BY MIKE MOORE
Statistics confirm what every firefighter knows: Firefighter safety begins with traffic safety.
According to the United States Fire Administration (USFA), from 1994 to 2005, 250 firefighters died in vehicle collisions (an average of 20 deaths per year), making it the second leading cause, after heart attacks, of firefighter line-of-duty deaths. According to National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) 2004 statistics, frontal collisions are the most common type of large truck crash, accounting for about 35 percent of all crashes.
 Driver’s frontal air bag test. (Photo courtesy of Scott Anderson.) |
Many of these deaths are preventablein fact, they’re being prevented in other types of vehicles. According to the NHTSA, frontal air bags saved the lives of 13,967 Americans between 1987 and 2003. Perhaps because firefighters have been so focused on securing the safety of others, firefighting apparatus has traditionally not been equipped with the safety technology commonplace on cars, light trucks, and SUVs.
As an important step in reducing firefighter fatalities, Pierce has introduced an advanced protection system for fire apparatus that protects firefighters in frontal impact collisions. Pierce developed the system with LifeGuard Technologies, a division of IMMI, and Bosch, which manufactures the sensors. The air bag system, which activates on frontal impact, is available exclusively through Pierce.
A sensor inside the cab monitors the truck’s longitudinal accelerations; if it detects a significant frontal crash, a signal inflates a steering wheel-mounted air bag and a knee bolster air bag on the front passenger side. These three subsystems combine to dramatically reduce the risk of fatality or severe injury in a frontal collision.
In developing this system, all parties involved took a literal crash course in accident safety. To understand how various parts of the vehicleincluding the frame rails, cab, and bumperwould react at various levels of force, Pierce crash tested four new pumper vehicles. These trucks were smashed into fixed barriers at varying speeds and at various angleshead-on, oblique, and 45°.
Pierce identified the “crash impulse” on a fire truck as being far different from that of a passenger car or commercial truck. The forces at work inside the cab were also dramatic, as tests with belted and unbelted occupants demonstrated the intensity of the force and extent of destruction. Pierce applied these findings to improve the design of certain vehicle interior components. For example, the SCBA holders were redesigned and strengthened to withstand up to 30 Gsmore than three times the g-force required by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA).
The testing also allowed the engineers to optimize air bag placement. For the driver, the point of critical impact is the steering wheel; for the engineer/first officer, the point of critical impact is lower, where the occupant’s knees hit the bolster panel. The steering wheel air bag is designed to deploy outward and upward to protect the driver’s chest from the wheel rim and provide head and neck protection. The knee bolster air bag cushions the impact of the knees with the bolster panel.
Crash testing was just one part of the advanced testing that took place at the Center for Advanced Product Evaluation (CAPE). During the original product design phase, mechanical tests in the LifeGuard Technologies quality lab validated the system’s durability and functionality against corrosion, vibration, dust, high and low temperatures, and humidity. Reliability testing ensured that each component meets the stringent requirements for system functionality in a variety of environmental conditions. The crash tests also reinforced one of the oldest traffic safety lessons: the importance of seat belt use.
The new air bags represent the latest step in Pierce’s 360° Protection From Every AngleTM program, a bumper-to-bumper initiative designed to increase the safety of the firefighters responding to and from emergency calls.
The Pierce frontal air bags will also be paired with the company’s Side Roll Protection System, which senses the exact moment of a side roll and then provides instantaneous passenger protection, including seat belt pretensioners and side curtain air bags.
The front air bag system is available today on a wide range of Pierce apparatus, including the VelocityTM and ImpelTM, Quantum® and Arrow XTTM custom chassis.
MIKE MOORE is the director of new product development for Pierce Manufacturing and has been serving the fire industry for 23 years. He previously worked at FMC Corporation in numerous engineering and product management positions. He has degrees in mechanical engineering technology from Purdue University and industrial technology from University of Wisconsin Stout.
