Softening the impact

Surviving car accidents should become easier thanks to two patents filed by
the Japanese car company Honda (GB 2 340 801/2). Instead of bolting the car
seats and safety belts onto the body of the vehicle, they are all fixed to a
sledge-like raised floor with limited freedom to slide backwards in a crash.
Shock absorbers, in the front and back of the sled, damp the deceleration so
that the driver and passengers are not jolted forward so violently. The shock
absorbers can be honeycomb metal bars that collapse on impact or piston and
cylinder devices which fill with…