Scania Invents Roll-Over Side Curtain Airbags for Trucks
Published On Aug 22, 2016
After creating waves in the automobile industry by successfully testing and running the first electric roads in the world, Scania has now become the first commercial vehicle maker to develop the world’s first rollover side curtain airbag for trucks. By inventing this new feature for trucks, Scania has led to a path-breaking safety enhancement system, thus helping protect drivers or passengers in case of fatal crashes. The company believes that the use of this new safety feature can significantly lower the number of driver casualties due to rollover accidents.
As speculated, Scania will be launching this new generation of trucks on August 23, 2016.
These curtain airbags deploy and protect those traveling in the cab in case the truck rolls over, thus providing a solution for people who are fatally crushed by their own vehicles due to collisions. Scania’s new truck generation can be fitted with these rollover side curtain airbags integrated into the headliner moulding above the doors. A unique solution that has never been offered in trucks before, the curtains greatly enhance protection in the event of a rollover, one of the most serious type of truck accidents.
Providing more explanation on the new safety enhancement, Christofer Karlsson, responsible for the development of Scania’s crash safety system, said, “The use of a seat belt is essential to allow the safety systems to do their job and to ensure that the driver is not thrown out of the cab.” He further added, “Our rollover side curtain airbag – particularly when combined with the steering wheel airbag and our seat belt pretensioners – ensures that the driver and any passengers on board will have a much better chance of surviving a rollover accident in one of the new generation of Scania trucks, with far less severe consequences than would be the case in any other truck.”
Rollover of trucks usually occurs when the driver tries to avoid an approaching vehicle or an obstruction, and in the heat of the moment takes sudden evasive action. In such scenarios the truck may topple onto its side or roll right over at higher speeds. An advanced safety system equipped with sensors then ascertain the deployment of the airbags and once deployed, these airbags inflate immediately.