Hyundai presents first-ever panoramic sunroof airbag

One thing that more car buyers look for is a panoramic sunroof. So naturally, automakers aim to give its customers what they want. Nevertheless, safety is a pertinent issue that has to be addressed. This is why Hyundai is making sure to answer all safety concerns regarding the glass sunroofs. Hyundai has developed a panoramic sunroof airbag, which they claim to be the first ever in the industry.

So how does this work? Well, the South Korean automaker installed the airbag inside the sunroof mechanism of the tempered glass roof. The airbag gets activated when the car’s on-board sensor detects the vehicle about to roll over when it crashes. In around 0.08 of a second, the airbag can be deployed from the front to the rear of the car, covering the entire roof surface. Now that is indeed a first.

If in any case the car rolls over, the sunroof airbag will prevent passengers from spilling out of the car. This reduces their risk of getting serious injuries.

After Hyundai presented all that, we still do not know when the automaker will produce actual vehicles that will have this feature.

The reason behind Hyundai’s move to develop this feature is the risk related to panoramic sunroofs. For instance, Hyundai had to recall some of its Veloster models in the past six years due to issues like shattering glass. The Audi Q5 had to be recalled too because of complaints of leaking water, while several Ford models had faulty sunroofs.

Hyundai’s airbag is unique because it uses materials made of special tempered glass, and as mentioned earlier, it will deploy when the car senses danger. According to sources, the developers took inspiration from the way curtain airbags inflate.

The Korean automaker’s safety mechanism is the first thing that they created that actually beat other manufacturers that marketed a new airbag technology. Having said that, 11 patents have already been added to their archives.

We are actually quite excited to see this being implemented in future cars. Not only will passengers feel safer, but future cars will be cooler in general. They also said that the main purpose of the sunroof is for passengers in the rear to enjoy the open view. However, like we said earlier, this is a study that was made by Hyundai and we do know when to expect this to come to life. Moreover, Hyundai has not mentioned which vehicles will be taking advantage of this new feature.