Hyundai Mobis develops world's first air bags for sun roofs

SEOUL, Oct. 18 (Yonhap) -- Hyundai Mobis Co., South Korea's largest auto parts maker by sales, has developed an air bag system for a sun roof for the first time in the automobile industry, the company said Wednesday. "In the past two and a half years, the company has developed the air bag system mainly for panoramic sun roofs in sport-utility vehicles to minimize impacts in case of a rollover crash," a company spokesman said by phone. The advanced technology development will help Hyundai Mobis win air bag orders particularly for panoramic sun roofs in SUVs in the world's 6 trillion won (US$5.3 billion) air bag market, he said. The air bag market is expected to grow by an average of 11 percent a year by 2022 as global demand for SUVs is on the rise, Hyundai Mobis said in a statement. It takes 0.08 second for the air bag system for a sun roof to go off and prevent serious neck and head injuries in a rollover accident, it said. Hyundai Mobis is an affiliate of Hyundai Motor Group, the world's fifth-largest carmaker by sales. kyongae.choi@yna.co.kr (END)