Airbags

[Hairsy]

I'll start by saying I'm not an expert.

 

Based on my many hours of research though, the most common view seems to be that an avoidance of hyper-extension of the neck is something that we can benefit from. But that's extreme movement of the neck. The hump on race suits has this effect (even though it's primarily there for aerodynamics). Where there's shoulder, chest and high back coverage on an airbag, that can also help. I read one article (I thin it was by a surgeon but can't find it again) that said that the most extreme neck damage may come from the head coming forward, not backward or to the side.

 

However, too much constraint around the neck can be detrimental and it would take only a small amount of 'excess' airbag around the helmet to cause the helmet strap to tighten and introduce issues of its own.

 

Different airbags provide different levels of coverage, both up and down the torso. Torsos are different. Different helmets will be affected by different amounts by airbags. My suspicion (note that this is my opinion only) is that all of these differences are why no-one is claiming that they've managed to design the perfect airbag for avoiding helmet deflection - simply because there's no one 'perfect'. Depends on the person and the accident.

 

As an aside, when I was into paragliding, there were 3 main designs of helmet. They were very different. They were all 'best' for a specific type of accident. The same may be true of airbags - choose your preferred type of accident and then someone can tell you the best airbag for you. PLUS the convenience factor - if you're rubbish at keeping things charged then you should only be looking at tethered systems because your electronic system won't work. If you're likely to forgot to fix a tether then don't look at tethered systems. 

 

I didn't come across any research that suggested that internal or external wearing of airbags makes a difference. In practice, an airbag deployment is so violent that any clothing will conform to the shape of the airbag below it. This is why its critically important to have enough space under your garments - one piece suits or zipped two piece suits need to be treated and assessed with caution and leather should have stretch panels.

 

What I did come across regarding the internal/external question was that abrasion resistance is a potential issue with externally worn airbags. A lot of abrasion can damage the airbag and be catastrophic. On track, most big impact injuries occur as the first event in an accident and so abrasion resistance may be less of an issue because the impact has happened before the abrasion sets in (although there's still tyre barriers etc to hit after a slide). For road use though, the main impact might be with street furniture / roundabouts / trees / etc which can happen after the clothing has been subject to a lot of abrasion during an extended slide.

 

There's also a secondary benefit with airbags worn under jackets in that they're likely to be reusable after a slide.

 

I hope that's helpful and I'll repeat that I'm not an expert. Please don't make any decisions based on what I've concluded - do your own research.

[RideWithStyles]

The jacket for underneath airbags have been designed to have burst strength seams and excess material folded to allow space for the airbag to expand so the air bag isn’t restricted by the jacket. If not then there is three possible out comes for failure, the bladders pop, the bladders fail to expand properly or damages yourself…

if you don’t buy a designed with one you have to go up a size or so but as people will know they aint all perfect to your biometrics, but if its boarder line now(tight neck, chest, arms etc) and you decide to put an extra layer or a heated vest underneath (most have edges for the connectors) you risk something going wrong.