Page 53 - Best of 2019 English

TDecreasing road casualties
he decline in road fatalities is a clear indi- the main decrease has been seen in the number of cation that cars have been getting safer and people who are not sitting inside a car when the safer for decades. Nowadays, fewer people accident happens – this figure was down by 61.5 %
are fatally injured in road accidents than 20, 30, from 8,135 to 3,136 from 1980 to the mid-1990s.
50 or even 70 years ago. You might easily be led to conclude that this welcome trend is mainly the
result of safer cars. However, stricter traf-
10
9.5
fic regulations have also had their part to play in saving human
8 lives. What is more,
Nonetheless, the number of fatally injured vehi- cle occupants has also declined – particularly in recent years. From 2002 to 2018, the number of fatally injured passengers per 100,000 registered cars dropped by more than two thirds – from 10.2 (2002) to 3.1 (2018)! Clearly, this is also due to design improvements – including those enabled by
new, improved steels.
5 4.5 4.8 4 3.5 3.5 3.5 3.2 3 2.8
7 6.5 6.3
5.8
Number of fatally injured vehicle occupants per 100,000 registered passenger cars
2005 2010 2015 2018
2002
MPrecision steel tubes save lives
ost of the precision steel pipes installed end customers and suppliers in the automotive in- in a car are safety-related. They are dustry. Typical products include components such hidden away and indeed some are fre- as airbag containers, seat belt pre-tensioner tubes
quently not even used at all, such as those that are and ready-to-install fuel injection lines.
essential for the functioning of an airbag. Many such tubes are manufactured by a Salzgitter AG company – Mannesmann Precision Tubes GmbH, based in Mülheim/Ruhr, a supplier to numerous
Although other components such as drive shafts and power steering cylinders are not primarily safety-related, they can indirectly result in acci- dents if they fail.
A-pillar tubes/ construction tubes
Pump housing
Airbags (passenger, head and side airbags)
Gas pressure springs
Drive shafts
Power steering cylinders (monobloc and 3-piece)
Stabilizers
Diesel injection lines (maximum pressure), common rail systems
Camshafts
Power steering cylinders
Shock absorber cylinders, shock absorber recepta- cles, hollow piston rods
Hydroforming
Balance shafts, Turned parts
Ball cages
Belt tensioners
Attachments for belt systems
STEEL AS A LIFE-SAVER 53
Photo: Mannesmann Precision Tubes