Autoliv says it has patented a “revolutionary” new airbag based on a theory that the increase of a fluid’s speed happens at the same time as the fluid’s pressure goes down.

The safety systems company said in a press release that its new Bernoulli Airbag uses its namesake Bernoulli’s Principle to leverage pressure differences to inflate larger airbags more efficiently.

“We have developed a way to inflate very large airbags, like the one’s needed in newer electric vehicles with roomier cockpits and comfort seating, with a smaller single stage inflator,” said Jordi Lombarte, Autoliv’s chief technical officer. 

“Additionally, the Bernoulli Airbag generates less heat, is lighter, and can reduce customer development testing in the United States by more than 30 percent. Low risk deployment requirements can be met with a single stage inflator.”

Explaining how the airbag works, Autoliv said that after its inflator receives a signal that a crash has begun, it propels high-pressure gases at “supersonic speed through multiple inlet tubes.”

“As the gases flow through the tubes, it will suck the surrounding ambient air into the chamber with the gases, creating aspiration, and will inflate a much larger airbag with an even smaller inflator than required today,” Autoliv said.

Lombarte said the new airbag speaks to the company’s commitment to better protect customers by ensuring vehicles are as safe as possible.

“By doing this, we can affect other aspects of the safety system and offer our customers options that do not exist today,” he said. “The Bernoulli Airbag is a significant step forward in making vehicles safer in a more efficient and sustainable manner.”

Autoliv is among a number of stakeholders working to improve airbag safety.

Earlier this year, a Honda engineer was recognized with a U.S. Government Award for Safety Engineering Excellence award for his work creating a “groundbreaking” front passenger airbag design that decreases the chance of a serious brain injury in a collision.

The airbag technology he helped craft is designed to better manage lateral collision forces that can cause a passenger’s head to “rotate severely at high velocity and slide off a conventional airbag, increasing the chance of serious injury,” Honda said in a news release.

Heitkamp led development of the new airbag, leaning into new research measuring brain injuries in vehicle collisions–including a landmark study of brain injuries led by U.S. Department of Transportation scientists–to do so.

“Rather than the single inflatable chamber of conventional front passenger airbag systems, the new airbag operates something like a baseball catcher’s mitt, with an uninflated panel first catching and decelerating the occupant’s head with less force, while also directing it inward between two inflated chambers to cradle and protect the head,” the automaker said.

“Specifically, the new passenger front airbag uses four major components: three inflated compartments consisting of a center chamber and two outward-projecting side chambers that create a wide base across the dash and the uninflated ‘sail panel’ that stretches between the two side chambers.”

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Featured and secondary image credit:  Courtesy of Autoliv