To trace and verify airbags, Autoliv incorporates customized version of Schreiner ProTech’s ((rfid))-Poly-Track label for in-line data acquisitiona and product authenticity via tamper-evidence.

Blauvelt, N.Y. – Schreiner ProTech, a Germany-based global leader in developing and manufacturing innovative functional labels with value-added benefits for the automotive and engineering-based industries, has developed RFID labeling solutions enabling fully automatic component data acquisition during the automotive manufacturing process, as well as authenticity via tamper-evidence for longer-term product verification.

In automotive manufacturing, all components are typically marked to ensure authenticity and traceability. Barcodes are frequently used to document relevant component information, but reading them often is difficult. For example, items such as airbags are frequently installed in areas difficult to access by handheld readers or camera inspection stations.

With RFID technology, component information can be read automatically, with antennas installed at the assembly line reading and documenting pertinent per-item data as component travel between stations.

Recently, Autoliv – the world's largest automotive safety supplier – began equipping its driver-side airbags for Volkswagen with a labeling solution from Schreiner ProTech’s ((rfid))-Poly-Track product family. In addition to serving as component markings, the labels are tasked with authenticity certification; to this end, the RFID labels incorporate a tamper-evidence feature to ensure it cannot be peeled off without destruction and, for instance, reapplied to another airbag and falsely resold as an original.

Among the challenges posed by the collaborative project was developing a customized version of the RFID solution that would remain readable despite the metallic substrate comprising part of the airbags' makeup.

“As a longstanding supply partner for Autoliv, Schreiner ProTech is intimately familiar with our requirements regarding substrates and materials as well as authenticity, low flammability and certification,” says Niels Klan, Project Engineering Leader at Autoliv. “The utilization of a standard solution was not feasible for this project, so Schreiner ProTech, with its customized solutions and its expertise, is our ideal partner.”