2011 Explorer Offers Airbags Built Into Rear Seat Belts

The 2011 Ford Explorer will be launched with rear seat belts that include small built-in airbags. The inflatable belts will be optional on the Explorer, which is switching from a truck-based body-on-frame platform to a unibody or one-piece body and chassis. Ford safety officials today said the belts are designed to reduce head, neck and chest injuries in young children and the elderly.

Ford officials said infants and seniors are the passengers most likely to ride in the back seat and most susceptible to injuries in a crash. The belt is about the same width as a standard seat belt, but a thin bag inside the webbing makes it thicker than usual. The inflatable belt fits into the buckle the same as a normal seat belt -- even though the gas that fills the airbag travels through the buckle, a system that Ford patented.

When the bag deploys, the belt's fabric webbing splits down the side. Then an airbag about as long as a loaf of bread deploys. The belt is designed to spread the crash forces across an area five times larger than that of a regular seat belt, said Paul Mascarenas, Ford vice president of engineering and global product development.

Ford officials would not say how much the optional system -- available only on rear seats -- will cost or say on what other vehicles it will be offered. Sue Cischke, Ford vice president of safety engineering, would say only that the system will be affordable. She said Ford plans eventually to offer it in Europe and Asia. Mascarenas said Ford engineers have worked on the system for eight years.