Video: Volvo V40 pedestrian airbag

Now that cars have as many internal airbags as can be squeezed in, the inevitable next step is to fit an external one.

Volvo (who else?) has fitted the world's first pedestrian airbag, which inflates to cover the windscreen in the event of a pedestrian collision. If that sounds a bit random, the idea is as follows. If a pedestrian is hit by the car, a sensor triggers the bonnet to be raised and the windscreen airbag to go off.