Textile Coating from Dow Corning Helps Improve Performance in Side Curtain Airbags

Silicone solution improves inflation times, rollover protection

MIDLAND, Mich., July 20 -- A new textile coating from Dow Corning Corporation could assist in saving lives of side-impact crash victims and ease adoption of proposed safety regulations by vehicle manufacturers.

The high-performance, cost-effective coating allows side curtain airbags to remain inflated longer to improve protection in rollovers, and also allows the airbags to be folded into a narrow area above a vehicle's door to make design and assembly easier. Side curtain airbags typically cover the entire upper part of a vehicle's front and back side windows, cushioning the heads of passengers seated where the side impact takes place.

"Dow Corning provides the technology that helps make these life-saving devices cost-effective for airbag manufacturers and automobile manufacturers and more readily available to the public," said Sheryl Petroff, global market segment leader for Dow Corning Industrial Textile Coatings.

Although industry experts say that airbags with head protection can reduce death rates by 45 percent among drivers of cars struck on the driver side, only 24 percent of 2004 model year cars offered side airbags as standard and another 17 percent as an option, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, an insurance industry group that conducts research and crash tests.

In May, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration proposed new safety standards that vehicles will have to meet in side-impact crashes. Automakers can adopt any technology to meet the requirement, but it is expected they will use side curtain air bags. Automakers have agreed to include side air bags as standard equipment in at least 50 percent of their models by the 2007 model year and 100 percent by 2009.

"The more consumers learn about airbag systems, the more they realize that these are safety devices that can save lives and reduce injuries," said Peter Goelz, former managing director of the National Transportation Security Board.

Commonly stored in the headliner above the doors, side curtain airbags can inflate in less than 15 milliseconds -- four times faster than the blink of an eye. Unlike dashboard airbags, which are designed to inflate and deflate quickly during head-on collisions, studies have shown that side curtain airbags need to retain air pressure for several seconds during a rollover accident to provide a life-saving, head-cushioning function. The airbag must then safely deflate to allow for post-crash access and exit.

In response to these different performance needs, Dow Corning worked closely with a leading airbag manufacturer to develop a silicon modified organic coating that controls inflation/deflation timing and dependability, retains flexibility and resilience over wide temperature and humidity ranges over extended periods of time, and has a high resistance to gasses. In addition, the thinness of the coating ensures that the airbag cushion can be easily folded and complies with vehicle manufacturers' specifications.

"Liquid silicone rubber is often used to coat airbags, but our new technology requires less coating to hold the air pressure of the bag, giving it the foldability advantage," said Petroff.

Dow Corning has contributed to the ongoing development of frontal air bags as well with silicone coatings that enable even deployment while providing protection to the fabric from the heat and force of inflation.

In addition to coatings, Dow Corning offers a wide range of silicon-based solutions for airbag and transportation applications including sealing, bonding and seam-sealing; surface property enhancement; material coupling and adhesion promotion; and pigmentation. For more information about Dow Corning products and solutions for airbag applications, visit http://www.dowcorning.com/content/textiles/texind/ .

Dow Corning (http://www.dowcorning.com/ ) provides performance-enhancing solutions to serve the diverse needs of more than 25,000 customers worldwide. A global leader in silicon-based technology and innovation, offering more than 7,000 products and services. Dow Corning is equally owned by The Dow Chemical Company and Corning, Incorporated . More than half of Dow Corning's annual sales are outside the United States.