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Motorcycle Airbag jackets/vests - Are they worth it?
I just recently purchased my first two wheeler. After I bought it, I started looking for safety gear. While looking at riding jackets online I found a few airbag jackets.
The concept of a motorcycle airbag jacket (or vest) is fairly new. The only jackets that I found commercially available are:
Impact Jacket
HitAir
MotoAir
Airetronics
All four work on the same concept. The jackets contain an air bladder and CO2 cylinders. The jacket is tethered to the motorcycle. If the rider is ejected from the bike, the CO2 cartridges go off and fill up the air bladders. Hopefully cushioning your impact.
At first glance, they sounded like a great idea, but after I read a little more I began to have a few doubts. All four jackets are inflated when the tether to the bike is pulled. This means you have to actually separate from the motorcycle before the jacket will inflate. If the rider were to have a slide out (low side fall), the jacket would not begin to inflate until the rider had already hit the ground. Then after the rider separated from the bike, the jacket would be begin to inflate. So if you hit the ground while still being on the bike, the jacket won't inflate until after you have rolled away from the bike. This could help if you rolled on the ground and hit something after the initial impact. (curb, light post).
The second thing I noticed is the jackets are slow to inflate. The Motoair jacket takes up to 500 milliseconds to inflate. The others probably take a similar amount of time sense they all operate about the same way. This is relatively slow compared to a car air bag that inflates in about 170 milliseconds. Also, a car air bag triggers as soon as an impact is detected. With these jackets, you would have to crash and launch approximately two feet from the bike before the jacket would even start to inflate. That could be mean a significant amount of time passes between the bikes initial impact and when the air bag begins to inflate.
These shortcomings limit the scenarios that an airbag vest would be helpful.
Even with the drawbacks, there was a story in Pennsylvania of a rider being saved by his air bag jacket. Joseph McPhatter was wearing an "Impact Jacket" while riding on the interstate. He was hit by a car while travelling at free way speeds and reportedly went 100 feet through the air before hitting the ground. He walked away with only minor injures and no broken ribs. His accident seemed be the optimum scenario for an airbag jacket. He separated from the bike and went a good distance in the air before impact. This would have given the jacket plenty of time to inflate, so that when he did hit the ground, the jacket was fully inflated.
A more promising option, which is not yet for sale, is the the Dainese D-Air. Unlike the low tech jackets I previously mentioned, the D-Air is a very high tech jacket. It uses crash sensors instead of a mechanical tethering system. A small computer installed on the motorcycle uses a number of sensors to determine when you are crashing. When the computer senses a crash, it has the airbag inflate. So unlike with a tether, the jacket can inflate before you are ejected from the bike and even before your body has an impact.
In the above video, you can see that the jacket inflates before the rider hits the ground. The computer sensed that the bike was leaning too far and automatically inflated the jacket. If the rider had been wearing the Hitair, MotoAir or Impact Jackets, the jacket would not have begun to inflate until after the initial impact and probably wouldn't have finished inflating until after the rider rolled a few times.
The D-Air jacket is currently being used by some racers in Europe, but no plans have been announced for selling the jackets to the general public. If this jacket ever does come to market in the US, I may give it another look. Until then I will rely on my high vis FieldSheer Quatro jacket and the rider safety course I took.
Comments
allankamming:
If the rider were to have a slide out (low side fall), the jacket would not begin to inflate until the rider had already hit the ground. Then after the rider separated from the bike, the jacket would be begin to inflate.
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Dan:
Just got the Hit-Air GP-2 vest with the removable sleeves in black/red and I love it!! Very solid construction and worht the investment. Crashbounce does have the best deal on these.
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tiffany:
It was a very nice idea! Just wanna say thank you for the information you have shared. Just continue writing this kind of post. I will be your loyal reader. Thanks again.
Anonymous:
I just bought one of those jackets from crashbounce.com not to long ago, i looked everywhere but they are the cheapest. a month later i had a real a hole cut me off and i had to lay my bike down, i fliped over the bike and slid about 20 feet on the road and then into a ditch, jacket inflated and saved my a$$...literally...it even has a flap that inflates out to protect your tailbone, not to mention it locked my head in place...i was never a believer over those things but i don't want to think about the amount of money in doctor bills i saved. I walked away from the accident with nothing but bruises and scratches. the most amazing part...my jacket has no visible damage, and for $20 i replaced the air canister. best $400 i spent EVER!
Steve
Anonymous:
It seems the one shown for example in the video is extremely fast at deploying, however, the padding is mainly in support of the neck and shoulder/scapula area, no protection in the abdominal cavity as well as the retro peritoneal cavity (lower back)...as a paramedic i will state that these are very vital areas and the most cause of fatalities other than head injuries are internal bleeding.
Mike:
As I posted below the Jackets are as safe as any other and i have had a real accident with my Hit Air and it worked.
I don't understand why these are not being used by more people, they are not very expensive and make a HUGE difference when you have an accident.
www.crashbounce.com has them cheapest it seems.
Mike:
Well since you are so suspicious let me give you an example.
I was wearing my Hit Air Jp2, in Blue, which my girlfriend insisted I wear before I was allowed to ride again. This is because I had a "target fixation" event and flew 20 ft in 2007, long story, I survived.
So 5000 miles later I'm back on two wheels, I'm zipping around at the beginning of the 09 season and in heavy traffic I manuever up a country road. It seems there was a fair amount of gravel in the turn, which I never noticed until the bike dropped out in the middle of the turn.
The hitair JP2 has CE armor and Inflated as soon as I came off the seat. Even though it was a lowside the bike and I separated, I had it tethered about 1.3 ft from the seat frame on my Ninja. Let me tell you that thing worked! I slid on my back and the bike slid away from me. I got up and was fine except for sore knees from the impact with fairings. I am sure a regular leather jacket with armor would have helped, but my neck was locked in place and it was a serious grip so I go t no whiplash nor did my helmet hit! Airbag=much better to land on than bone and leather.
The cops and bystanders were very curious what was this life vest inflated around me, and I now am satisfied that this product would save a life, no doubt. This system is very smart, strong and effective. Insurance companies should offer discounts and the government ought to promote them. But as usual they are busy stealing our money instead.
Now you know, I need one in mesh for this summer though, the JP2 is solid and gets hot. Oh yeah, I replaced the cartridge and repacked it.
Mike from PA
Joe Sanders - Sportbikes:
Good thing that it's a mesh. But I just thought of something. What if you dismounted your bike and forgot to disconnect properly. Jacket will inflate, of course. How long does it take to deflate?
Anonymous:
I takes a pull of about 60# to activate. If you forget it might pull the bike over before it inflates.
visitor:
I commute 27.5 km every day on a Suzuki Skywave 250 and had an accident but suffered only a slight injury because I wore an Eggparka. The speed was about 100 km per hour and it inflated fully while I was in the air and no shock was felt on the neck, body and head. After landing, the upper half of my body was facing upward and I felt that I was sliding on the soft mat. Without the Eggparka, I have no doubt that I would have suffered a fatal wound and I am very grateful.
Spiff666:
Chad:
All very good points.
I've purchased an air bag vest from Hit-Air, and I plan on wearing it over my regular MC jacket. (Specifically, I boght the MC Vest model.)
If I crash in a scenario that you describe where the bag inlates late or not at all, I still have the impact and abrasion proection of my regular MC jacket (and I buy jackets with very good pads).
If the air bag does deply in good time, then so much the better. I view it as a win-win situation! (If you can ever use the word "win" when talking about a motorcycle crash...)
Regards,
Tim
chad:
If I were to get one, I would do like you did. Get the vest and wear it over my regular riding jacket. That way it is "extra" protection.
eve isk:
Wouldn't this restrict mobility somewhat though? I'm always cautious to not offset one safety measure for another.
Spiff:
Not really.
It's a mesh vest, so it's not too heavy, and very flexible.
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