Institute praises inflatable belts

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety said Thursday that the inflatable seat belts Ford Motor Co. plans to introduce next year will likely reduce injuries for rear-seat passengers.

"We think it's a good idea," said Adrian Lund, president of the institute. "It will help keep people in a better position in rollovers and accidents."

Lund said that inflatable seat belt technology has been around for long time, but said Ford is the first automaker to announce plans to deploy it into a production vehicle.

With seat belt use rising, it makes more sense now than in the past to offer them, Lund said,

Ford said Thursday it plans to introduce the seat belts next year as an option for second-row seats when it launches the redesigned 2011 Ford Explorer.

Over time, Ford plans to roll out the technology on most of its cars and trucks.

Ford decided to introduce the seat belts on the Explorer because it is aiming the new Explorer at buyers who have children, said Sue Cischke, Ford group vice president of sustainability, environmental and safety engineering.

Since rear-seat passengers tend to be children and older adults, Ford said those groups will benefit the most from the inflatable belts.

She declined to say how much it will cost, or the name of the supplier Ford worked with to develop it.

"It is going to be affordable and I think you will be surprised when you see the price," Cischke said.

Ford's inflatable seat belts are slightly wider than traditional belts and have a tubular bag inside the cloth. When an accident occurs, cold compressed gas flows through a canister located near the buckle into the tube.