Bizarre $499 jeans inflate like an airbag to protect motorcyclists

By William On Feb 17, 2023

Inventors have a bizarre solution to the lack of airbags on motorcycles – by putting them inside the rider’s trousers.

Swedish brand Mo’cycle has created a pair of $499 (£416) jeans that inflate within seconds to protect the lower body in case of an accident.

‘Airbag Jeans’ – available to order later this month – are lined with a replaceable CO2 cartridge that releases the gas when the rider starts to fall from their bike.

The jeans offer a new way to protect motorcyclists, who have the highest injury rates of all road users, partly because of the lack of adequate protection.

It follows the release of an inflatable cycling helmet that quickly wraps around the wearer’s head in case of an accident.

Does my bum look big in this? Swedish brand Mo’cycle has created a bizarre pair of jeans that inflate like a car airbag to protect the lower body in case of an accident

‘The jeans are just as comfortable as any other pants, and are made with water repellent, breathable and abrasion resistant fabric,’ Mo’cycle says on its website.

How do the jeans work?

The jeans are connected by a tether to the motorcycle. The tether is elastic, so the rider is able to comfortably move their body. The motorcycle doesn’t need any special adaptation to have the tether attached.

When the rider starts to fly off the seat due to any impact or incident, the tether detaches from the jeans. In this way, the mechanism activates much like a seatbelt upon impact.

Detachment of the tether from the jeans triggers the release of a spring-loaded piston that pierces the CO2 cartridge, releasing the gas and inflating the airbag – all before the rider has hit the ground.

‘The fabric is extremely abrasion resistant, but looks and feels like regular denim.

‘Before activation the airbag is completely invisible but deploys within milliseconds of being triggered.’

Airbag Jeans are effectively a ‘dead man’s switch’ – meaning they’re designed to be activated at the point the human operator becomes incapacitated or loses control.

The jeans are connected by a tether to the bike, but as soon as the rider starts to fly off the seat due to any kind of impact or incident, the tether detaches from the jeans, much like yanking a plug out of a socket.

Detachment of the tether triggers the release of a spring-loaded piston that pierces the CO2 cartridge, releasing the gas and inflating the air bag – all before the rider has hit the ground.

After activation, the airbag eventually deflates so the system can be reloaded with another CO2 cartridge and reused for the next ride.

The airbag needs a force of around 88 pounds (40kg) to be activated – so it won’t deploy unless the rider is falling off the bike.

What’s more, the motorcycle doesn’t need any special adaptation to have the tether attached.

When the rider starts to fly off the seat due to any impact or incident, the tether detaches from the jeans, much like yanking a plug out of a socket

Detachment of the tether from the jeans triggers the release of a spring-loaded piston that pierces the CO2 cartridge, releasing the gas and inflating the airbag

The jeans cover areas on the lower body that have previously been unprotected from impact hits, such as the thighs, the rear part of the body and the tailbone.

Motorcycle accident rates

Motorcyclists represent 1 per cent of traffic, yet account for around 20 per cent of all the deaths and serious injuries on roads in Britain. In Wales, they often account for 40 per cent of all road deaths.

A motorcyclist involved in an accident around 40 times more likely to be killed than a car driver.

Motorcyclists are not protected by a vehicle body in the same way car users are, and tend to be harder for drivers to see on the road.

Source: gov.uk/bikelawyer.co.uk

The firm says: ‘To protect the spinal column’s first bone with airbag technology is ground-breaking because spinal column injuries are the ones paralysing motorcycle riders.’

In addition to the airbag, the jeans are armoured with pads on the knees to give extra protection to the kneecaps.

The makers claim they have tested the jeans at speeds of up to 43 miles per hour (70kph), with only minimal abrasion to the fabric.

Airbag Jeans will be launched on February 28 on crowdfunding platform Indiegogo for worldwide delivery in summer 2023.

They were invented by Moses Shahrivar, founder of Lysekil-based fashion tech company Airbag Inside Sweden AB, which has Mo’cycle as its trademark brand.

‘The only impact protection you have in regular motorcycle jeans is basically the knee protectors and sometimes you get hip protectors,’ Shahrivar said.

‘Most injuries occur on the lower body in a serious motorcycle accident, so for 17 years I’ve been trying to solve this problem.

‘What the airbag did for cars is about to happen to us motorcycle riders.’

The makers claim they have tested the Mo’cycle brand jeans at speeds of up to 43 miles per hour (70kph), with only minimal abrasion to the fabric

The wrong trousers Gromit? Airbag Jeans will be launched February 28 on crowdfunding platform Indiegogo for worldwide delivery in summer 2023

Mo’cycle also offers an ‘Airbag Vest’ that reduces the risk for spine injuries while stabilising the rider’s helmet.

The cost of Airbag Vest is yet to be revealed, but customers will be able to bundle it with Airbag Jeans to create ‘Airbag Outfit’, the website says.

Airbag Vest operates the same way, meaning riders wearing both garments will be attached to their bike by two tethers.

Inflatable protective gear is not entirely new; another Swedish brand called Hövding offers ‘the safest cycling helmet in the world’ for 349 euros (£310).

Users wear it around their neck before it deploys in the event of an accident and inflates up around their head, protecting it from injury.

According to 2016 research at Stanford University, an airbag is six times better at absorbing impacts than foam.

Forget the moon buggy! Incredible MOTORCYCLE concept could allow future astronauts to cruise across the lunar surface at 10mph

It has been 50 years since NASA first put a buggy on the moon, with Apollo 15 commander Dave Scott and his fellow astronaut Jim Irwin spending three hours traversing the lunar surface in July 1971.

But with plans afoot to return to the moon later this decade — including sending the first woman to walk on the lunar surface — what will be the next method of transport humans use on Earth’s only natural satellite?

One company thinks it may have the answer after unveiling a motorcycle concept that could allow future astronauts to cruise across other worlds at 10mph (15km/h).

It features changeable airless carbon tyres mounted to an aluminium cage, that would allow ‘the space crew to challenge any obstacle’, while riders would also be able to carry various types of equipment with them.