For Its Findings, This Honda Engineer Receives The Highest Award In The United States

2021 Acura TLX. (Doc. Acura)

JAKARTA - Eric Heitkamp, a Honda engineer received the highest safety award in the United States for the latest airbag design capable of reducing brain injury. Airbag debuted at Acura TLX (2021) and subsequently became a standard feature in Honda Pilots, and MDX.

The airbag developed by Eric Heitkamp can help reduce the risk of brain injury to drivers and passengers in car accidents, quoted by Carscoops, Tuesday, April 4.

How it works is similar to the baseball gloves that catch the ball or simply the new airbag design consists of three rooms, and the one in the middle remains unfilled, to capture the occupants' heads. Meanwhile, the booths on both sides support and protect the head.

This airbag uses a new technology that can detect the speed of the car, the weight of the passengers, and the angle of their bodies during the accident. Based on collected data, the airbag then expands in the right way to protect the head and neck from the driver or passenger.

The development of this airbag has taken years and involves a lot of research and testing including Heitkamp's efforts to collect data on brain injuries to car accidents in the US Department of Transportation.

The highest safety award received by Eric Heitkamp is called the "Governor's Award for Safety Innovation" and provided by the Governor of California, where Honda has its main production facility in America.

This is the second consecutive US government award for engineers from Honda. Last year the same event, Sue Bai received an award for Honda vehicle connected technology.