Safety conscious car shoppers take note: not only do many cars come equipped with antilock brakes, brake assist, front and side airbags, collision warning and a host of other safety features, but it may soon include an all new feature: inflatable seat belts.

Rear Seat Safety

That's right, rear seating passengers who are often the most vulnerable when it comes to an accident may have an important new feature to protect themselves. The Ford Motor Company is bringing an advanced safety restraint idea to the market and that component will find its way into the all new Ford Explorer which will hit the market in 2010.

"Ford's rear inflatable seat belt technology will enhance safety for rear-seat passengers of all ages, especially for young children who are more vulnerable in crashes," said Sue Cischke, Ford group vice president of Sustainability, Environmental and Safety Engineering. "This is another unique family technology that builds on our safety leadership, including the most top safety ratings of any automaker."

Holding Occupants Steady

Ford says that the new safety feature will work this way: In the event of a frontal or side crash, the inflatable belt's increased diameter more effectively holds the occupant in the appropriate seating position, helping to reduce the risk of injury.

Vehicle safety sensors ascertain the intensity of the accident in a fraction of a second, releasing the inflatable belts' air bags. Each belt's tubular air bag blows up with cold compressed gas, which moves through a distinctively crafted buckle from a cylinder housed underneath the seat.

The inflatable belt's accordion-folded bag breaks through the belt fabric as it fills with air, stretching sideways across the occupant's personage in about the same amount of time it takes a car moving at highway speed to cover a yard of distance.

The use of cold compressed gas instead of a heat-generating chemical reaction - which is typical of traditional air bag systems - means the inflated belts feel no warmer on the wearer's body than the ambient temperature. The inflatable belts also fill at a lower pressure and a slower rate than traditional air bags, because the device does not need to close a gap between the belt and the occupant.

Well Tested

"It's a very simple and logical system, but it required extensive trial and error and testing over several years to prove out the technology and ensure precise reliable performance in a crash situation," said Srini Sundararajan, safety technical leader for Ford research and advance engineering.

Ford says that they plan on introducing the inflated seat belt feature globally soon after the Explorer introduction.