Multistrada 1200 S Touring D|air
The new Ducati incorporating the Dainese airbag jacket that deploys for the rider – and a passenger if you've got one – in less than 45 millisecondsA few weeks ago we announced Ducati’s new technology of wirelessly integrating a production motorcycle into an airbag jacket.
The technology has now been incorporated into an official production model – the Multistrada 1200 S Touring D|air, which will go on sale in Europe from May, 2014. Australian availability is yet to be established for the model, which also features – outside the Dainese D|air Street jackets -- semi-active Skyhoook suspension, side luggage and heated grips.
Ducati’s Multistrada D|air system is designed to deploy in just 45 milliseconds, and intelligent enough to understand the difference between a potentially dangerous accident and a low-speed incident, or the motorcycle simply falling over.
This intelligence comes from a sophisticated algorithm, which manages data delivered from two triple-axis accelerometers fixed to the left and right fork bottoms of the Multistrada’s front suspension and an additional two rear triple-axis accelerometers mounted in the D|air Electronic Control Unit (ECU) positioned under the seat.
When the sensors detect a potentially dangerous crash scenario, an algorithm is triggered which takes just 25 milliseconds to decide if airbag deployment is necessary or not. If deployment is necessary the D|air ECU on the Multistrada, which is continuously in bi-directional radio contact between the system and the Dainese jackets, initiates and completes airbag inflation in just 20 milliseconds; a total of 45 milliseconds from the start of impact.
The system weighs 1kg, and the only visual difference to the model is the addition of an extra LED display on the main instrumentation that constantly provides the system’s active status.
The horizontal display is divided into three sections with illuminated displays from left to right for “Rider”, “D|air” and “Passenger”. Both the green-coloured rider and passenger sections illuminate constantly to confirm that airbag jackets are paired with the D|air system and ready for use.
The system is programmed to warn the user of a jacket system error by flashing slowly and will flash faster if the jacket has failed to connect to the system after 30 seconds of key-on.
The central yellow light remains off when the system is active and ready for use, but will illuminate constantly to warn of a low battery in the airbag jacket or a D|air system error.
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