Source:
GM
This latest airbag design manages to fit some extra protection into the driver side seat itself by way of a bulbous tongue-looking thing that bursts out the side and up in the event of an accident.
It's a tubular design (in form factor, not awesomeness, although it's also pretty awesome) that pops out of the side of your seat before you can say "I hate bugs." The cushion provides restraint to keep your head from ending up in the passenger seat while the rest of your body stays securely belted into the driver's seat. It's taken GM three years of research to get it to work, and it should also make a difference in rollovers.
The design is a specialize one, meant to protect heads during especially deadly "t-bone" collisions when the impact arrives on the side opposite the driver. These accidents account for about 11% of accident fatalities and, while rare like the rollover, are targeted by this airbag's tubular, driver seat-mounted design.
The front center air bag will be introduced on the Buick Enclave, GMC Acadia, and Chevrolet Traverse midsize crossovers in the 2013 model year.
So now we've got front airbags, side torso airbags, knee airbags, rear curtain airbags, center airbags, and even seat belt airbags. The logical progression here is to simply fill the entire passenger compartment of the car with airbags (or maybe one GIANT airbag), completely immobilizing all passengers and allowing you to drive headlong into brick walls and off cliffs without even breaking a nail.
