But innovations in airbags can help keep riders safe.
The user ties the jeans to the bicycle and, if they fall off the motorcycle, the airbags are activated, filling with compressed air and reducing the impact on the lower body. The airbag can then be deflated, refilled with gas and reassembled in jeans to use again, explains Shahrivar.
Airbag Inside Sweden AB is in the process of certifying the jeans according to European health and safety standards and is subjecting them to a series of crash tests.
The company raised € 150,000 ($ 180,000) from the European Union to develop the idea and hopes to launch jeans on the market in 2022. French company CX Air Dynamics launched a crowdfunding campaign to develop a similar idea.
Airbag jackets
Shahrivar says it is the first time that this type of protection will be available for the lower body.
The equivalent technology for the upper body has been around for over 20 years. Motorcycle airbag jackets can be fitted under a jacket and protect the chest, neck and sometimes the back.
The first versions were tied to the bicycle, like Shahrivar’s jeans, but more recently, autonomous electronic airbags have been developed, which use high-tech sensors to detect when the rider is about to fall.
Among the autonomous airbags on the market is a system created by the French company In & Motion.
The company started designing wearable airbags for professional skiers in 2011 and has since adapted the technology for motorcyclists. Instead of using a rope to deploy airbags, he created a “brain” consisting of a GPS, gyroscope and accelerometer. Slightly larger than a smartphone, this box is placed on the back of any compatible vest.
“The sensors measure the movements in real time and the algorithm is able to detect a fall or an accident to inflate the airbag just before an accident,” movement communication manager Anne-Laure Hoegeli told CNN Business.
The box measures the pilot’s position 1,000 times per second. As soon as an “unrecoverable imbalance” is detected, the airbag deploys and fully inflates to protect the user’s chest, abdomen, neck and spine, explains Hoegeli. This takes just 60 milliseconds.
In & motion recently raised € 10 million ($ 12 million) in financing for expansion in Europe and the United States.
While the 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.
Passengers can buy the box for $ 400 or rent it from In & Motion for around $ 120 a year. Users in France also have access to a setting that calls emergency services in case of an accident.
“From the few documents, case studies and articles I’ve seen, they seem to be a very useful device,” says Frampton.
“I am in favor of them – the chest, neck and spine are areas where you can have fatal injuries.”