Leftover fabric from car airbags is now being used in sneakers, helping to reduce the environmental impact of cars and shoes alike.
Asics Gel-Sonoma 15-50 uses scraps of nylon airbag fabric at Toyoda Gosei, one of Toyota's captive suppliers, for its top items. Launched in January 2023, port won the 2024 Good Design Award from the Japan Institute of Design Promotion.
Toyota Land Cruiser shows airbags
“Making an upcycled product using waste as the main material seems like such an action needed by the communityboth from the point of view of effective use of materials and to arouse the interest of users in the waste of material in today's society,” the judges said in a statement.
Toyoda Goesi also markets bags and pen cases made of airbag fabric and leather wheel covers under its Re-S brand. There have been a number of air bag recalls in recent years, some involving hundreds of thousands of vehicles, such as the Toyota Grand Highlander, so if the vehicle cannot. which may be foundthe supplier showed how to use it.
2025 Toyota Grand Highlander
Car manufacturers and suppliers are also on the way to cut the footprint of cars by adopting other types of things found-from trash cans to ripped jeans—and use them for car cabs.
Some odd but useful salvage efforts that can pay off big include replacing the magnetic materials in old hard drives for EV motors. And Kia has plans, announced for 2021, to eliminate leather and increase the amount of recycled plastics in its cabins and cars.