Skip to main content

Downhill skiers test new wearable airbag at 2018 Olympics

D-Air SKI Airbag - Jan Farrel TEST

There’s no getting around it — downhill skiing is a dangerous sport. And while the Olympians engaged in downhill races are doubtless some of the most talented folks in the game, the breakneck speeds they’re able to reach put them even more at risk for a potentially catastrophic crash. Luckily, there’s a way to safeguard against tragedy thanks to the new D-air system by Dainese. The Italian company has developed a technology that is currently being used by some competitors in Pyeongchang to detect when a crash is imminent, and inflate an airbag underneath a spandex ski suit in order to protect the wearer from more serious harm.

The D-air Ski is integrated in a back plate that is placed underneath a skier’s suit. It uses three accelerometers and three gyroscopes in order to communicate with GPS an impressive 1,000 times per second in order to determine if a crash may be on the radar. In case of danger, the D-air inflates the airbag, hopefully lessening the resulting impact.

The particularly tricky thing about developing the system for downhill skiing is determining what exactly constitutes a crash. After all, skiers spend a lot of time in the air, not touching down on solid ground (or snow), but that’s not a crash — it’s just par for the course. While there isn’t a ton of external data to support this claim, Dainese Executive Vice President Roberto Sadowsky claims that the company’s algorithm “has proven to work pretty much 100 percent.”

The airbag claims to deploy in just 45 milliseconds, and only adds around 1.7 pounds of extra weight to a skier. Already, a number of notable names in the ski world are using D-air, including Olympian Lindsey Vonn.

“It’s really a safety support tool,” Sadowsky told CNET. “It’s something that [skiers] adopt naturally because they want to be protected.”

Currently, the D-air Ski isn’t available for us laymen to purchase, but if you’re interested in donning a wearable airbag for another purpose, you can actually buy the motorcycle version of the D-air for a cool $1,700. But don’t think this is a one-time cost — every time you deploy an airbag, you’ll have to buy a new one, and those cost $250 each. But then again, can you so easily put a price on your safety?

Lulu Chang
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Fascinated by the effects of technology on human interaction, Lulu believes that if her parents can use your new app…
Goodbye, coolers. The EcoFlow Glacier doesn’t need ice — it makes it
The EcoFlow Glacier is a fridge shaped like a cooler with its own battery,

Every cooler operates on borrowed time. It leaves for your camping trip brimming over with crisp produce and ice-encrusted beer that looks straight out of a Super Bowl commercial, and returns with a soggy block of foil-wrapped cheddar cheese floating in a pool of mustard water. Mother Nature always wins.

Perhaps that’s why I was so enamored when I saw the EcoFlow Glacier at CES 2023. Less a cooler than a mobile battery-powered fridge on wheels, the sleek electric Glacier not only obviated the need for ice, it would make ice for me in 18 minutes. My home fridge can’t even do that, and I didn’t even know I wanted it to until just now. When EcoFlow offered to let me try the Glacier, I envisioned sipping a perspiring glass of whiskey in the tropics and accepted the occupational hazards of my job.

Read more
I was wrong. E-bikes are so practical, they’re a transit cheat code
An Aventon Level 2 ebike sits outside a grocery store.

Confession: Despite loving both bikes and gadgets, e-bikes never excited me. Compared to my bicycle, e-bikes seemed unfair. Compared to my motorcycle, they seemed slow. Compared to my car, they seemed impractical.

But with $1,500 federal e-bike rebates potentially on the horizon at part of E-Bike Act, I decided it was past time to reconsider. Not just because 30% off would make them way more accessible, but because the entire idea that e-bikes could be worthy of a rebate changed the way I looked at them: less as toys, more as transit. Had I written off an entire way of getting around because I was looking at it the wrong way?

Read more
Upway launches one of the best marketplaces for certified e-bikes, new or not
Man holding ebike from Upway in a field, lifestyle image.

This content was produced in partnership with Upway.
It wasn't too long ago that e-bikes were a rare sight, but all of that has changed, and rightfully so. Electric bikes are all over the road these days, and there are many brands either venturing into the technology, to launch their own versions of the sustainable transportation option or reiterating existing and traditional designs. From Aventon to Schwinn, or RadPower to Momentum, with so many opportunities, the prevailing question is, where do you go to find the best deals and the best information about these brands and their e-bike models? The answer is Upway, the number one certified electric bike provider and an official partner to many of the aforementioned brands.

What is Upway, exactly? It's a marketplace, specializing in e-bikes, featuring an inventory that's sourced from some of the best brands in the world. There are American brands -- like Specialized, Cannondale, and RadPower -- and European brands -- like Riese, Muller, and VanMoof. The best part is the discounts, offering up to 60% off retail, for a plethora of brands. Upway is on a mission to make sustainable mobility affordable for everyone. It's also one of the best places to go for a new or pre-owned e-bike, and here's why:

Read more