The air-bag motorcycle jacket sometimes appears on lists of ‘dumb inventions’. It’s unclear whether the pundits who make these lists consider the device too stupid to bother inventing, or whether they recognize its existence but consider it not worth the time it took to develop it.

But after a news story posted on Baltimore’s WBALTV website credited such a jacket with saving a motorcyclist’s life, and with several police departments adopting or considering the devices, perhaps it’s time for the pundits to eat their words.

Air-Bag Jacket Saves Life

According to the WBALTV story, Joseph McPhatter, of Randallstown, Maryland, was injured in a crash on Interstate 83 after being cut off by another motorist. “Police said that McPhatter might have been severely injured had it not been for the Impact Jacket he was wearing – a jacket that inflates like an air bag when a motorcyclist is in an wreck” The incident was apparently the first instance where the jacket was credited with saving the life of a motorcyclist.

Changing Attitudes to Air-Bag Vests and Jackets

The motorcycling community at first reacted with suspicion. Reactions on biking forums were pessimistic. As an anonymous editor on webBikeWorld noted in an article Motorcycle Airbag Jacket, “Let’s face it, most motorcycle riders in the U.S. think of a T-shirt and high-top sneakers as protective riding gear, and many states are actively working to eliminate helmet laws. Why should anyone want a motorcycle airbag jacket?”

Comments along the lines of “Snake oil, in my opinion” and “No helmet, airbag jacket, or anything else will save you from stupidity” were common shortly after the accident was reported, and the pros and cons of the new technology over traditional and armored leathers were hotly debated.

So Does an Air-bag Jacket Work?

The tethered systems are aimed at the recreational market rather than the racer. They employ a tether or lanyard that the rider fastens to an anchor point mounted on the bike. The other end of the lanyard is fastened to a carbon-dioxide cylinder built into the unit (either a jacket or a vest that can be worn under standard jackets). When the rider leaves the bike with sufficient velocity, the CO2 cartridge is triggered, inflating a bladder under the fabric of the jacket.

Impact Jackets of Maryland states that it takes about 1/2 second for inflation–a sufficient time to protect the rider from impact. The jacket will “enhance protection to the front chest and side rib areas and the back giving support to the neck and spine areas,” according to Impact Jackets. Other versions hang lower on the back to protect the kidneys from impact.

The lanyard is intended to be long enough (and the trigger force high enough) to prevent inflation if you forget to unfasten it before dismounting.

The CO2 cartridge is replaceable (assuming the jacket and bladder are undamaged) but the jacket must be returned to the manufacturer for examination, re-certification, and recharging.

Is an Air-bag Jacket or Vest Really Safe?

Impact Jackets have been tested by Intertek ETL Entela, the same group that tests automotive airbag systems. There are impressive photos of a crash test dummy in an air-bag jacket being pummeled and run into a wall. There are no reported results. There is also an unconvincing video of a rider coming off his bike into a pile of cardboard boxes. It was this video that led to the comment of “Snake Oil”.

There is also the argument that cyclists, feeling relatively invulnerable in such a protective device, will take even greater risks, making the jacket a negative safety factor.

Other Outdoor Activities

MotoAir, a Taiwanese company which claims to have invented the system in 1996 and obtained the first international patent in 1998, has developed a fashionable array of airbag jackets for motorcycling and for an assortment of outdoor activities, including water sports, scooter riding, bicycling, horseback riding and others.

Another maker is Hit-Air of Japan has a similar line of products marketed to the same market, giving consumers a range of choice of an appropriate product and price.

The device will undoubtedly be popular with parents of children engaged in sports, especially extreme sports.