associates in 31 countries. In
addition, the Company has 13 technical centers in 11 countries around
the world, including 21 crash test tracks, more than any other
automotive safety supplier. Sales in 2008 amounted to US $6.5 billion.
The Company’s shares are listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE:
ALV) and its Swedish Depository Receipts on NASDAQ OMX Stockholm (SSE:
ALIV SDB).
This information was brought to you by Cision http://www.cisionwire.com
Henrik Kaar, Director Corporate Communications
Autoliv Inc., Tel
+46-(0)8 587 20 614
or
Ray Pekar, Director Business
Development and
Investor Relations, Autoliv Inc.
Tel
+1-519-973-3799
