It might have three battery-electric vehicles in its lineup all of a sudden, but Subaru isn’t ready to settle on that tech just yet. CarBuzz has just found a patent that shows the Japanese automaker is still working on hydrogen power like its partners at Toyota.
This patent isn’t for the power, but rather, for ways to make it safer.
Subaru Wants To Make Crashes Safer, Even With New Fuels
Subaru hydrogen patentSubaru
It’s a simple idea. Subaru’s invention describes making part of the structure that holds the electric drive motor in place break in a very particular way. That break would angle the motor up, forcing the tank down in a crash and making sure the two aren’t smashed together.
When you design a vehicle’s safety system, there are a few parts where crash performance is more important than other parts. The gas tank in a gas car, for one, along with the engine. In an EV, it’s the motors and the battery pack.
In a hydrogen-powered car, it’s the tank full of hydrogen that needs serious attention. The tanks themselves are incredibly resilient, made from special carbon fiber weaves and other materials designed to handle the pressures inside and stress from outside. The tanks are also usually put in the car’s center tunnel, which is extremely strong and protected. But if the motor is driven back into it in a front-end crash, the motor and tank can cause a problem for the people in the vehicle.
In a hard enough crash, the motor can hit the tank with so much force it punctures the hydrogen tank, causing a high-pressure fuel leak. If the tank stays intact, it could push the motor up into the floor, potentially causing injuries to the driver and passengers.
How Can Subaru Control The Movement Of The Tank And Motor?
Subaru hydrogen patentSubaru
The best way to prevent those problems is to direct how the motor and tank move in a crash. Subaru’s patent does that with a link that will fail if the crash forces are high enough.
If the car hits something hard enough to push the motor into the tank, that link fails and bends. The motor rotates slightly around its front mounts as it is pushed toward the tank.
When a mount on the back of the motor hits the front of the tank, it compresses. That pushes the back of the motor up slightly and, more importantly, pushes the front of the tank down.
Pushing the tank down lets the motor keep moving backward until all of the crash forces have been dissipated. The tank doesn’t get punctured, and the motor doesn’t end up in the passenger compartment. In theory, anyway.
CarBuzz Insight – Why This Matters:
Toyota Mirai Fuel Cell TankToyota
Safety is important to Subaru, so it’s no surprise the automaker would be working on a safety-related idea. The surprise is that it is working on a hydrogen fuel cell.
Though maybe it shouldn’t be a surprise. Subaru, along with Toyota and Mazda, announced in 2024 that they would be taking a combined approach to carbon neutrality. Mazda is working on experimental fuels, Toyota on hydrogen fuel cells and combustion, and Subaru? Maybe it’s handling the safety side of it all.
Patent filings do not guarantee the use of such technology in future vehicles and are often used exclusively as a means of protecting intellectual property. Such a filing cannot be construed as confirmation of production intent.
Source: US Patent & Trademark Office
