At the rate manufacturers are adding airbags, in a few years time, our vehicle's interior after an accident will probably look like a swollen mushroom - that is, unless someone devises an inflatable airbag suit and then we'll look like the Michelin man… The latest invention in the airbag industry is a new head protection system for convertibles from TRW Automotive. The company says that this is the first system of its kind to be located in the seat mount rather than the door trim.

TRW's head protection system combines a thorax or pelvic-thorax module together with a head restraint module located in the upper seat-back and it is supposed to make its production launch with a major European vehicle manufacturer by the end of the year.

Alexander Heilig, European engineering director for TRW Automotive's Occupant Safety Systems business, commented: "TRW's head protection system for convertibles has an innovative product design with two separate airbag safety systems for both head and torso protection. The two systems are designed to deploy in the event of a side impact or rollover accident. They work independently to allow individual tuning of the different protection zones yet operate from common sensors."

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