HORK Enterprises
3221 Quick Road
Holly, MI 48442, USA
 +1 (248) 328-0231
 consult@hork.com

Airbag Links

The HORK Enterprises web site contains several pages with information pertaining to airbags. We have these and external sites gathered below for your convenience. The information provided by the external sites is outside of our control. Naturally, we can not vouch for the accuracy and reliability of the information contained in those pages. Please report broken or outdated links. Our information on the Advanced Restraint Systems. Why were they developed? How were they developed? How do they work? What pieces make up an Advanced Restraint System? How do all the sensors work together to ultimately decide how the restraint systems will respond? Why does the airbag sometimes not deploy on one side of the car, while it does deploy on the other side of the car? Is that the end of safety restraints development or is there more to come?

One technology that was left out of the 2004 Advanced Airbag Rule, was Dynamic Out-of-Position Sensing. Dynamic OOP refers to a situation that may occur when a normally seated occupant is thrown forward and into the path of a deploying airbag, before the airbag has been triggered. That can be due to hard braking but also due to the initial part of a crash being too soft to warrant airbag deployment. Not all crashes are with concrete walls, after all. Sensors Systems that can determine such conditions have been developed and may make it into future vehicles. They will then allow a tailored response of the restraint system to the dynamic situation.

Computer analysis with Explicit Finite Element Analysis techniques is used extensively in the engineering design of vehicles and restraint systems. We host some examples of this on our frontal impact and side impact pages. The computer codes constantly improve to allow very accurate analysis of a crash event that normally happens too quick to observe. Our own solver has been packaged under a web application, to make it easier to use. You will find that at VirtualCrash.com where you can try for yourself to optimize a restraint system (hint: start with the back door)

The site of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration of the U.S. Department of Transportation contains important information about recalls for airbags or other issues. There is information for shorter drivers and the injury potential of airbags for them and children who are placed in the front passenger seat. There you'll also find information about the NCAP safety ratings of vehicles.

The web site of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has information and study results regarding airbags as well as many other vehicle related products. The IIHS also conducts its own crash testing, the results of which are accessible from their home page. In their testing, they use higher impact velocities and bigger, heavier barriers than are used in regulatory testing by the government. Their vehicle ratings are split in several catagories, so you can focus on what is most important to you.

The site of the National Safety Council comprises statistics on the national campaign to increase safety belt use. There you can bring yourself up to date on the state laws regarding seat belt use. Read about the risks of airbags to particular groups of occupants and what measures you can take if you belong to a risk group.

Autoliv ARC Automotive Continental AG Joyson Safety Siemens Safety ZF Safety

These are the web sites of some of the key players in the development of restraint systems. With the demand for improved protection against side-impact and roll-over crashes, as well as for a more intelligent approach to frontal crash protection, there is much going on behind the closed doors of these companies. To persuade the car makers to buy their latest products, they often show them to the public to create a demand. You can learn a lot on these sites about the various components that make up a safety system too.

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