Ford Motor Company is offering its patented inflatable safety belt technology to other companies and industries, including competitive automotive manufacturers.

The availability of licenses may lead to the wider adoption of inflatable safety belts as other automakers seek to enhance passenger safety. The technology is potentially applicable to other forms of seated-passenger transportation, including military use, and airborne passengers traveling by helicopter or airplane, and even for water travel.

"Ford’s longstanding commitment to democratising technology goes beyond our customers,” said Bill Coughlin, president and CEO, Ford Global Technologies. “In this case, the wider adoption of inflatable safety belts has the potential to make travel safer and help mitigate passenger injuries – especially among children and the elderly.”

In everyday use, inflatable safety belts operate like conventional safety belts. In a crash, the inflatable safety belt deploys over a vehicle occupant’s torso and shoulder to help distribute crash forces up to five times more area than a traditional safety belt. Spreading the pressure over a larger area helps reduce pressure on the passenger’s chest, and helps control head and neck motion.

Ford purchased additional inflatable safety belt patents from United Technologies Corp to help ensure that this technology could be broadly licensed. This effort was made easier with the help of AutoHarvest Foundation, a nonprofit organisation dedicated to accelerating the adoption of new technologies by providing unprecedented access to innovators and businesses.  

“We founded AutoHarvest with the hope this type of technology sharing could be realised for the betterment of society,” said David E. Cole, co-founder and board chairman for AutoHarvest. “We are glad to be able to play a role in spreading this safety technology more broadly.”