Published April 09, 2013
FoxNews.com
We’re guessing this will come with a very big fix a flat kit.
Ford has filed trademark applications for something called an Inflatable Light Urban Vehicle, or iLuv.
Classified under “vehicles; apparatus for locomotion by land, air or water,” there’s little more information about what it could be.
The outlet that first discovered the applications, Ford Inside News, suggests that they could be intended for use on some sort of small, collapsible personal urban transportation device, rather than a traditional car, but Ford isn’t saying. The company telling Automotive News that it would not comment on speculation, and that it regularly trademarks various names.
Mercedes-Benz has shown a prototype vehicle fitted with inflatable steel beams in its doors that expand in the event of a crash to absorb energy, while a San Francisco startup company called XP Vehicles has proposed a car made from flexible panels filled with lightweight expandable foam.
As for a blow-up Ford, the only one we’ve seen was a car-shaped airbag used during the demonstration of a crash test avoidance system, and it was not called iLuv. As least not as far as we know.
Nevertheless, while you can’t yet buy an inflatable Ford, you can get one with rear seatbelts that inflate during an accident to help cushion the blow.
An air-filled vehicle that goes on “land, air or water” sounds like more fun.
