Cars are getting ever safer for their occupants, with crash tests getting more and more stringent, but that safety comes at a cost: As our vehicles get more tanklike, to protect their occupants, they become deadlier to pedestrians, cyclists, and anyone else who dares not be similarly ensconced in metal and glass. Subaru, though, is working to change this on the new Forester by adding a hood-mounted airbag specifically to protect cyclists.
This isn’t the first example of an airbag meant more to protect a vehicle’s victims than its passengers, and it’s not even Subaru’s first stab at the problem — the company already has pedestrian airbags on much of its Japanese lineup, according to CarScoops. Adding coverage up the A pillars, though, is a cyclist-specific move that’s new to the automotive industry. So far the tech is only confirmed for the Japanese Forester, but it’s not impossible that something similar could grace American cars in the future.
The tech expands on existing pedestrian airbags
Subaru’s existing pedestrian airbags cover the base of the A-pillars, but the new Forester design goes all the way to the top. It’s easy to see the advantages of this placement for cyclists — if you’ve ever stood on your pedals for maximum torque and speed, you’ve likely noticed just how high up your head is compared to the cars around you. An oblique impact with the front of a car could easily send a cyclist’s head past the low-mounted pedestrian airbag, and into the upper inches of the A-pillar.
That possibility makes it somewhat odd, though, that the airbag doesn’t cover the windshield glass. Cracking your head on a tempered windshield through a flimsy little bicycle helmet doesn’t seem like the sort of activity that’s fantastic for your gray matter, and covering the windshield would also protect the car’s glass from anything solid that makes contact. Plus, it would have the knock-on effect of forcing drivers to actually stop when they hit a pedestrian or cyclist — preventing hit and runs, and perhaps even helping to enforce an exchange of insurance information. A world where drivers are forced to look out for the non-cars around them, and consider the lives of people uninsulated by thousands of pounds of steel, is a better world for all of us.
