Bone Loss Detecting Cars

[Tuckerfan]

Okay, the idea on the surface looks pretty cool

Unlikely on the face of it, perhaps, but a consortium including Cranfield Impact Centre and Nissan Technical Centre Europe, has developed a prototype bone density scanning system which could be used to improved driver and passenger restraint systems in cars.

The system would work by taking an ultrasound scan of your finger and using the data to estimate the bone strength of each passenger, in particular the chest area which is most vulnerable to seat belt injury during accidents.

This information would then enable the system to assess a person’s potential tolerance to injury and adjust the force of their seatbelt accordingly so it ‘gives’ a little once the brakes are applied and the car begins to decelerate.

It will also adjust the firing of airbags. In cars with dual-stage airbags, for instance the system would be clever enough to decide whether or not to fire both stages.

As far as the airbags go, that’s great, since smaller folks tend to get seriously mangled by them (though if you’re wearing your seatbelt, why do airbags need to fire?), but adjusting the tensioning in the seatbelts to avoid bruising? Uh, guys, every car I’ve ever owned, once it got past the 10 year mark (which was usually about the time I could afford to buy it) developed massive electrical problems. Speedos, interior lights and radios flaking out is no big deal, however, when you get into things like the suspension system, ABS, and now, seatbelts, shorting out on you because of an electrical problem, it can get real scary, real quick.

And this aspect of it bothers me as well

“It would need to be used each time the car’s ignition was switched on, before the driver was able to move off. In its simplest form, it could be a hole into which you place your finger; the instrument would be powered to lightly grip the finger, take the reading and then release. This would then feed into the restraint system, part of a processing unit in the car, in addition to what is routinely used to detect a go/no-go situation for firing airbags and controlling the seatbelt operating characteristics.

So even if you’re in a hurry and don’t have time to wait for the car to spend five minutes (since the electrical system’s started to go and the onboard computer has trouble interpreting the data) figuring out how to keep you from getting bruised in a wreck (which statisically is pretty unlikely on any given day), you’ll have to wait it out, because the car won’t let you put it in gear until it’s done. :rolleyes:

[Gundhilde]

Sorry to be a little off-topic and irrelevant. But I’m curious as to how your car developed speedos after the 10-year mark. And, more importantly, did it look good in the speedos.

Otherwise, being a very short person, I’m definitely in favor of not getting killed by airbags, if at all possible.