Why not have a jacket which would deploy airbags if it detected you falling from a horse or motorcycle. Could also be used to prevent old and infirm people from hurting themselves should they fall over.
I realise this has the potential to provide some good material for comedy writers should it deploy by accident but might be worth looking into.
Are there any scenarios where airbag clothing deploying could get you killed? I'm thinking of things like inflating a life-jacket prematurely in a sinking aircraft which would prevent your egress. Could the airbag 'bounce' a falling biker into another vehicle after the primary impact which de-biked him?
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Although it's a good idea to provide an inflatable cushion in case of an accident the key difficulty is the deploying mechanism which would protect against s fall which does not involve a quick change in velocity before the dangerous impact. It does not seem absolutely impossible but it might be very difficult.
Yeah your right, the case where a motorcycle hits a car pulling out in front of it which would cause a rapid decrease in velocity is already covered with existing airbag deployment technology but falling from a bike, horse or just plain falling over would need some different systems to detect and react to the 'falling' state.
They recently used airbags to cushion the fall on some hardware that they sent to Mars so there must be circuitry and software in existance which can sense the 'falling' state that could be adapted for airbag clothing.
I am also thinking about the device which you attatch between your wrist and the cut off switch when you are riding a wave runner or jet-ski which stops the engine should you fall off, you could use something similar to activate the airbag clothing but might be difficult to implement on a horse or a bike as it could result in a lot of false airbag deployments when a forgetfull user dismounts and doesnt deactivate the system (Doh!)
This Idea is stupid. why would anybody waste thier money on an airbag jacket when these safety devices are already provided in cars also no one would want to look so dumb wearing this.
The idea is not stupid. Not everyone prefers cars as a mode of transportation. Airbag jackets already exit. They are made for motorcyclists. An air bladder inflates via a pull cord when the rider is thrown from the bike. The air bladder protects the back only on current models.
The Impact Jacket (an airbag jacket) saved a motorcylists life in Baltimore recently.
Here is the link:
http://www.wbaltv.com/news/14328936/detail.html?taf=bal
Though technically difficult, this idea may work for motorcycles.
As a horseback rider, however, I think it could be more of a hinderance than help. Most of the falls I've taken from horses have been in situations where there were predictable and expected. The key to taking a fall on a horse is planning. When you've determined that you've let your CG get too high or uncentered and he's going to get you off, you have to 'plan' your fall. Essentially, you 'jump' off. Most times I can land on my feet or if I have forward speed, fall to my hands/knees right away, and keep the reins in my hand to stop the horse and get back on.
If I had pyrotechnics going off if my jacket, it would turn the horse into a bolting-bullet and turn me from a lithe-acrobat (humor, I'm not really that good) to a bouncing michelin-tire doughnut-man.
You want the horse to get through it calmly, then get back-on right away to prove it didn't do him any good to throw you, you win anyway. If the jacket explodes and he runs and gets away, you'll never get that.
"there never was a horse that couldn't be rode, there never was a rider that couldn't be throwed".