Car Manufacturers Develop Air Bag for Pedestrian

Recently, NHK, a Japanese national TV station screened a news which says that Japanese car manufacturers are now developing technologies that can protect pedestrians from suffering fatal injuries or deaths during a street accident. Such technologies include speed and pedestrian sensors, as well as air bag, for pedestrian. The sophisticated and expensive equipment will be installed at cars' bonnet or hood. If a pedestrian stands in front of a fast moving car, the pedestrian sensor will instruct the computer to activate the car's brake to prevent it from hitting the pedestrian.

Toyota, a leading car manufacturer is developing this technology. One of its shareholders has requested this accident prevention technology to be developed and installed in cars after his daughter was hit by a car several years ago.

According to a researcher in the car industry, installing such equipment will be considered very expensive for car buyers. The additional price of such pedestrian sensor and air bag is 6,000 US dollars per car. Many car buyers do not see such technology or equipment as a must for their cars.

Japanese car manufacturers are trying to lower the cost so that the technology will commercially be viable for all cars. Until now only owners of luxurious that can afford for such pedestrian protection technology to be installed in their cars. by Charles Roring