Belt Airbags

[Kakashi]

Belt bags(Newscientist.com)

Another automobile idea could see drivers belt up with an airbag. Ford Global Technologies, the car-maker’s research wing in Michigan, US, is working to combine the cushioning effect of an air bag with the restraint of an ordinary seat belt.

The lap and shoulder sections of Ford's new belts are made from tough elastic material containing inflatable tubes. The sheathing is held flat, like a thick but otherwise ordinary seat belt, by stitching.

While flat, the belts move freely and latch with conventional buckles. Following a collision, however, rapid deceleration triggers sensors that release gas from cylinders at the base of the seat belt. The gas races through the tubing making it expand, and ripping the stitching apart to let the belts inflate. In a split second the driver and passengers are held secure by inflated "belt bags".

[forty.water]

There are several airplane companies that are going to start equiping the aircrafts with belt airbags as well...