Bosch develops vehicle restraint control systems to increase human safety during collisions

The global cost of road accidents in developing and emerging nations is at least US$100 billion a year according to a recent UN-sponsored study. By 2020, the study estimates that road accidents will be world's third leading cause of death, behind heart disease and deaths linked to mental illnesses. Other studies have indicated that the casualty and fatality rates in the UAE and other GCC countries are much higher than in the developing and developed countries with comparable vehicle ownership. A recent survey by the UAE Ministry of Planning revealed that UAE nationals had incurred the bulk of physical and material damages suffered in traffic accidents with 32.5 per cent of the casualties in 2002.

"With vehicle ownership in the GCC countries steadily increasing, the corresponding rise in the number of fatalities is also a cause of concern. While government authorities especially in UAE are conducting concerted campaigns to educate road users, we at Bosch are constantly developing new technology that plays a major role in improving the overall safety of passenger cars. While airbags and seat restraints are becoming a norm in high-end vehicles, Bosch expects that our Electronic Stability Programme, which drives the Electronic Stability Control, will become standard equipment in all vehicles. Consumers in the Middle East need to be aware that such technology is more effective in higher speed ranges when vehicle dynamics play a greater role and the crashes that occur are more severe," said Jacek Swinski, General Manager, Robert Bosch Automotive Middle East.

With rising number of traffic fatalities, the global standards for the protection of vehicle occupants are becoming increasingly stringent. Bosch has developed the Generation Airbag 9, a modular control system allowing variable expansion for the control of vehicle occupant restraint devices. In the event of an accident, the system selects the best possible restraint devices, such as airbags or seat belt tensioners, from those available and activates them if necessary to provide the best possible protection to the driver and passengers.

The AB9 airbag control unit has an integrated central sensor system and acceleration and pressure sensors on the vehicle body. The system's electronics can process signals from 12 different peripheral sensors. A high-performance microcontroller evaluates the signals, checks them for plausibility and controls up to 38 restraint devices as required.

In the event of a frontal impact, up-front sensors integrated in the crumple zone provide advance signals indicating the severity of the collision. The information available allows the control system to distinguish collisions and decide on the required activation of restraints. Side impacts are the second most frequent type of accident following frontal impacts. The control unit must trigger side restraint systems in less than five milliseconds to allow them sufficient time for operation. For this purpose, Bosch has developed a sensor system featuring acceleration sensors on the body sides and pressure sensors in the doors.

From 2006 onwards, Bosch intends to introduce radar pre-crash sensors offering information on distance from obstacle, relative speed and type of impact.

According to recent studies, in about 20 per cent of fatal accidents, the vehicle overturns. In 2001, Bosch began production rollover sensors. In the case of a rollover, the control system triggers belt tensioners, side and head airbags and rollover bars in such a way as to provide the best protection possible for the vehicle occupants. In the Airbag 9, the sensor has been improved to allow detection of rollover even earlier and more reliably. It can also integrate information from the electronic stability program (ESP) for rollover detection.
ESP has been another key area of Bosch's automotive safety research programme. The automotive division has produced 8 million ESP units until the end of 2002. A global body of new research data from the world's top auto manufacturing countries has also confirmed the effectiveness of this programme in Electronic Stability Control (ESC), the active safety technology recommended for all passenger cars.
International studies from Mercedes and DEKRA Automotive Research in Germany; the Swedish National Road Administration, the European Accident Causation; and Toyota in Japan support claims that ESC can prevent crashes and help save thousands of lives. The ESC is an active safety technology, which augments the passive restraints (air bags and seat belts) when purchasing a new vehicle.