Who Said Airbags Are Just for Cars? This One Is for Bike Riders!

Helite has created a safety vest that inflates in 100 milliseconds upon impact, safeguarding a rider during collision

For representational purpose. (Photo: iStockphoto/Altered by The Quint)

French Airbag manufacturer Helite has created a vest that you can wear over your favourite motorcycle jacket, or simply a t-shirt. Why would you want to do that? because the vest inflates in 100 milliseconds and acts as an airbag to save you from impact whenever you crash.

It is activated by a tether that is attached to your bike, which will trigger the inflation after sensing a jerky, sudden pull. Once inflated, you can simply replace the attached CO2 cartridge and reuse the vest, unless it gets damaged or ruptured, of course.

We don’t how effective it is during an actual crash, but it is a good initiative as anything that makes the rider safer, is appreciated. Although it can definitely protect one’s back when hit by a baseball bat as can be seen in the video. Not sure how it resembles a crash, but it definitely looks cool.