Scania Debuts Heavy-Truck Safety First: Rollover Side-Curtain Airbags

September 26, 2016

Jennifer Shuttleworth

Rollover side-curtain airbags from Scania deploy and protect those traveling in the cab in the event the truck rolls over.

Scania’s new truck generation can be equipped with rollover side-curtain airbags integrated into the headliner molding above the doors. The manufacturer claims the safety feature is a unique solution never previously offered in trucks. The airbags offer enhanced protection for occupants during rollovers, one of the most serious types of truck accidents.

“The use of a seatbelt is essential to allow the safety systems to do their job and to ensure that the driver is not thrown out of the cab,” said Christofer Karlsson, who is responsible for the development of Scania’s crash safety system. “Our rollover side-curtain airbag—particularly when combined with the steering wheel airbag and our seatbelt pretensioners—ensures that the driver and any passengers onboard will have a much better chance of surviving a rollover accident in one of the new generation of Scania trucks, with far less severe consequences than would be the case in any other truck.”

A common reason for truck rollover is that the driver is forced to carry out evasive action to avoid an oncoming vehicle or an obstruction. If the truck then ends up off the road, there is rarely sufficient load-bearing capacity, so the vehicle may topple onto its side or even roll right over at higher speeds. According to Scania, advanced systems with sensors determine when and if the rollover side-curtain airbags and any other airbags should be deployed, and when deployed, the airbags inflate instantaneously.

Scania developed both the active and passive safety features in the new truck generation, with a series of measures that protect those traveling in the cab. By offering rollover side-curtain airbags, Scania believes there could be a significant reduction in the proportion of drivers who are killed in rollover accidents.