Video: 2021 Acura TLX Gets High-Tech … Airbag? Our Heads Say, Thank You
The 2021 Acura TLX recently made its (virtual) world debut to much digital fanfare about its styling, size, and the upcoming higher-performance Type S variant. But one feature that doesn’t get much attention in any cars these days, aside from making sure the box for it is ticked, is the good old airbag, and airbag safety. But the 2021 Acura TLX aims to change that with the company’s latest safety innovation, a new kind of airbag designed to reduce brain injuries in the event of a crash.
Curiously, Acura hasn’t announced a name for the airbag-safety technology yet, but a handy way to think of it is like a catcher’s mitt—with some significant upgrades. Instead of the typical single-chamber design, the new Acura airbag has three chambers, with one central chamber flanked by two larger chambers that cradle the head to prevent twisting, or torsional, forces. A fourth part of the airbag spans the gap between the two side chambers, in front of the central chamber, with a “sail panel” intended to further cushion a head’s impact with the bag. The new airbag-safety technology is presently only available in the 2021 Acura TLX’s front-passenger seating positions.
The new airbag-safety technology was developed, Acura says, in part due to the results of a study of brain injuries led by scientists at the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT). That study led to the creation of the Brain Injury Criteria, or BrIC, for car crashes. These reports show brain injuries are more severe when a head is subject to greater twisting forces, such as those created by a near head-on crash at an angle—in other words, a lot of real-world crashes.
Of course, this isn’t the only safety feature in the 2021 TLX. The driver and front passenger also both get knee airbags as standard equipment with the new car’s arrival, part of the standard complement of eight airbags throughout the cabin, including side-curtain airbags with rollover detection. There’s also the AcuraWatch safety package, and a whole bunch more—read our breakdown of all of the 2021 Acura TLX’s features here.
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