Ford Motor Company has filed a patent for an armrest mounted dual chamber airbag that may be used in future Ford vehicles, Ford Authority has learned.
The patent was filed on July 27th, 2023, published on January 28th, 2025, and assigned serial number 12208763.
The Ford Authority Take
Ford has published a large number of patents aiming to potentially add airbags to various places inside and outside of future vehicles where they don’t current exist. This includes, most recently, a patent filing for a center console airbag system that would deploy to protect rear seat occupants, each of them fanning out to the doors to provide maximum coverage. The airbags themselves are uniquely shaped, designed to wrap around each rear seat occupant, including the person in the middle, which keeps them from bumping into each other as well. Now, this newly published patent presents us with an idea for an armrest mounted dual chamber airbag that may be used in future Ford vehicles, too.
In this case, Ford is proposing adding an airbag to a vehicle’s armrest, which would be hidden out of sight for the most part – at least, unless it’s needed in the event of an imminent accident. If the system detects that a crash is about to occur, it would then deploy that dual chambered unit, which would extend upward all the way to the roofline, providing quite a bit of protection – particularly in a side impact crash.
This system would also be able to detect if the armrest is in a lowered position or if it’s raised out of the way, which is important, and if that part is in a raised position, the vehicle could even move it down and then deploy the airbag to provide optimum coverage. As always, this patent doesn’t necessarily reflect Ford’s plans or future technology strategy, but it’s an interesting idea that could potentially one day come to fruition.
Comment
So many airbag patents! The last patent will be a full body air bag that every occupant has to open , slip inside, then zip close before driving off.