The innovation received the title of Best New Technology from the same panel which awarded the title to the Edge, the Automobile Journalists Association of Canada (AJAC), and presented to the auto maker at the Canadian International Auto Show.
"Safety is a key priority at Ford and we are honoured to win this year's 'Best New Technology' award for our industry-first rear inflatable seat belts," said David Mondragon, president and CEO, Ford of Canada.
"Available initially on our all-new 2011 Ford Explorer, the rear inflatable seat belts work by spreading impact forces over five times more area than conventional seat belts."
The first time we heard of Ford's innovation was back in 2009, when the car maker shouted Evrika. The technology is used to deploy over a passenger's torso and shoulder in approximately 40 milliseconds in the event of a crash, providing a far better protection than the regular seat belt due to the increased size of the belt and its softer texture.
Each belt, considered by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) as a “good idea” is inflated with cold compressed gas, specially designed to flow through a buckle from a cylinder housed below the seat.
The deployment of the technology has already begun, the Explorer being among the first models to receive it.
Google News