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Safety is in the bag.


Dalphimetal, a Spanish subsidiary of TRW Automotive (www.trw TRW The Real World (TV reality show)
TRW The Right Way
TRW Tactical Reconnaissance Wing
TRW The Retriever Weekly (University of Maryland, Baltimore, MD)
TRW Thompson Ramo Wooldridge Inc
.com), has pushed airbag technology forward with its Bag In Roof (BIR BIR British Institute of Radiology
BIR Bureau of Internal Revenue
BIR Bureau of International Recycling
BIR Baculovirus IAP Repeat
BIR Biomedical Imaging Resource
BIR Bureau of Intelligence and Research (US State Department) 
), X-Tether, and Dual-Chamber Side Airbag (DCSA DCSA Dependent Care Spending Account
DCSA Defence Communications Services Agency (UK)
DCSA DaimlerChrysler South Africa
DCSA Department of Computer Science and Applications
DCSA Direzione Centrale per i Servizi Antidroga
) systems. The first conceals the front passenger airbag in the space behind the windshield header, where it deploys along the windshield and then down. The giant kidney bean-shaped bag eliminates the need to package a relatively large passenger airbag in the instrument panel, and can reduce the cost of that piece by eliminating the need for an engineered door that opens with the airbag deployment. It also increases the design possibilities available for the windshield angle and instrument panel depth and shape.

The X-Tether is a new concept for side curtain airbags that combines a one-piece woven and laminated bag with a pair of internal tethers that maintain a constant cross section. Current side curtain designs either use no tethers (oval cross section), or one tether tether

to tie an animal up by the head or neck so that it can graze but not move away. See also barton tether.
 at the bag's centerline cen·ter·line  
n.
1. A line that bisects something into equal parts.

2. A painted line running along the center of a road or highway that divides it into two sections for traffic moving in opposite directions, or, in the case of
 (elongated e·lon·gate  
tr. & intr.v. e·lon·gat·ed, e·lon·gat·ing, e·lon·gates
To make or grow longer.

adj. or elongated
1. Made longer; extended.

2. Having more length than width; slender.
 oval). Areas where coverage is less than optimal, called "thin spots" by airbag engineers, are possible with these designs as their lack of an internal support system allows their shape to change when contacted. The X-Tether design, however, places an upper and lower X-shaped tether in the bag, which causes it to inflate in a "figure 8" cross section. This creates a pair of optimized chambers, and eliminates thin spots. Unlike other designs, the tethers are woven at the same time as the airbag to eliminate potential leakage or tear paths.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Dalphimetal's seat-mounted Dual Chamber Side Airbag is designed to optimize the effect on the pelvis and thorax thorax, body division found in certain animals. In humans and other mammals it lies between the neck and abdomen and is also called the chest. The skeletal frame of the thorax is formed by the sternum (breastbone) and ribs in front and the dorsal vertebrae in back.  independently by splitting the bag volume between these areas. In the latest design, vent chambers react to different size and weight passengers. For example, a smaller occupant would not block the upper vent, ensuring they would get a softer response from the airbag, while a larger and heavier person's shoulder would block this valve to ensure the bag remained stiffer. The engineers also showed a compact head protection module for convertibles that sits atop the seat, and a seat pan airbag that inflates to raise the leading edge of the lower seat cushion to prevent occupants from sliding under their seatbelts.--CAS
COPYRIGHT 2006 Gardner Publications, Inc.
No portion of this article can be reproduced without the express written permission from the copyright holder.
Copyright 2006, Gale Group. All rights reserved. Gale Group is a Thomson Corporation Company.

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Title Annotation:NOTABLE
Publication:Automotive Design & Production
Date:Aug 1, 2006
Words:370
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