Filed under: Geneva Motor Show
It's always the flashy or eccentric cars that make the headlines at any motor show, but the technology that's inside them is often far more impressive - and far more important.
Here are the innovations showcased at Geneva 2012 that will be heading to your runabout soon...and if they're not, they probably should be.
The pedestrian airbag
Volvo's V40 family hatchback is in most ways as conventional as can be, but it's perhaps the first car ever made that provides an easy answer to the question, "which car would you most like to be knocked over by?"
That's because when it goes on sale it will come with the world's first exterior pedestrian airbag. On impact, a semi-circular bag inflates from beneath the windscreen end of the bonnet, providing a cushion onto which the stricken pedestrian can land. It's shaped so as to retain driver visibility, too.
Wireless car charging
The Tata Megapixel is genuinely one of the most interesting cars at the show, not only because it looks great and has innovative doors (see below), but because it could become the first electric car that doesn't ever need plugged in.
Inductive charging tech isn't new - you may have your generic smartphone placed on a charging mat beside you right now - but the thought of simply parking your car in the garage and seeing it begin to charge without actually having to drag a wire...well, it solves the problem of leaving for work one morning while it's still plugged in, for a start.
Triple turbo technology
The introduction of BMW's M Performance diesel line at Geneva officially signals the start of the turbo engine's journey down the razor blade route. Remember when a double-bladed razor was exotic and, quite literally, cutting edge? Well, who knew it would begin a war that has now given us the five-bladed (though technically six) Gillette Fusion?
BMW's M Performance diesel engine is triple turbo, giving it a hitherto unheard of blend of high performance and low fuel consumption. It's brilliant, purposeful tech - and was no doubt far, far more difficult to develop than simply strapping three blowers onto a diesel engine - but how long before regular cars have five or six turbos? Because you can *never* have too much of a good thing.
The Aero Bridge
We made an Aero Bridge once, using three mint ones. It straddled Lake Nutella. What an evening that was...
...anyway, Ferrari's less delicious Aero Bridge is designed to make the new F12 Berlinetta as slippery as possible. When the car is moving, it channels air through the bonnet vents, beneath the wheel arches and out through gaps in the door panels. All of a sudden, spoilers seem a bit white toast, and your car's regular bonnet as boring as your dad's record collection.
Massive holes
Geneva 2012 is the year of gaping openings, the most notable being that of the Ford B-Max, whose design sees it ditch the central B-pillars (normally between the two side doors) and use sliding rear doors. The result is a very practical, very easy-access opening on both sides, when all the doors are open.
If this sounds easy for Ford to have done, it wasn't. It took all kinds of engineering to keep the car rigid (so the steering wheel doesn't give the driver a bad case of vibration white finger) and, more importantly, to keep it crash safe. The B-Max solves those problems by strategically incorporating strengthening into the doors. We assume this is what Tata has done for the Megapixel, too, whose doors open similarly.
Diets
Yes, it's all gone Slimming World at the car companies of late. Of course, we recognise that the weight-stripping focus for cars as an old one, but lately it seems manufacturers are really beginning to innovate. And not just the supercar ones that have the luxury of being able to make everything out of aluminium and carbon fibre.
The Suzuki G70 and Toyota FT-Bh are two examples. The former is a four-seat car that weighs significantly less than a Lotus Elise, enabling it to muster near three-figure fuel economy without resorting to a complicated hybrid system. Toyota's FT-Bh - which is a complicated hybrid - gets its special lightness from everyday materials (in the car manufacturing sense) that cost relatively little to manufacture. The trend for over-stuffed cars is being reversed, it seems. Good.
All the Geneva Motor Show stuff we did - and there's a great deal of it - can be found here.