But innovations in airbags can help protect motorcyclists.
The wearer secures the jeans to their bike and if they fall off the bike, the airbags are deployed, which fill with compressed air and reduce impact on the lower body. The airbag can then be deflated, refilled with gas and fitted back into jeans for reuse, Shahrivar explains.
Airbag Inside Sweden AB is in the process of getting the jeans certified according to European health and safety standards and is putting them through a series of crash tests.
The company raised € 150,000 ($ 180,000) from the European Union to develop the idea and hopes to bring the jeans to market by 2022. The French company CX Air Dynamics has launched a crowdfunding campaign to develop a similar idea.
Airbag vests
Shahrivar says this is the first time this type of protection has been available for the lower body.
Equivalent upper body technology has been around for over 20 years. Motorcycle airbag vests can be fitted under a jacket and protect the chest, neck and sometimes the back.
Early versions were attached to the bike, like Shahrivar’s jeans, but more recently autonomous electronic airbags have been developed, which instead use high-tech sensors to detect when the rider is about to fall.
One of the autonomous airbags on the market is a system developed by the French company In & motion.
The company started designing portable airbags for professional skiers in 2011 and has since adapted the technology for motorcyclists. Rather than using a chain to deploy airbags, it has created a “brain” consisting of a GPS, gyroscope, and accelerometer. This box is slightly larger than a smartphone and is placed in the back of any compatible vest.
“The sensors measure motion in real time and the algorithm is able to detect a fall or accident to inflate the airbag just before a crash,” Anne-Laure Hoegeli, communications and motion manager, told CNN Business.
The box measures the position of the rider 1,000 times per second. Once an “irreversible imbalance” is detected, the air bag is deployed and fully inflated to protect the user’s thorax, abdomen, neck and spine, Hoegeli explains. This only takes 60 milliseconds.
In & motion recently raised € 10 million ($ 12 million) for expansion in Europe and the United States.
While basic operation is similar to other electronic airbags on the market, In & motion has an affordable subscription service, explains Emma Franklin, deputy editor of Motorcycle News. “Their system has made airbags more accessible to ordinary people in many ways,” Franklin told CNN Business.
Riders can buy the box for $ 400 or rent it from In & motion for about $ 120 per year. Users in France also have access to a facility that calls emergency services in the event of an accident.
“From the few papers, case studies, and articles I’ve seen, they look like a really useful piece of equipment,” Frampton says.
“I’m for them – the chest, neck, and spine are all areas where you can get life-threatening injuries.”