By Jeff Karoub and Candace Stuart
Small Times Staff Writers
Aug. 31, 2001 — Small tech can take a tiny share of the credit for a 90 percent drop in child deaths from air bags in the past five years. But in the years ahead, the MEMS that help make air bags work are expected to save even more lives.
The public education effort directed at parents is the biggest reason for the drop, cited in a National Safety Council report released Thursday. The reported also credited improvements in air bag systems, including MEMS
 |
The private, nonprofit agency’s report said an aggressive campaign was begun in 1996 by government and industry to educate parents on the dangers air bags pose to children sitting in the front seat. That year, 35 people, including 26 children, died from air bag-related injuries in relatively low-speed crashes.
The report said the lower death rate — a 90.3 percent drop in child deaths from air bags between 1996 and 2000 — mainly is due to a shift in public behavior.
Meanwhile, however, vehicle and air bag makers have been working for many years to modify and improve air bag systems.
The first commercial air bags appeared in automobiles in the early 1980s, but many were stolen and resold because the parts were so expensive. MEMS sensors were added to the systems a short time later, helping to drive down the cost — and put the brakes on the air bag black market.
“Because of the lower cost, they weren’t the luxury item anymore,” said Marlene Bourne, a MEMS analyst for Cahners In-Stat Group, a digital communications research organization.
“They were able to be integrated in cars for the masses. It’s one of those instances that (MEMS’) low cost definitely has its benefits.”
Over time, the systems have been refined in response to air bag-related injuries and deaths.
In 1997, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration issued a rule allowing automakers to use lower-powered airbags. The next year, repair shops and dealers were allowed to install deactivation switches.
Progress had been made on the small tech front as well.
Federal regulations released last year said that by 2004, automakers must equip at least 35 percent of fleets with a mechanism that can detect the weight of passengers and adjust the air bag accordingly. By 2006, all new vehicles in the United States will offer the safety feature.
Delphi Delco Electronics Systems in Kokomo, Ind., makes a MEMS sensor for passenger protection that already appears in the 2001 models of Jaguar and some Ford luxury vehicles, said Delphi spokesman Milton Beach.
The technology, dubbed the Passive Occupant Detection System, or PODS, uses a modified MEMS pressure sensor mounted under the passenger seat cushion that measures the weight of its occupant. The system classifies the occupant based on weight, passes that information to an air bag controller, which determines the proper velocity to allow when the air bag deploys. The system made its debut in the 2001 models.
Beach said several companies are developing passenger detection systems using various approaches, including weight measurement systems, strain gauges and pattern recognition technologies. Delphi is competing with Siemens AG, TRW Inc., Bosch and Visteon Corp. and others for the U.S. market.
The market for occupant-recognition products could reach $3.6 billion by 2006, according to Strategy Analytics Ltd.
Some European carmakers already incorporated passenger recognition technologies into their vehicles years ago, said Keith Roberts, director of corporate communications for Interlink Electronics.
Interlink and IEE International Electronics and Engineering SARL are working on a sensor array hooked into a microsystem that can interpret weight and position to distinguish between a bag of groceries or briefcase and a child. Luxembourg-based IEE specializes in occupant sensing technologies for the automotive industry, and Interlink makes interactive remote controls.
IEE supplies sensing parts to Siemens, Bosch and Visteon, Beach said.
Roberts said the push for passenger sensing systems was instigated in Europe in the mid-1990s — before child safety concerns emerged in the United States — by insurance companies upset over the cost of repairing unoccupied seats damaged by deployed air bags.
Despite the progress in the years since, the safety council said the problem is not solved. The report said that even the newest air bags do not eliminate all risk, and many vehicles now on the road have older, higher-powered air bags.
Studies also have shown that seat belt use among children is not universal and the percentage of people who know that air bags can injure those who are sitting too close dropped from 85 percent in 2000 to 78 percent this year.
Bourne said it’s clear that people’s behavior is and will be the most important factor in reducing injuries and death. But she expects that future reports will reflect a greater role for technological advances.
“In five years, the occupancy sensors … are going to have tremendous impact on safety issues,” she said.