Active Seat Belt System: A Key Player in Enhancing Passenger Safety

A seat belt in cars guarantees the right position of occupiers for supreme efficacy of airbags. Volvo, a leading automobile maker focused on building quality, safety, and care for the environment, is continually launching numerous safety innovations. Volvo has given a great gift to the world by developing an advanced seat belt which holds the potential to save millions of lives. In 1959, the Volvo engineer Nils Bohlin invented the modern three-point seat belt. Although this invention was patented, the company left the patent open, thus making it obtainable to all automobile producers to use for free. This relatively unusual decision was taken by considering public safety to guarantee that everybody could be safer in car travel.

With various advances further, the automotive industry soon came up with an advanced version of seat belts called, active seat belts. Active seat belts are much similar to traditional seat belts; however, they are equipped with advanced technology that spontaneously senses threats like collisions and makes the seat belt tighter to offer enhanced safety precautions.

The active seat belt systems market growth is expected to undeniably trigger the implementation of stringent safety rules by the government and speedy revolutions in the automotive sector. Today’s consumers are much more aware about their safety, as a result, they are being more conscious about using a seat belt owing to the various safety benefits and effective compliance it offers.

How does an Active Seat Belt System Work?

Active seatbelt systems are equipped with a motor that withdraws seat belt webbing in perilous situations before a crash takes place. An active seat belt can be triggered using data from active safety systems, for instance, the Electronic Stability Control or Brake Assist systems. Also, it can be activated by using data from environmental detectors, such as radar that offers the relative speed as well as distance of the automobiles ahead.

Once triggered, an active seat belt puts front seating individuals in a better position by keeping them in a comfortable position on the seat and decreasing the forward movement of the body. This is an ideal example of the integration of active & passive safety systems.

An active seat belt system links active and passive safety systems. The systems functions as a reversible seat belt retractor which can be triggered before a crash happens. The entire system is developed in a way that can make use of the information generated from braking and stability control sensors to detect a probable accidents. It responds by safeguarding the driver and passengers’ seat belts by pulling out seat belt slack so that the passenger’s position on the seat is enhanced prior to a forthcoming crash.

Many automakers have realised the importance of effective seat belts and have made significant developments in the seat belt systems. For instance, Mercedes, a German luxury automotive marque, has launched an innovative active seat-belt buckle technology. This technology has been developed for the rear seats. In this, the buckles are power-deployable and arise from the seats when the backseat commuter doors are unlocked. The buckles then light up to make the process of buckling up easy.

As soon as a passenger is buckled, the buckle draws back to lessen slack around the pelvis as well as thorax. Moreover, this technology functions with the PRE-SAFE system that spontaneously pulls the belt when a crash is about to happen. Recently, in 2019, Volvo Car Malaysia (VCM) has introduced the #SafeDrive with Volvo Car Malaysia road safety program, which is intended at rising awareness about the significance of making use of safety belts for all car passengers.

The Bottom Line

Among many other safety technologies of automobiles, the active seat belt technology is of great importance. Without an active safety belt, any protecting or precautionary features in an automobile might be useless.

About the Author(s)

   

Aishwarya Korgaonkar

Aishwarya Korgaonkar holds a bachelor’s degree in Information Technology from the esteemed Mumbai University. Being creative and artistic, she leaped into the field of digital marketing and content writing. Her love for words makes her write creative, and her spellbinding content adds colors to the world.