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The somewhat dated FMVSS 208 regulation requires that crash dummies are belted with no slack. Reality shows that there is 120mm slack in the belt system for a 50 percentile occupant. Test results would yield more then 20% worse injury indexes when taking slack into account. This presentation will show how pretensioners can reduce injuries, giving a historical perspective from spring loaded systems to current pyrotechnic systems. Future developments using multi-cartridge and multi-piston systems and associated test results will be discussed.

Paper introduces cost effective design alternatives for “out of position” occupant safety, including: Extractable passenger side lids which move out of the way before airbag deploys. Multi-stage tether controlled airbag deployment dynamically senses “out of position” resistance and controls deployment of further stages. Airbag back pressure activated steering column forward and down movement. Two stage thorax bag with tether control to prevent catapulting “out of position” occupants. Two stage headrest that expands forward and sideways to protect occupant heads in rear end crashes. Second stage activates only if no “out of position” is detected.