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Volvo, not surprisingly, has come up with a novel safety feature: a pedestrian airbag.
The U-shaped bag deploys in the area between the car's hood and the windshield in the event of a car-pedestrian collision:
The Volvo system sensors rapidly detect a car-pedestrian impact and respond much like what happens in a car-to-car collision. That triggers the section of the hood closest to the windshield to pop up slightly, a U-shaped airbag emerging from underneath, and forming a cushion around the base and sides of the windshield and A-pillars.
The system is one of many high-tech safety features being introduced on the Swedish carmaker’s V40 wagon, which is making its debut at this week’s Geneva Motor Show.
Automakers have been working on external safety features in response to strict EU laws regarding car-pedestrian accidents. These collisions account for nearly a quarter of vehicle-related fatalities, MSNBC reports.
In addition to the airbag, Volvo has developed sensor-based alarm systems to prevent collisions in the first place.
This is really an innovative feature that is not just some goodie offered but is a right foot forward concerning passenger safety.
If such an air bag can protrude when an impending pedestrain collision is detected, the same system should also try to brake the car or steer it clear of the pedestrain safely enough for the in-car passengers to avoid the collision.
This is a good innovation by volvo, With this a large percentage of automobile accidents should become minimized.
@Prabhakar, Don,t you think that that may be too much for a simple device to handle all at the same time?
I think technically braking and steering away is possible. However, in some pedestrian collision scenarios, there is hardly any time for reacting. Therefore, if the automatic collision avoidance handles such cases, sudden steering and braking may cause problems for the passengers on board (especially the youngsters).
I think elecronically the embedded systems onboard a car can react within very narrow time frames (i.e. microseconds), however, we should not forget that a car is an electromechanical device and there are physical factors such as momentum, acceleration and weight and their effects on the passengers that also have to be taken into account. Therefore, electrical response speeds do not give the complete picture of what is involved.
I dont think its too much because we are living in a world which is fully automated and eveyone has very high technical requirements. So why not have such complexed devices.
Adeniji,
Why not?
The case of a pedestrain is slightly different compared to the in-car passengers. The in car passengers are confined in a closed space and the airbag is aprefect protection for them against hitting the car body, steering wheel or dash board.
But a pedestrian has a possibility of being thrown away even after hitting the ballon instead of the car body. So simultaneous braking of the car or swerving it away from the pedestrain would help in minimising the impact, in my opinion.
That is quite novel safety feature. What can be maximum car speed for this? Will car stop along with this deployment?
Therefore, electrical response speeds do not give the complete picture of what is involved.
I think, modern vehicles are having more ECUs to handle such scenarios – timely critical systems. And i believe sub-units of each ECUs do integrate embedded real time operating system.
Yes Adeniji, you give that to Volvo real time safety system in automobile. It has been enjoying the backing of European union and seveth framework programme's of EU commission
As you said Barbarba finally useful automotive electronics. I hope to see more “clever” electronics as the U airbag and from other automotive companies.
I think so far automotive companies are worried about the saftey of in car travelers, it's a good news that they are taking care about pedestrians also. Hope this can minimize the causality.
Hi Barb. I read about this in the Times over the weekend. I wonder what this technology will add to the cost of a car?
@prabhakar, i agree with you that this feature cannot give a complete safety net for pedesterian but it will weaken the collision impact. During accident, the first point of contact is usually the legs and the front of the car so there must be something there too for safety.
It is definatley a good step, it cannot solve all the problems, and it cannot guarantee that every collision will be harm free on non-fatile, but its a good step all the same.
I agree you on that. It will be a dangerous thing to rely so much on devices for actions that require quick responses
@Flyingscot, Well, I dont think this should have anything to do with increase in the car price because while this might be a good marketing edge for Volvo, It is also some of the safty measures a car should have. People are not going to buy this car only because it has a special air bag but much more than that more features that tends to give more comfort.
Barb
I am a big fan of the idea of external security features for minimizing fatal injuries caused by collisions. The idea is so impressive that I think, like the EU, all other countries, including the less developed economies (that are usually less regulated as well), should introduce this as compulsory law to be implemented by the automobile manufacturers. The customers should'nt mind bearing its cost and I am sure, its cost wont be significant enough to reduce sales.
I haven't seen any cost data attached to this feature. It looks like it is being rolled out as part of a whole new Volvo platform and is probably factored into total cost. But it would be interesting to see it broken out.
I agree that this might be one more option that makes drivers “lazy.” But I can't think of anything more frightening than seeing an item — a garbage can, a cardboard box, anything –flying over the front bumper of my car. I hope I am never complacent enough that that doesn't scare me.
Cagri, I was sorry to hear about your friend's experience. I hope it was the exception rather than the rule. Big companies can get arrogant and often ignore the little guys. After 20 years of covering distribution, I'll admit I have a positive bias toward the industry. But one mistake like this can harm what is probably a pretty good company. I hope X-Sales has since improved their customer service.
Great, just what drivers need, another device to make them more lazy than they already are. Shouldn't drivers be focused on avoiding pedestrians in the first place as opposed to having airbags that protect the car against pedestrians? Why not have frontal or aft sensors that can detect a body working in harmony with the braking system to avoid hitting the pedestrian?
Should someone jump from a building or a bridge and land on the hood of the helpless Volvo, how would the car sense this? Oh someone at the factory sure didn't think this one through. Probably the same knucklehead that thought automating a car with a synch system that allows you to read emails and texts while driving taking your eyes away from the road instead of concentrating on it!
“As this case shows, distributors are a critical link for customers”
Cagri, in most of the cases there won't be any interaction between the customers and manufactures. In such cases distributers act as a bridge between these two and in most cases they play well. Since there are some issues reported like this, now a day's some of the companies started their own distribution departments, which interacting directly with the users. So both the manufactures and customers have an one to one interaction.
There's another way you could text, read, drink, eat, watch a movie and surf the web while in a moving car. You get a driver. If you can afford it!
DarkAngel: I think the external airbag is to protect the pedestrian rather than the car…:-) This particular system also provides sensors to detect an object (aforementioned pedestrian) to prevent a collision in the first place. But relying on sensors in general is a bad practice–but used in combination with a alert driver, both the car and the public stand a better chance of coming away from an average errand unscathed.
Bolaji–exactly! I have always wondered why the rich and famous continue to get into trouble with DUI and DWI when they clearly can afford a driver or car service.
I am sure most distributors do a good job. There are some distributors and sales representatives that are remarkably professional. It is a joy to work with them. This article is about distributors who fail to recognise the importance of all customers – big or small. I can say that are quite a few of them around unfortunately.
There are cases where the distributor is aware that the customer's hands are tied without its assistance. Such distributors really make life difficult for the customer. They don't respond to emails, technical queries and leave the customer in a limbo in terms of decision making. (This situation gets worse especially when the distributor has a monopoly nationally.) I am not sure whether they do this to control the customer like a puppet by giving the impression that the distributor is king in all this and to remind that the customer is helpless without them or for some other reason.
I think the manufacturers are to be blamed for tolerating such distributors. They need to show who the boss really is and more importantly that the customers need to be responded to promptly and with courtesy. They need to audit teir distributors using performance metrics other than just annual sales.
I also think that the manufacturers should be the initial point of contact for all technical queries. This is because before getting to the stage of placing an order, customers always have technical questions on the technology and the nitty gritty detail of how things work. If this information gathering stage is too exhausting for the customer, they start looking elsewhere for alternatives and the manufacturers and the distributors become the losers in the end.
The size of the distributors cannot justify their arrogance and ignorance. At the end of the day, the distributor achieves the target volumes because the manufacturer offers a good product that the customer is happy to pay for. Therefore, they should always keep this simple fact in mind and treat the customers properly – no matter how big or small they are.
Successful businesses often start small and they expand and grow if they are nurtured properly. Distributors have not right to hinder this natural flow of business purely because small businesses may not be able to place millions of volumes in one go.
One useful piece of advice for distributors is “Treat all customers while wearing the shoes of a small distributor who is always hungry for any business, and stay hungry (not greedy) to be successful and to be respected”.
Cryptoman: Good stuff. A now-large distributor once told me their litmus test for customer service: Treat your customer as if it were the next Apple.
Good advice, i think.
Great idea! I'd love it if I were in the embarrassing situation of hitting someone in front of me. On the other hand, if I stupidly hit something else; garbage can, cardboard box, stuff that fell off that truck, etc. I wouldn't be too happy replacing that $2000 airbag.
Why stop there? What I want is a bigger airbag on the outside of the car that deploys when I hit another car or retaining wall. Now you've got something that would be a game changer, like seatbelts and later, airbags.
Dr. Cagri:
I am sorry that your friend had that experince, but I do not believe that is indicative of channel partners in general.
I believe that the vast majority of channel partners are responsive and hungry and therefore do not let customer requests wait.
I also have to disagree with your initial premise that customers call channel partners first. I believe that with the proliferation of available information via the internet has in many cases allowed customers to go directly to the manufacturer's rep or the manufacturer.
As a regional distributor we are seeing more and more where a manufacturer will take orders direct. In fact, we are seeing manufacturers in some cases booking and fufilling orders in the <$1K range. This is not the norm or everyday occurance, but it is happening and too often when we do get a customer call, the manufacturer has already had an inquiry from the end customer.
That's what I would call a smart car!
The leading distributors would not be caught in this type of situation. These are companies that live by their word and customer service is a big part of their operation. That at least is the experience reported by many of their customers. Also, I believe customers tend to do a lot of their homework way before reaching out to distributors.
In some cases, though, they put themselves in the distributor's hands and the service they expect here is value-added and would be expected to be exceptional. If the distributor does not deliver on this they lose the contract.
@Barbara, I agree with you on that, I feel there should be a measure on the rate at which our lives activities are becoming more dependent on electronics. If care is not taken, we may become so lazy even in thinking just because the is a device that it handling that natural task for us
@Barbara, I think the reason is because once in a while everybody love to feel being in charge.
@ Kelvin, That is a smart car indeed, if you continue, you will soon desire to have a parachute in your car.
Hi bifinnecy (It's Dr Cagri writing btw).
I do agree that this particular example should not colour all channel partners bad because most of them work responsibly and with courtesy.
I also agree that in most cases technical data can easily be accessed via web resources and therefore the distributor's involvement is not required. However, the company mentioned here is very protective of every datasheet they have on every product. All the information is actually stored on the restricted area of their website, which can only be accessed after signing an NDA with one of the sales partners.
Furthermore, when you download any information from the restricted area, they come in pdf format with a watermark on every page that lists the specific customer's name! Therefore, distributing such datasheets freely is not an option as every document is traceable to the original person who performed the very first download.
The manufacturer 'forces' the customer to go contact the distributor in this particular case. The customer has not option like you have described in your post.
I am one of those people who believe that the customer needs to have full flexibility in where to get the information from and with whom to do business. In a competitive world there is no room for such commercial restrictions.
Hi Bolaji,
For your information, the distributor mentioned in the article is one of the largest ones.
I was very surprised to find out that such a large distributor would display such incompetence. I also thought that the leading distributors were 'leading' because of their professionalism and great customer care. However, it seems there are exceptions to this rule.
Regards…
We tested a “front of vehicle” airbag for a private inventor back in about 2002. It was quite effective but it would have been quite expensive as well. And what does happen when it fires while on the expressway a chunk of trash flies up in front of you, and it triggers. Because it must sense very quickly and at some distance out. That much is physics. Who pays for those repairs when it fires accidentally? And the repairs will be a bit more than the $2000 mentioned already. One more question is whose fault is it when the thing fires in error and causes an accident? Please answer that one.
@William: I had the same questions regarding the airbag. Let me see what I can find. I know it costs about $2,000 to have an internal airbag reloaded in an average car. Lucklily, I have never experienced this. But if the truck in front of me loses a 2×4 or box that inflates the external airbag, you can be sure I would track them down! Maybe that is a new use for dashboard cameras: capturing the license plate of the vehicle in front of you.
Up in my area, deer and/or moose are also an issue. I wonder if there is an insurance option that covers this…
The forward looking camera is a realy interesting suggestion, indeed. IT would need a loop buffer that would be similar to what we developed for crash recording, which does a great job, but it is not simple.nor is it particularly cheap. But it could certainly be another game changer.
Volvo has been known for its focus on safety, this is a good technology.
@Tioluwa,
It's indeed a good step, though pedestrians would still be hit by cars but this could be to mitigated the risks of serious injury.