External Airbags On The Way

Volvo premiered a world-first pedestrian airbag system with its new V40 hatch, but at least one company looks set to up the ante before the decade is out. 

Industry supplier TRW has confirmed it is developing new external airbags that will deploy from beneath a vehicle's doors the instant before a side impact, significantly increasing passenger protection. 

“Side crashes are still one of the highest accident rates, accounting for 37-40 per cent of accidents,” TRW's Norbert Kagerer told British paper Auto Express in an interview.

Volvo's 2013 April Fool joke; a full-body airbag system.