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Alpinestars Tech-Air Airbag Systems

CONSUMER ELECTRONICS SHOW, LAS VEGAS – Alpinestars has been redefining protection for motorcyclists ever since the company was established in 1963, and today sees the brand

launching Tech-Air 5, the all-new, autonomous motorcycling airbag system.

Tech-Air 5 is the latest addition to the Alpinestars Tech-Air family, which includes the Tech-Air Race and

Tech-Air Street systems. Alpinestars continues to lead the way in active air-bag technology for riders and their passengers and Tech-Air 5 system is a powerful demonstration of Alpinestars commitment to making the technology more freely available as the best possible choice of active airbag protection on the market.

Tech-Air 5 is a slim, self-contained wearable airbag vest that can be worn under any proper fitting textile jacket* or Tech-Air compatible jacket. Tech-Air 5 offers unrivaled upper body protection, keeping motorcycle riders safe by uniquely covering the shoulders, chest, ribs and full back. Shoulder protection is critical in a road impact and riders shoulders are uniquely protected by Tech-Air, effectively and efficiently minimizing the risk of the rider sustaining shoulder and collarbone injuries.

The state-of-the-art Tech-Air 5 vest comes with an active electronic system that features six integrated sensors (3 gyroscopes and 3 accelerometers) and a crash algorithm that leverages AI to accurately monitor when to deploy the airbag in the event of a crash. The

intelligent crash detection algorithm has been developed together with the worlds top MotoGP riders, and Alpinestars customers, and includes over 2,000 crashes of data to accurately assess when to deploy a full airbag inflation before the first impact with an obstacle. Should the algorithm detect the start of a crash, it will deploy a protective airbag, with a maximum inflation time of 45ms. The impact absorption while wearing the airbag results in a decrease of the impact force by up to 93% compared

to a passive protector, which is the same protection as offered by 18 back protectors. The airbag comes with a

two inflators and a single charge for street and light off-road capability.

The system is also extremely easy to use, just zip up the vest, close the magnetic flap and youre ready to ride. An LED display indicates the airbags operational status and the integrated, certified lithium ion battery has a

battery life of 30 hours of riding time. The system comes equipped with a magnetic micro USB charger that allows quick, easy and convenient recharging.

Tech-Air 5 has Bluetooth connectivity and an accompanying Tech-Air App, which uses the riders phone to display the systems operational status, battery status and a detailed analysis of a ride; the systems firmware can also be updated over the air through the app.

Nearly 20 years ago, Alpinestars began development on the original Tech-Air system. When launched in the market

in 2014, the Tech-Air system was recognized as the worlds first airbag providing full upper body protection with

a completely independent electronic management system, in addition to having the versatility of the vest which

could be easily zipped in to a variety of Tech-Air compatible jackets. In December 2019, Tech-Air 5 has

already been recognized by CES as one of the must-see innovative products in the Wearables Tech Marketplace.

A history of Alpinestars Tech-Air:

2001 : Tech-Air airbag system project begins.

2004 : Alpinestars performs its first electronic airbag test; at this time with outer airbag balloons of 2 x 60 liters. Alpinestars decides to use electronic triggering for the airbag as the company analyzed and studied all solutions and discovered that with a mechanical system the activation is not fast enough to guarantee first impact protection.

2004 : Alpinestars also starts collecting riding data from

professional riders in e.g. MotoGP.

2009 : Alpinestars introduces Tech-Air Race in MotoGP.

2011 : Tech-Air Race is integrated into Alpinestars top leather suit and becomes available to final customers.

2014 : The Tech-Air Street airbag system is launched to the market at the EICMA show in Milan as a modular selfcontained electronic airbag system that provides first impact protection for the full upper torso. Tech-Air Street is the first system in the market to provide this level of protection. Additionally, the system allows the rider to easily switch between Tech-Air compatible garments and to adapt these garments to his/her riding

requirements and the weather conditions.

2016 : Tech-Air Race is introduced as a modular system that allows riders to not only choose between a wide variety of compatible suits and garments, but to choose between algorithms; riders can switch between race track use and public road use. Tech-Air Race is the first system in the market to allow this option.

2020 : The Tech-Air5 system is launched, joining the re-branded Tech-Air 10 Race and Tech-Air 10 Street vests, in the Alpinestars Tech-Air line-up.

* Note: The Tech-Air 5 wearable vest is designed to be worn under any proper fitting textile jacket. For those riders that want to wear a leather sports jacket, Tech-Air 5 may be worn with Tech-Air compatible leather jackets which have built-in leather expansion panels to accommodate airbag inflation. Any textile jacket must be large enough to accommodate the expansion of the airbag in the event of a crash, which requires an additional 6 cm of space around the circumference of the body.