Autoliv, the automotive safety systems company, has presented the test results of its latest innovation at the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles conference in Stockholm.
The new product is an expandable roof pillar for the windshield that is three times thinner than a traditional windshield pillar to both improve the driver's field of view and reduce weight. The risk of roof intrusion is also reduced.
The new windshield pillar is 10% lighter than a traditional pillar
and increases the driver's vision angle by 25% compared to a
'current state-of-the-art windshield pillar'.
Autoliv's new roof
pillar will expand in a crash using airbag technology. In order to
achieve this, the cross section of the new windshield pillar consists
of a folded and air-tight structure. When the very powerful gas
generator expands the new pillar, the stiffness of the pillar
increases by 45%, according to tests with car bodies.
An
additional advantage with Autoliv's new pillar concept is to provide
increased design and styling freedom thanks to the slimmer pillars.
