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Air bag vest
The air bag vest is a personal safety device worn by some motorcyclists and horse riders. Airbag vests initially found popularity among equestrian competitors, and airbags have become mandatory in professional motorcycle racing. In 2018, it became compulsory across all classes within the FIM MotoGP World Championship for riders’ race suits to be fitted with airbag systems.
In horse riding, the device is worn over a standard padded vest and is automatically inflated by gas released from a carbon dioxide canister when a tether attached to the horse's saddle is extended during a fall.
While early motorcycle vests followed this approach, the technology has advanced: modern systems use a set of onboard sensors (accelerometer, gyroscope and GPS) that analyze the motorcyclist's movements . An onboard computer uses this sensor data to predict the start of a crash and inflate the airbag before the rider hits the ground or a hard object. Germany's ADAC tested these systems and found that the speed of detection and inflation mattered. More comprehensive research by Ballester et al. also found that the speed of inflation was critical for safety, with tethered systems too slow to inflate in some accident scenarios.
Electronic airbags – either integrated into the motorcyclist's jacket or worn over it – have started to become more common among regular riders on the street. Manufacturers of electronic systems include In&Motion, Alpinestars, Helite (E-Turtle) and Dainese.
The device weighs approximately 2 pounds (0.91 kg) and is worn over a standard protective high density foam vest. Connected by a cord to the horse's saddle, a carbon dioxide canister is punctured when the cord is extended during a fall, inflating the vest in 100 to 250 milliseconds. Unlike car air bags, the air bag vests can be repacked and reloaded for reuse with a new CO2 cartridge. Companies that manufacture the vests created them for motorcyclists as early as 1999. Point Two Air Jackets, a British manufacturer, began selling the device for horse riders starting in 2009 and the Japanese company Hit Air has a similar device, which sell for about $400 to $700 depending on the model. In the US, companies such as MotoAir-USA started to spring up, using similar technology. As of 2010, Point Two estimated that 6,000 eventing riders wore its vests, while Hit Air estimated that 10,000 of its vests were being used. The United States Team at the FEI World Equestrian Games in 2010 planned to provide riders with air bag vests.
Studies conducted by the British Transport Research Laboratory showed that the vests improved protection by 69% when worn by riders in conjunction with a standard protective vest and cut the risk of rib fractures and damage to internal organs by 20%. Studies performed by the TRL for Point Two showed a reduction exceeding 55% in the chest compression experienced while wearing the vest compared to unprotected falls, and that chest compression was cut in half of the maximum limit set by the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for chest compression in automobile crashes. At a competition in France held in September 2009, rider Karim Florent Laghouag was able to walk away from a fall in which his horse somersaulted over a fence with his only injury a dislocated elbow. Similar types of rotational falls have resulted in the death of 13 riders in the four-year span through 2010. In 2010, British rider Oliver Townend described the vest as "the biggest step forward in the safety of our sport, ever". Townend had his horse fall on top of him while participating in the Rolex Kentucky Three Day in Lexington, Kentucky, and despite a broken sternum and four cracked ribs, credited the vest with allowing him to leave the hospital after only one day, saying that without the vest he "would be in a box or in America for a month".
In motorcycling, Ballester et al. defined the critical information for airbag efficiency assessment: the zones and levels of torso protection, the impacted surfaces as well as the airbag intervention time and the duration of maintained inflation of the airbag. Also, earlier work by Thollon et al. analysed the effectiveness of airbag protection for reducing thoracic injuries in motorcycle accidents. However, more research is needed regarding neck protection for motorcyclists. Some manufacturers' airbags protect the neck from extreme movement in a crash, but many lack this protection.
Independent research found that current airbags are effective and provide significant impact protection, but only under 30 mph. Initial investigation by ADAC found: “Increased protection potential is primarily only effective in accidents up to 50 Km/h.” In 2019, Thierry Serre et al. published more in-depth research (involving not only impact tests on cadavers but detailed analyses of actual crashes involving riders wearing an airbag). They found that: “The airbag jackets seem to offer limited protection from a threshold speed which can be estimated to an impact around to 30-40 Km/h, but these speeds differ with the impact configuration.”
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Air bag vest
The air bag vest is a personal safety device worn by some motorcyclists and horse riders. Airbag vests initially found popularity among equestrian competitors, and airbags have become mandatory in professional motorcycle racing. In 2018, it became compulsory across all classes within the FIM MotoGP World Championship for riders’ race suits to be fitted with airbag systems.
In horse riding, the device is worn over a standard padded vest and is automatically inflated by gas released from a carbon dioxide canister when a tether attached to the horse's saddle is extended during a fall.
While early motorcycle vests followed this approach, the technology has advanced: modern systems use a set of onboard sensors (accelerometer, gyroscope and GPS) that analyze the motorcyclist's movements . An onboard computer uses this sensor data to predict the start of a crash and inflate the airbag before the rider hits the ground or a hard object. Germany's ADAC tested these systems and found that the speed of detection and inflation mattered. More comprehensive research by Ballester et al. also found that the speed of inflation was critical for safety, with tethered systems too slow to inflate in some accident scenarios.
Electronic airbags – either integrated into the motorcyclist's jacket or worn over it – have started to become more common among regular riders on the street. Manufacturers of electronic systems include In&Motion, Alpinestars, Helite (E-Turtle) and Dainese.
The device weighs approximately 2 pounds (0.91 kg) and is worn over a standard protective high density foam vest. Connected by a cord to the horse's saddle, a carbon dioxide canister is punctured when the cord is extended during a fall, inflating the vest in 100 to 250 milliseconds. Unlike car air bags, the air bag vests can be repacked and reloaded for reuse with a new CO2 cartridge. Companies that manufacture the vests created them for motorcyclists as early as 1999. Point Two Air Jackets, a British manufacturer, began selling the device for horse riders starting in 2009 and the Japanese company Hit Air has a similar device, which sell for about $400 to $700 depending on the model. In the US, companies such as MotoAir-USA started to spring up, using similar technology. As of 2010, Point Two estimated that 6,000 eventing riders wore its vests, while Hit Air estimated that 10,000 of its vests were being used. The United States Team at the FEI World Equestrian Games in 2010 planned to provide riders with air bag vests.
Studies conducted by the British Transport Research Laboratory showed that the vests improved protection by 69% when worn by riders in conjunction with a standard protective vest and cut the risk of rib fractures and damage to internal organs by 20%. Studies performed by the TRL for Point Two showed a reduction exceeding 55% in the chest compression experienced while wearing the vest compared to unprotected falls, and that chest compression was cut in half of the maximum limit set by the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for chest compression in automobile crashes. At a competition in France held in September 2009, rider Karim Florent Laghouag was able to walk away from a fall in which his horse somersaulted over a fence with his only injury a dislocated elbow. Similar types of rotational falls have resulted in the death of 13 riders in the four-year span through 2010. In 2010, British rider Oliver Townend described the vest as "the biggest step forward in the safety of our sport, ever". Townend had his horse fall on top of him while participating in the Rolex Kentucky Three Day in Lexington, Kentucky, and despite a broken sternum and four cracked ribs, credited the vest with allowing him to leave the hospital after only one day, saying that without the vest he "would be in a box or in America for a month".
In motorcycling, Ballester et al. defined the critical information for airbag efficiency assessment: the zones and levels of torso protection, the impacted surfaces as well as the airbag intervention time and the duration of maintained inflation of the airbag. Also, earlier work by Thollon et al. analysed the effectiveness of airbag protection for reducing thoracic injuries in motorcycle accidents. However, more research is needed regarding neck protection for motorcyclists. Some manufacturers' airbags protect the neck from extreme movement in a crash, but many lack this protection.
Independent research found that current airbags are effective and provide significant impact protection, but only under 30 mph. Initial investigation by ADAC found: “Increased protection potential is primarily only effective in accidents up to 50 Km/h.” In 2019, Thierry Serre et al. published more in-depth research (involving not only impact tests on cadavers but detailed analyses of actual crashes involving riders wearing an airbag). They found that: “The airbag jackets seem to offer limited protection from a threshold speed which can be estimated to an impact around to 30-40 Km/h, but these speeds differ with the impact configuration.”