With the expansion of the automotive sector, automotive manufacturers are focused on improving the driving experience, engineering fuel- and cost-efficiency and enhancing the overall safety for drivers and passengers. Automotive airbag market is likely to benefit from this scenario, as vehicle safety remains a superior necessity.
Automotive Airbag Adoption Escalates As Regulatory Mandates Kick in
There are various actions such as the facilitation of regulatory mandates with an aim to reduce the number of road accident fatalities and improving passenger and driver safety. Vehicle manufacturers seek to improve the safety quotient in their automotive products in light of the vehicle safety mandates.
One such regulatory mandate was recently announced by the government of India. According to the regulation which will be effective from July 1, 2019, it will be mandatory for all new cars in India to be equipped with a driver-side airbag, seat belt reminder, speed warning system, and rear parking sensors. Vehicle safety equipment suppliers such as the automotive airbag supplier are struggling to address the massive demand that is associated with such regulations. Such initiatives are expected to boost the growth of the automotive airbag market and offer further growth opportunities for the automotive airbag manufacturers in the Indian market.
Automotive Airbag Innovations Unveiled to Better Address Safety Requirements
With the increasing safety standards and the growing emphasis given to vehicle safety, key innovations are being stimulated in the vehicle safety landscape, where innovations pertaining to automotive airbags are launched.
- External Crash Safety Automotive Airbag Developed
Achieving high-level safety in vehicles is recognized as a primary requirement for automotive manufacturers. In the wake of this requirement, ZF Friedrichshafen AG—a Germany-based automotive airbag supplier recently developed an external airbag for cars. Twice the size of conventional interior airbags, these external airbags are designed to tackle side-impact crash scenarios. The testing conducted by ZF found that the extra layer of safety reduced the severity of injuries by 40%.
- Multi-collision Airbag System Enhances Automotive Airbag Performance
The primary impact is followed by the collisions with secondary objects in multi-collision accidents, which has a three out of ten frequency rate. With current airbag systems, secondary protection is not achievable. To tackle this challenge, Hyundai unveiled the multi-collision airbag system that improves the automotive airbag performance in case of multi-collisions by detecting occupant position in the cabin after an initial collision.
Burgeoning Demand to Propel Automotive Airbag Production
With the increasing automotive airbag demand, the automotive airbag production landscape has witnessed significant expansion. On account of the increasing adoption for automotive airbags, automotive airbag suppliers are finding the need to boost production capabilities. Material production has also elevated significantly with the increasing automotive airbag production requirements.
Rane TRW Steering Systems Pvt. Ltd., an automotive component manufacturer and a joint venture between Germany-based ZF Group and India’s Rane Group unveiled a new occupant safety product facility in Tamil Nadu—India. The company stated that the facility consists of an initial capacity of 500,000 airbag modules and a million seatbelt assemblies each year. Officials believe that the new facility would allow the company to address the growing demand for vehicle safety products and further concentrate the airbag cushion production process.
Porcher Industries has recently opened a new production site in Jiaxing, China. According to the company, this manufacturing site would produce 8 million m2 of material which would be used for airbag production.
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