An Air Bag for Motorcyclists?
Dec. 6, 2003 -- Think of a motorcyclist and you may think of a modern-day knight decked out in metal-studded black leather jacket, jeans, boots and dark glasses. What you probably don't think about is someone protected by an air bag.
Even the roughest Hell's Angels biker has a hard time escaping serious life-threatening injuries that typically result from high-speed traffic accidents. And for years, the motorcycle industry has been trying to ramp up better protective gear for bikers — including developing car-like air bags.
Honda, for example, tested a concept version of its Gold Wing touring cycle that had a built-in airbag to protect riders from head-on collisions. But the air bag couldn't protect riders from other types of road accidents such as slides caused by slick roads.
Rather than mount the air bag on the cycle, some have taken to developing systems that put the protection on the rider themselves. And the latest attempt comes from Dainese, a protective sports clothing maker in Vicenza, Italy.
The company's D-Air system seems like a simple concept: a vest that contains three "bladders" that inflate during a collision. But how the vest actually works is fairly complex.
Street Smarts
At the heart of the system is a tiny electronic computer called the STM (Sensing, Triggering, and Memory) that is mounted on the motorcycle and powered by a rechargeable battery.
The STM, developed by an Israeli technology firm called Merhav APP, contains sensors that monitor the bike's physical motion and a display that keeps the rider informed of what is happening and when to recharge the battery.
The STM also features a radio transmitter that wirelessly links the box to a receiver built-into the D-Air vest. The two electronic components are in constant communication, sharing data up to 3,000 times per second over a digitally-encoded frequency.
The sensors onboard the STM will watch for telltale signs — such as a sudden deceleration force of about ten times that of gravity — that precede a collision. Once the computer determines an impending accident, the STM blasts the data to receiver in the vest to start the inflation process.
Going the Extra Mile for Protection
Like car air bag systems, cans of compressed carbon-dioxide gas fill each of the three bladders in as little as 30 milliseconds. The vest's air bags are specifically designed to support the rider's chest, back and neck.
Also, each D-Air bladder is designed to maintain pressure for 20 seconds after inflation to prolong protection in case the rider is sent bouncing down the road and into another vehicle.
Angelo Dainese, the chief executive officer of the U.S. arm of the family-run Dainese firm, says that the company has spent "millions of dollars" over the past three years in developing the D-Air vest.
"We spent over $500,000 just to create a crash test dummy to test [D-Air]," says Dainese. And based on the company's research and investigation by independent European labs, "We think it can help you receive [fewer] injuries in a crash," says the company exec.
The Best Way to Avoid Injury?
But others aren't so convinced.
Tom Lindsey, a spokesperson for the American Motorcycle Association, says that Dainese's solution is not much different from other previous attempts — and might not be much better.
"As designed right now, [all] motorcycle air bags have imperfections," says Lindsey. For example, since D-Air only protects the upper torso, he doubts such a system would help in sliding accidents or other incidents where the rider isn't thrown from the bike.
"People need to be aware that no one safety device will be a panacea," says Lindsey. "The best way to keep from being injured in an accident is to avoid the accident in the first place."
Euro-Bikers Only For Now
Still, Dianese believes that there is a market for D-Air and plans to launch the commercial version of D-Air next spring after the results from the independent European testing labs become officially published in January.
The cost: about $800 to $1,000 — roughly half the price of a traditional "armored" leather suit worn by professional motorcycle racers and speed enthusiasts.
"People will see this as an attractive and inexpensive way to have an additional layer of protection," says Angelo Dianese, who claims to be an avid biker himself.
And while he says there has been "a lot of interest" in the United States, there are no plans to bring D-Air to American riders just yet.
"There are no references or [safety] standards set for such a product in the U.S. yet," he says. And until government agencies such as the Department of Transportation decides to set such standards, it's unlikely that D-Air could be available to U.S. bikers.
"We are really away of the product liability issues that can arise from this product," says Dianese.
In other words, even some bikers are just not as tough as American lawyers.