2013 Chevrolet Cruze Features "Smart" Airbag

The 2013 Chevrolet Cruze features a "smart" airbag that reduces the risk of injury to the driver.

GM said on Tuesday the special airbag cuts the risk of "inflation-induced injury by allowing the driver's forward momentum to effectively push the air out and away." The automaker described the airbag as an "industry first."

The airbag is standard equipment on the 2013 Cruze.

"This new airbag technology is a smart way to manage crash forces," said Gay Kent, GM general director of vehicle safety and crashworthiness, in a statement.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety say that airbag-related fatalities are relatively rare.

"The energy required to quickly inflate airbags can cause injury," said the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety in a statement on its Web site. "This used to be a serious concern with frontal airbags, but, thanks to new government requirements, airbag injuries are becoming a thing of the past. Fortunately, even with older airbags, most of the injuries that occur are minor scrapes and abrasions, and serious injuries and death are relatively rare."

NHTSA estimates that during 1990-2008, more than 290 deaths were caused by frontal airbag inflation in low-speed crashes. Nearly 90 percent of the deaths occurred in vehicles manufactured before 1998, and more than 80 percent of people killed were unbelted or improperly restrained.

Unbelted occupants are likely to move forward if, for example, there is hard braking or swerving before a frontal crash. These occupants can end up on top of, or extremely close to, the airbags as they begin to inflate.

 

Courtesy of Inside Line