A consortium including Cranfield Impact Centre and Nissan Europe has developed a prototype bone density scanning system which could be used to improve driver and passenger restraint systems in cars.

The system would take an ultrasound scan of your finger and estimate the bone strength of each passenger. This information would enable the system to assess your potential tolerance to injury and adjust the force of your seatbelt and the firing of airbags accordingly.

Cranfield’s Technical Director, Roger Hardy, said: “The system could be built into dashboard consoles, the driver’s door or even, when miniaturised sufficiently, into the gear lever.

“In its simplest form, it could be a hole into which you place your finger; the instrument would be powered to lightly grip the finger, take the reading and then release. This would then feed into the restraint system, part of a processing unit in the car, in addition to what is routinely used to detect a go/no-go situation for firing airbags and controlling the seatbelt operating characteristics.

Via Eurekalert.