Dainese airbag boss: "Rip-cords are unreliable"

Airbag technology isn’t something completely new – Spidi, RS Taichi and various other manufacturers are using a system that uses a cord to inflate the airbags when the rider separates from the bike. But Dainese marketing director Vittorio Cafaggi explained to MCN in an exclusive interview that Dainese believed this system has major faults.

“Forget about the cord system – it’s an old and unreliable technology. From the year 2000 we decided to either do it our way with these electronics or not do it at all because we knew the cord system was unreliable. From the point you are hanging the cord on the bike and the suit it alters the time of the activation.

“When I say it takes 20 milliseconds for the activation of our airbag I mean from the beginning of the shock. When you have a cord the inflation time isn’t considering the time you need to put tension into the cord for it to release from the machine.

“Some are saying it takes 200 or 300 milliseconds to inflate the bags but I don’t know if this is true – are they taking into consideration the starting point of the shock and do they have tests to back it up? I don’t know if they can.”

See this week’s MCN, on sale now, for the world exclusive on Dainese’s new airbag technology.