~ Auto Buzz ~: Dainese Celebrates 1,000 D-air Deployments Looking back at the history D-air airbag protection and the new A-air Misano 1000 jacket.

“The future of protection is in D-air.” This slogan proclaims the mission of the Dainese D-Air inflatable vest, which already has had 1,000 successful deployments. To celebrate this meaningful achievement, Dainese gathered a number of champions past and present, all of whom wore (or wear) the company’s leathers. Even though it was a large group, not all champions were there: Valentino Rossi was was busy with his mechanics, and I greatly missed seeing the greatest, Kenny Roberts, whom I had the personal privilege of introducing to Lino Dainese (when Roberts came over to Europe to teach a new riding style and a more professional way to live our sport). Dainese D-air is the motorcycling version of a car airbag, but worn by the rider. Previously, in the case of a crash, the rider had nothing to protect him from impacts except a layer of leather and some thin padding around the most critical part of his body. There have been attempts to adapt a carlike airbag to motorcycles, but tests proved the concept inconsistent.

Davide Giuliano in a neck brace.

It was Lino Dainese himself who had the intuition that finally materialized as the brilliant and effective D-air concept. He was inspired by his scuba experience, specifically the safety vest. His first D-air prototype was just that, an inflatable vest that, given the triggering system and the compressed air bottle, needed to be carried over the leathers. Although not practical, it was the beginning, and it was developed in cooperation with the Israeli company Merhav. It was unveiled in 2000 at the Munich Motor Show. The development of the original concept was included in a Safety Research Project launched in cooperation with the University of Padua. In 2006, the first deployment took place. On a secluded track, a stunt rider began crash-testing the early prototypes, which were still rather clumsy and needed to be worn over the leathers. They did, however, have the correct anatomical configuration to ensure best protection for vital areas of the neck, shoulders, back, and chest. A year later, Dainese introduced the fully functional D-air Racing at the Valencia GP. There, the first “official” deployment took place when racer Simone Grotzky escaped totally unhurt from a real crash. The D-air Racing system still deployed partly outside the leathers, but proved perfectly functional. R&D work progressed with two specific targets in sight: miniaturization of the whole system and development of the D-air Street, which would extend the new concept of protection to the everyday motorcyclists.

Dainese d-air Simone Grotzy first deployment in race at Valencia GP.

In 2010, Dainese D-air was granted full certification by the German TÜV organization, and the D-air Street went into production and on sale. Research and development continued to further miniaturize the components and, most important, cut the deployment time to 45 thousandths of a second. More certifications were granted by road safety centers around Europe to both D-air Racing and D-air Street. In 2013, BMW adopted Dainese D-air Racing leathers for its Superbike racing team; this cooperation resulted in the DoubleR RaceAir leathers that were specifically dedicated to the S1000RR superbike and unveiled at EICMA 2013. The following year, Ducati followed suit, introducing the D-air version of its Multistrada model featuring a fully integrated wireless triggering system and related D-air Street Ducati-Dainese jackets. In 2015, Yamaha also started cooperating with Dainese; for the launch of the R1 and R1M superbike, D-air Racing leathers were made in traditional Yamaha colors. At this stage, the D-air airbag suit had evolved into a compact system fully enclosed inside the leathers. Deployment generates what we might call a “casting effect” that further braces the crashing rider against the damages of multiple collisions.

Finally, the Dainese D-Tec department capitalized on 15 fifteen years of R&D with the D-air project by creating D-air Armor, a stand-alone protection system that is included in the gear that the riders wear under their leathers. D-air Armor offers the same level of protection of D-air Racing to all riders, whatever the make of their leathers. That’s significant, because it puts safety above anything. D-air Armor proved its effectiveness when Moto2 racer Sam Lowes escaped completely unhurt when he crashed at the most recent Grand Prix of Catalunya. At Misano, at the recent event celebrating 1,000 deployments of D-air, Dainese unveiled the A-air Misano 1000, a leather jacket for road use featuring a fully stand-alone safety system. Among the riders I met at the event, Ducati World Superbike racer Davide Giugliano, still in braces, was walking confirmation that D-air saves lives. “My crash at Laguna Seca was a big one and that I ended up with only two cracked neck vertebrae is totally due to the effectiveness of the D-air protection that braced my neck and prevented it from snapping badly. Thank you, Dainese.”