Abstract
Interaction between the head of the driver and the steering wheel may cause facial injuries, especially in high speed accidents. Air cushion technology provides the means of distributing and reducing the inertia forces acting on the head and the face. This paper describes the development of an airbag system, including the electrical sensor which is integrated in the steering wheel. Information on necessary sensor testing, both on rough roads and in crash conditions, is presented. The improvements which are achieved, in terms of reduced violence to the face, have also been assessed experimentally by using a test dummy with a load sensing face. (A) For the covering abstract of the conference see IRRD 837684.