An airbag for people outside of the car? The latest Subaru Forester offers exactly that. The brand has gone to the next level to help increase the survivability of an impact for both cyclists and pedestrians by putting a massive U-shaped airbag at the line between the hood and the windshield. It gives the Subaru Forester cyclist protection the likes of which we’ve never seen.
The new Subaru Forester has been on sale in the U.S. for almost a year, and we’ve even seen the new Wilderness trim. But the model is just coming to market in Japan now. The brand has made it worth the wait for its home market by adding two great features that aren’t offered here. One is that airbag, and the other is a 1.8L turbocharged engine.
Subaru Drives Focus on Safety in Home Market
Subaru ads focus on both active and passive crash safety in the U.S. But in Japan, they go far beyond what you see here. There, the brand advertises things like a 0.06% chance of rear-ending another vehicle if you have EyeSight. And that’s not even the current version; it’s the one that became obsolete in 2018.
It also shows data that it has a fatal and serious injury rate around half the Japanese industry average per 1 million vehicles.
Its latest feature, though, might be one of the most innovative we’ve seen in years. The Subaru Forester cyclist protection airbag is designed to cushion the blow for the people and cyclists you hit, instead of the ones already in your car.
In a crash, it fires almost instantly. The airbag inflates, covering the base of the windshield and the section of the hood closest to it. It’s meant to stop the head of a pedestrian or cyclist from striking the windshield or the cowl.
Forester already had a pedestrian airbag available in Japan, but this one has a larger surface area. Subaru found that a cyclist’s head is positioned differently in a crash than a pedestrian’s would be. Wrapping the bag around the A-pillars provides the extra protection that different positioning requires.
Japan’s Forester Gets More Power
As great as this Subaru Forester cyclist protection sounds, we also like the turbocharged engine the Forester gets at home. The 2.5L four-cylinder in the U.S. makes 180 horsepower and 178 pound-feet of torque, and it feels like much less.
The hybrid system offered here boosts it to 194 horsepower. It sounds better, but we said that it was “far from fast or powerful” anyway. Japan’s 1.8T offers 174 horsepower and 221 pound-feet — a number that has a much higher chance of feeling something approaching brisk.
Will Subaru Forester Cyclist Protection Come Stateside?
We haven’t heard anything about the possibility of this airbag coming to this side of the Pacific. It would be a great feature to offer, but we’re not aware of any automaker offering a similar airbag in the U.S. They do exist in other markets, though. Subaru, if you’re listening, can we have the Subaru Forester cyclist protection and 1.8 turbo, please?
Oh, and wear a helmet!
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