Side Impact Protection System

Side Impact Protection System (SIPS) is a passive safety system in an automobile to protect against injury in a side collision, developed by Volvo Cars.

History

SIPS was first introduced in 1991 for the Volvo 700, 900 and 850 series cars of model year 1992. It has been standard on every new Volvo since.

SIPS consists of a reinforced lower sill panel, "B pillar" and reinforcements with energy absorbing honeycomb materials inside the doors. The idea is to more widely distribute the energy in a side collision across the whole side of the car rather than having the b-pillar absorb it all. Driver and passenger seat are mounted on transverse steel rails, not bolted to the floor as per the standard configuration. In a side impact these transverse rails allow the seats to crush a reinforced center console designed to absorb additional energy.

In 1994, for the 1995 model year, the SIPS-Bag was introduced. Initially an option on 850 models, it became standard equipment of all new Volvo automobiles beginning in 1995 for the 1996 model year. The system consists of a mechanically activated side airbag that protects the front seat occupants torsos from hitting the cars interior.

In 1998, for the 1999 model year, the system was extensively redesigned. With the launch of the Volvo S80 the IC airbag, a curtain style airbag deploying from the headlining to protect the head, was added. It has since been standard equipment on all newly released Volvos.
Because of technical reasons the existing Volvo S70, V70 and C70 models were instead equipped with the SIPS-BAG II.

In 2006, for the 2007 model year, the fourth generation SIPS was introduced incorporating more high strength steel, structural changes, more bracing and dual chamber sips-bags.

Notably, under Volvo's 1999-2006 tenure with Ford's Premier Automotive Group, Ford adapted the SIPS system to numerous of its vehicles, including the Ford Five Hundred/Mercury Montego, Freestyle, Taurus X, Flex and fifth generation Explorer as well as the Lincoln MKS, MKT. Ford marketed its system as SPACE (Side Protection and Cabin Enhancement) Architecture, incorporating at floor level a bolt-in hydroformed cross-car steel beam between the B-pillars directly below an identical reinforced cross-roof beam above the B-pillars to channel impact forces around rather than through the passenger cabin.

Development of the SIPS-bag

In 1994 Volvo presented accident statistics, indicating that roughly 25% of the serious-to-fatal injuries in passenger cars was caused by side-impact collisions. These findings highlighted the need for improvements in side-impact protection, since the ongoing advancement of car design mainly focused on frontal crash safety.

The Volvo engineers Stig Pilhall, Johnny Korner and Bengt Ouchterlony presented the first side-collision protection airbag called SIPSbag. The solution was a supplement of the Side Impact Protection System (SIPS) and was called SIPSbag. Vehicles with SIPS and SIPSbag were estimated to reduce the risk of serious chest injuries (AIS3+) by approximately 40% in comparison with models before the innovation. Further, the objective of the SIPSbag was to, primarily, provide additional protection against chest injuries and secondarily to reduce head injuries.

The development continued to the industrialization of the SIPSbag, which was presented in a technical publication by Björn Lundell, Mikael Edvardsson, Lennart Johansson Johnny Korner and Stig Pilhall in 1995. Further, Stig Pilhall also led a team at Volvo working to integrate the airbag into the front seats allowing more extensive safety.

Safety and effectiveness

Later research found that side airbag systems protecting both the head and torse adressed 41.1% lower odds for death or personal injury in side-impact collisions on the driver's side.

See also

References

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  6. 1 2 "SIPS: A unique safety solution from Volvo" (PDF). www.volvoclub.org.uk. Volvo Car Corporation. October 1991. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2017-08-04. Retrieved 2017-07-07.
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  13. 1 2 3 "Second-Generation Sips-Bag protects both chest and head". www.volvogroup.com. Volvo Group. 17 July 1998. Archived from the original on 2015-02-21. Retrieved 2017-07-07.
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  21. ↑ "Gefährdungspotential durch mechanischen SIPS-Seiten-Airbag" [Dangers of mechanical SIPS side airbag]. www.technische-hilfeleistung.info (in German). 20 May 2014. Archived from the original on 2014-06-20. Retrieved 2017-08-04.
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  26. ↑ "All New Volvo S80: Style, Sophistication, Safety and Scandinavian". www.media.volvocars.com. Volvo Car Corporation. 28 February 2006. Archived from the original on 2017-03-02. Retrieved 2018-01-30.
  27. ↑ Jakobsson, Lotta; Lindman, Magdalena; Svanberg, Bo; Carlsson, Henrik (2010). "Real World Data Driven Evolution of Volvo Cars' Side Impact Protection Systems and their Effectiveness". Annals of Advances in Automotive Medicine / Annual Scientific Conference. 54: 127–136. ISSN 1943-2461. PMC 3242537. PMID 21050597.
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  31. ↑ Richard Truett (January 4, 2004). "2004 Detroit: Three new Fords have touches of Volvo: Influence shows in platform, safety". Autoweek.
  32. 1 2 3 4 Lundell, Björn; Edvardsson, Mikael; Johansson, Lennart; Korner, Johnny; Pilhall, Stig (1995). "SIPSBAG - The Seat-Mounted Side Impact Airbag System". SAE Transactions. 104. SAE International: 1603–1613. ISSN 0096-736X.
  33. 1 2 3 Jakobsson, Lotta; Lindman, Magdalena; Svanberg, Bo; Carlsson, Henrik (2010). "Real World Data Driven Evolution of Volvo Cars' Side Impact Protection Systems and their Effectiveness". Annals of Advances in Automotive Medicine. Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine. Annual Scientific Conference. 54: 127–136. ISSN 1943-2461. PMC 3242537. PMID 21050597.
  34. ↑ US5348342A, Haland, Yngve & Pilhall, Stig, "Air bag system for side collision protection", issued 1994-09-20
  35. ↑ Alänge, Sverker; Lundqvist, Mats (2016). Sustainable Business Development: Frameworks for Idea Evaluation and Cases of Realized Ideas - Second Edition. ISBN 978-91-87463-05-1.
  36. ↑ D’Elia, Angelo; Newstead, Stuart; Scully, Jim (2013-05-01). "Evaluation of vehicle side airbag effectiveness in Victoria, Australia". Accident Analysis & Prevention. 54: 67–72. doi:10.1016/j.aap.2013.02.020. ISSN 0001-4575.