Quantum leap in motorcycle safety

[Mike C]

The german automobile club ADAC have for the first time crash tested an airbag equipped Honda Goldwing smashing at 72kmh directly into the side of a VW Sharan. Pics 2-10 show what happens without an airbag. The forces inflicted on the test dummy, even with the helmet, showed that a human would have died from a broken neck. Pics 11 -16 say a thousand words. The test dummy here suffered two broken legs under the knee because they impacted on the motorcycle cowling.

This type of accident was tested because it is for the motorcyclist the most dangerous and deadly. Further tests have shown that the airbag will still provide protection if the cyclist hits at an angle a few degrees left or right of 90°. This airbag protection now gives motorcyclists a much better chance of survival in about 1/3rd of all accidents.

Although the concept has been around since the 80´s, Honda is the only company that offer the airbag. BMW states in an interview with the ADAC that it congratulates Honda on the achievement, but it believes the airbag can only be installed in cycles with large cowlings (and the GoldWing does have a big one) and is only effective under special crash circumstances. BMW continues to research into safety methods and equipment, such as advanced ABS, that can be used for all types of bikes.

Additional pictures here.

[harley-lynn]

Interesting...I thought I heard about the motorcycle bag before but I never saw it in use...to me it doesn't make sense ...most of my biker friends would lay the bike down before hitting the side of a van head on...

[Mike C]

That depends on the reaction time a cyclist has. My brother was driving his bike down a street, and on the right side were houses one after the other. All of a sudden, a car backs out from the driveway about 50 or so feet right before him and blocked the street totally. He had almost no time to react. The driver of the car wanted to back out and then turn left and drive in the same direction my brother was going. The driver of the car didn´t see my brother at all, and my bro was driving about 40 miles an hour. He impacted the right side of the car and fortunately didn´t hit the car....he flew over it and landed in the street. He lucked out big time and only got scraped up and bruised.

[MotoRacer598]

Your not suppose to lay the bike down! We teach that in the MSF course. Greater risk of injury if ya lay the bike over

[harley-lynn]

I think it all depends on what's happening at the time when there's an accident about to happen...speed...timing...etc...When I was younger I was taught how to put the bike down when and if I had to...but that was on a dirt/mini bike and I only did it once with my Harley when I lost my balance with it...But do you really think an air bag is going to save your life on a motorcycle?...not all people I know that have crash stayed on the bike when getting hit...I've had some pretty close calls on the streets where people have back out in the streets or were coming out of side streets and didn't see me but I have a "trust issue" where I look for that stuff and slow down cause I never know if they see me...also I'm a heavy user of the horn which does help somewhat...I just don't "trust" others on the road when I ride a motorcycle...The test booklet says, to "look" out and have a plan of "escape" to avoid accidents...no wonder I'm stressed out on a bike...

[MotoRacer598]

I dont think a airbags going to save anyone on a bike. I had alot of close calls on the street esp here in Fl thats why i stopped riding on the street and only raced them.

[Andy]

Laying the bike down? I keep hearing that but cant help but think of uncontrolled panic braking (usually the rear only ) causing a dump and then bravado covering up incompetence when describing the aftermath. Anyhoo, I remember back when Honda came out with this pre-SCI we were talking about it on our biker board, seemed it would be ok for t-boning a left turner at the doors, but an even better idea would be some sort of airbag leathers that would send you bouncing like a beachball down the street in the event of an unscheduled dismount. I also seem to remember some sort of airbag helmet that someone came out with that made some sort of neck brace?