You know those ugly balloons that pop out of surprising places when a car gets into a crash? What are they called again? Airbags? Well, a German auto supplier has developed airbags that, in the event of a serious collision, would inflate not on the interior of your vehicle, but on the exterior to make your car even safer. How it works is sensors on the car will watch out for any objects that look likely to slam into the side of the car. When the computers decide a crash is imminent and unavoidable, they deploy from the side sill, revealing the airbag. In no more than 100 milliseconds, inflators pump up the airbag to the height of a typical front bumper. One advantage of outside airbags is that they disperse the forces of impact, possibly reducing injury levels by 20 to 30 percent.
A German auto supplier has come up with airbags that inflate on the outside
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