Miniature wankel-powered seatbelt pretensioners
 

(Maybe not news to those that have browsed through wiki):

Apparently some auto manufacturers use tiny gas-powered wankel engines to tighten seatbelts before a crash. How cute.

http://www.google.com/patents?vid=US...BAJ&dq=5485970

heh thats cool

haha, that's really cool!

mazda should stick in em in our cars. :)

Im pretty sure this was posted a couple years ago, but i am too lazy to care to find thread....good find

News to me. I gave my roommate a laugh.
I wonder what auto makers use it!

According to Wikipedia, Mercedes and VW do.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wankel_engine