Leftover material from automobile airbags is now being utilized in sneakers, serving to to decrease the environmental impression of vehicles and footwear alike.
The Asics Gel-Sonoma 15-50 makes use of airbag nylon material remnants from Toyoda Gosei, certainly one of Toyota’s captive suppliers, in its higher components. Launched in January 2023, the sneaker received a Good Design Award 2024 from the Japan Institute of Design Promotion.
Toyota Land Cruiser displaying off airbags
“Making an upcycled product utilizing waste materials as a foremost materials is seen because the type of motion that’s wanted by society, each from the point of view of efficient use of supplies and in arousing customers’ curiosity in materials waste in as we speak’s society,” jurors mentioned in an announcement.
Toyoda Goesi has additionally marketed luggage and pen instances comprised of airbag material and scraps from leather-based steering-wheel wrappers below its personal Re-S model. There have been an important many airbag remembers in recent times, a few of which embrace a whole bunch of 1000’s of automobiles, just like the Toyota Grand Highlander, so if the fabric may doubtlessly be recovered, the provider has proven a technique to doubtlessly use it.
2025 Toyota Grand Highlander
Automakers and suppliers are additionally nicely on the best way to slicing the footprint of automobiles by taking different forms of recovered supplies—from landfill waste to ripped denims—and utilizing them for car cabins.
Different odd however helpful restoration efforts that will repay massive embrace recovering magnet materials from previous arduous drives for EV motors. And Kia has bold plans, introduced in 2021, to section out leather-based and up the extent of recycled plastics in its cabins and automobiles.
