New Planes Lift Safety Feature from Cars

The difference between cars and airplanes is getting a little smaller. No, there hasn't been a revolutionary breakthrough in flying automobiles. It's the other way around.

Air safety regulators, in a bid to increase the odds of surviving a plane crash, are mandating new measures this fall that include the placement of air bags in some seats, according to a New York Times report Tuesday.

But the main safety feature on all planes built after Oct. 27 will be almost imperceptible - stronger seats capable of withstanding 16 times the force of gravity, making them less likely to rip loose during a crash.

The sturdier seats and airbags give passengers in a survivable crash - like a plane rolling off the runway - a chance to avoid initial serious injury, remain conscious and escape a post-crash fire.

The measures would do nothing in cases of mid-air breakups, like the Air France flight that crashed in the Atlantic Ocean off the Brazilian coast.

Previously, seats were engineered to withstand 9 times the force of gravity. But in 1988, the report notes, manufacturers began using the "16g" seats on all new models. The October deadline will extend that mandate to all models preceding the 1988 change. Boeings 737s, for example, have had the 16g seats for years. The new 747 model, which had previously had the 9g seats, will switch to the new standard.

The rules will only apply to newly built planes, not to existing ones, according to the report.

The air bags borrow technology from cars and will deploy from the seat belts. They're activated by sensors attuned to shocks on the axis the plane is traveling, but aren't affected by normal turbulence. They're widely used in first- or business-class cabins due to the wide spaces between seats. They are also in place on certain coach seats - like front row, exit row and bulkhead seats. Other seats in coach are spaced close enough that the back of a seat can provide a cushion for the passenger behind it.