Abstract
Keywords Motorcycle, Safety, Airbag, Crashtest, ISO 13232
Abstract Airbages have been part of the standard equipment of passenger cars since 1981. So far, no airbag has been offered for motorcycles. Since several years though, corresponding tests have been reported. The subject Airbag as an element of motorcycles secondary safety is up to date in research especially for touring motorbikes.
This contribution gives a short survey of the real-life accident events of powered two-wheelers in Germany and Europe. After a short presentation of the development history of motorcycle safety and especially the motorcycle-related airbag research for large motorcycles, some research projects will be introduced. Investigations of the DEKRA Motorcycle real-world accident databases show that there is a benefit potential of the airbag to enhance the secondary safety of motorcycles. The main focus of this contribution is on the airbag for a mid-sized touring motorcycle which had been developed by the DEKRA Accident Research. This airbag has already been tested with mechanical triggering of the airbag, according to ISO 13232/configurarion 413, with good results regarding its protection effects. New tests have been conducted in which, deviating from the former tests series, a special motorcycle dummy (MATD according to ISO 13232) with breakable bones was used. Some remarks to the risk/benefit analysis of the gained results as per ISO 13232 are completing this contribution.