“Our products must meet demands coming from new potential interior designs and EV segments, where space and weight considerations become even more important,” Autoliv CEO Mikael Bratt told Automotive News Europe. “By utilizing this technology, we are able to fill bigger airbags quicker and with a more effective inflator.”
The design addresses the twin challenges accompanying updated interior design trends for EVs: more spacious interiors with occupants sitting farther from the dashboard, and reduced space within that dashboard to house airbags.
“You have quite a narrow space in which to put an airbag, so you need to be more creative in how you design the airbag module now,” he said.
The new Autoliv airbag module, which will reach the market in the third quarter of this year, is based on Swiss mathematician and physicist Daniel Bernoulli’s fundamental principles of fluid dynamics. Bernoulli’s principle states that an increase in the speed of a fluid occurs simultaneously with a decrease in static pressure.
Using this principle, Autoliv leveraged pressure differences to utilize more surrounding air when inflating an airbag. As a result, a smaller inflator can be used for a much larger airbag.
Autoliv said the Bernoulli Airbag generates less heat, is lighter and can reduce customer development testing.
