Heitkamp (inset) with the airbag he helped create.
YOKOHAMA: Honda’s groundbreaking front passenger airbag design has won US recognition.
Honda’s safety engineer, Eric Heitkamp, today received the highest honour bestowed by the US Department of Transportation for his work in leading the creation of the innovative airbag that is designed to decrease the chance of serious brain injury in a collision.
The new passenger front airbag technology is now standard equipment in the Acura MDX, Acura TLX and Honda Pilot. It debuted in the 2021 Acura TLX.
The new airbag technology aims to better manage lateral collision forces that can cause an occupant’s head to rotate severely at high velocity and slide off a conventional airbag, increasing the chance of serious injury.
Honda’s new front passenger airbag technology is designed to better manage lateral collision forces that can cause an occupant’s head to rotate severely at high velocity and slide off a conventional airbag, increasing the chance of serious injury. Heitkamp led development of the new airbag using new research measuring brain injuries in vehicle collisions, including a landmark study of brain injuries led by scientists at the US Department of Transportation.
Rather than the single inflatable chamber of conventional front passenger airbag systems, the new airbag operates something like a baseball catcher’s mitt, with an uninflated panel first catching and decelerating the occupant’s head with less force, while also directing it inward between two inflated chambers to cradle and protect the head.
Specifically, the new passenger front airbag uses four major components: three inflated compartments consisting of a centre chamber and two outward-projecting side chambers that create a wide base across the dash and the uninflated “sail panel” that stretches between the two side chambers.
Heitkamp accepted the US award at the 2023 Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV) conference here.
The conference is the most-prominent international safety technical event and is held every two years, hosted by an ESV member country selected by the participating international safety regulatory agencies. The global pandemic necessitated a one-year delay of the latest conference, originally set for 2022.
ESV attendees include members of Governments, automobile manufacturers, technology companies, suppliers, academia – including safety researchers, students, safety advocates and other motor vehicle safety professionals, medical, insurance, legal and policy professionals, consumers, and media.
Keyword: Honda airbag design wins top US safety award