Motorcyclists in the future will look back on today as a very notable date in the history of motorcycling. For the first time ever, a motorcyclist was saved from injuries thanks to the deployment of a suit-mounted airbag system.
The system has been developed by Italian leathers manufacturer Dainese and is called "D-Air". Currently in the prototyping stages, it was being used by Italian 125cc rider Marco Simoncelli, who crashed in practice for this weekend's MotoGP event at Valencia.
It works through a combination of accelerometers, gyroscopes, cold-gas cylinders and encoded GPS signals between bike and rider. Complicated onboard diagnostics systems prevent unwanted inflation.
Apparently we'll see this technology in street apparel in about three years, and hopefully it will prove to be successful in reducing the numbers of deaths and injuries amongst street riders. Something else to remember is that if Dainese have done it, you can sure other leathers manufacturers are hard at work on their own versions....
Friday, November 02, 2007
Airbags for motorcycle leathers
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3 comments:
video of Simoncelli's crash and airbag deploying, http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=original784
That's pretty cool. I had imagined something like the guy suddenly becoming the Michelin man...
It's neat, cheap to install, will command a high price and will probably save lives from day 1 on the road. Dianese deserve a lot of credit for this.
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