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2021 Acura TLX Goes Big on Safety With Airbag That Wraps Around the Head

When the 2021 Acura TLX starts deliveries this fall, it will bring the world’s first passenger front airbag that catches the head and contains it, decreasing the odds of brain trauma in the case of angled frontal collisions.
Acura puts world's first "baseball mitt" airbag in the 2021 TLX sedan 23 photos
Photo: YouTube / Acura
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The new design is part of Acura’s Safety Through Innovation approach and was brought to reality with help from partner Autoliv. Acura plans to make it accessible to other manufactures, in a bid to add an extra layer of safety for front passengers.

Unlike the traditional front airbag, which consists of a single chamber, the one Acura put in the TLX is made of three separate chambers. The middle one is actually positioned off-center compared to the lateral two, which creates an empty space. Over that space is a piece of fabric that stretches, allowing the head to become nestled between the two lateral chambers.

Much like a baseball player catches a ball with his mitt, this airbag catches the head, decelerates the speed and then contains it, preventing it from rolling to the side or completely off the airbag. The decision to develop a new type of airbag was based on a study by the U.S. Department of Transportation into brain injuries in vehicle collisions, particularly angled front collisions.

“This new Acura TLX is the latest example of our safety engineering team in Ohio pursuing important innovations to advance toward our goal of a safer and, ultimately, collision-free society,”
Jim Keller, president of Honda R&D Americas, says in a statement.

“I'm very proud of how our engineers analyzed new brain injury research and then took action to achieve one of the most substantial advances in airbag design in decades,” Keller adds.

In addition to this “baseball mitt” airbag and with the same goal of a reducing injury in a case of a collision, the Acura TLX will also include knee airbags for the driver and the front passenger.

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About the author: Elena Gorgan
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Elena has been writing for a living since 2006 and, as a journalist, she has put her double major in English and Spanish to good use. She covers automotive and mobility topics like cars and bicycles, and she always knows the shows worth watching on Netflix and friends.
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