The new system could find application in both passenger cars and commercial vehicles.
The development department of the Ford car company is definitely not bored, as information from the patent offices shows. But after the recent unveiling of the third axle for the F-150 and the unique steering system of the Ford Bronco, there is now a safety feature in the development department that should protect the crew from flying luggage.
Ford has applied for a patent with the US Patent and Trademark Office for an airbag mounted in the floor of a car, which should separate the crew from the cargo area and thus protect passengers in the event of an accident. The patent application states that the new system could be used in passenger and commercial vehicles.
The airbag should be anchored in the floor, but there should be a system in at least one side pillar to help pull the airbag upwards and thus speed up its inflation time. The airbag should be C-shaped, so it would create a safe partition between the cabin and the cargo area and prevent the cargo from hitting the rear seats violently.
In the patent application, the automaker also describes a variant of this device that would rise above the level of the rear seats and thus protect the heads of the rear passengers. However, Ford is reportedly also considering the possibility of extending the rear passenger airbags to the trunk, where they would prevent the luggage from moving in the event of an accident.
At the same time, the airbag should be activated in a standard way, i.e. through sensors connected to the on-board computer. If the sensors detect an accident, they send a signal to deploy the airbag, which will be filled with standard gas.
The patent does not yet mention the specific possibility of use in large commercial vehicles, such as the Ford Transit. Even here, however, the airbag in the cargo area could find use – for example, to protect transported cargo.
As always, it is worth repeating that this is only a patent proposal. It is by no means decided that this thing will appear in production models anytime soon. Should the automaker decide to put this idea into practice, we’ll probably see it first in a concept.
2023-09-21 15:56:00
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