A friend of mine recently purchased a 1967 Ford Mustang and intends to restore the vehicle.  I jokingly asked him if he intended on equipping the vehicle with an upgraded seatbelt system or passive restraint airbag system.  I received the expected reaction.  Interestingly enough, mention the words “motorcycle airbags” or “motorcycle airbag jacket” and you might get a very similar reaction.  Nevertheless, these safety systems, with new technology, are making their way into the motorcycle community.

Motorcycle crash tests with an airbag were first performed in 1973.  Twenty years later, follow-up tests showed that airbags could reduce a rider’s velocity and trajectory in frontal collisions, which make up 62% of motorcycle accidents in the United States.

Honda Motor Company rolled out its first production motorcycle airbag system in 2006 available on its Goldwing motorcycles.  The system utilized fuel tank mounted airbags which deploy when four crash sensors mounted on the front fork measure the necessary change in acceleration caused by a frontal impact.  The design was intended to prevent the motorcycle rider from traveling forward into the impact vehicle.  The airbag’s purpose is to absorb some of the forward energy of the rider and reduce the velocity at which a rider might be thrown from the motorcycle.  According to Honda, the demand for this safety feature continues to increase and grow in popularity.  Other manufacturers are attempting to add airbag technology as an option on certain models.

Also growing in popularity is personal protective equipment for motorcyclists.  This equipment has always included helmets, gloves, jackets, pants, and boots, but now new technology is expanding into this area as well.  Motorcycle airbag jackets are being designed and marketed as another potential piece of equipment to provide better overall safety to the rider.  The jackets include compressed carbon dioxide cylinders for inflation purposes, along with breakaway devices to trigger the system when a rider is ejected from the bike.  As technology and design advances, there may be a day when these airbag features could be added to any type of motorcycle jacket.  Companies are already marketing these jackets for sale.

As technology improves and we become more safety conscience in this country, views towards these features may change.  What we thought was safe in 1967 has dramatically changed 30 years later.  Perhaps motorcycle airbags will make a similar journey in the public’s consciousness.

If you have been involved in a motorcycle accident and would like to discuss your legal options, please give us a call.

This entry was posted on Friday, November 14th, 2008 at 9:34 am and is filed under Motorcycle Accidents. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.