Ford Readies 15-Foot-Long Airbag System

This autumn Ford Motor Co. will debut the industry's largest airbag ever: a side curtain spanning five rows of seating in the company's 15-passenger Transit wagon.

Ford has been developing the giant airbag with TRW Automotive Holdings Corp. for the past three years.

The curtain, which is three feet tall and nearly 15 feet long, deploys from the roof above the side windows. It is designed to shield occupants' heads and necks in a side impact or rollover.

The canopy requires two unusually large inflators to fill the curtain's 120-liter volume, which is about three times that of the side airbag in a midsize sedan.

Tethers and the van's B-, C- and D-pillar help keep the airbag supported when it deploys. The bag is made of a coated, polyester-based fabric that continues to hold air for several seconds after deployment.