Automotive Seatbelt Pretensioner Market - Growth, Trends, and Forecast (2020 - 2025)

The automotive seatbelt pretensioner market is anticipated to register a CAGR of over 8% during the forecast period, 2020-2025.

• The automotive industry has undergone various technological advancements, in both the passenger and commercial vehicles, over the last couple of years. The primary drivers for this market are increasing awareness and stringent safety regulations.
• Automotive seatbelt pretensioner is one of the technologies that have been developed and have gained much attention from automotive companies. Initially, the pretensioner technique was first used in military aircraft but was later designed for automotive, considering the high chances of a head-on collision.
• With the increasing vehicle production and growing public awareness, the demand for automotive seat belt pretensioner has also increased. An automotive seatbelt pretensioner is a part of the passive safety system, which helps to diminish negative consequences at the time of any collision.
• The increasing adoption of automotive seat belt pretensioner-embedded vehicles because of the level of passenger safety may impact on the growth of market for automotive seat belt pretensioner. The rising safety concerns as a result of the rise in the number of accidents and government initiatives have also been driving the studied market's growth.
• In the European region, Germany is a major market for seatbelt pretensioners. This is because of the presence of major automobile manufacturers in this region.

Key Market Trends

Increasing Demand for Sports Utility Vehicles driving the Market

The demand for seatbelt pretensioners has been increasing at a rapid pace all over the world, especially in the emerging markets. The automotive safety systems are generally fitted to the sports utility vehicles, based on government regulations and the growth of public awareness.

The market for sports utility vehicles has been witnessing a maximum growth in India, China, Vietnam, and other Asian countries.

Earlier, seatbelt pretensioners were available only in luxury car brands, like Audi, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Land Rover, and Volvo. With advancements in technology and manufacturers' effort in developing cost-effective safety solutions, seat belt pretensioners are now made available in economic car brands, like Honda, Hyundai, Skoda, and Volkswagen.

The SUV sales in 2018 accounted for over 36.4% to 30 million units globally, representing a 7% growth as compared to the previous year. Though the number of sport utility vehicles featuring seatbelt pretensioners has been limited in the emerging markets, their numbers may increase in the future.

The significant issues regarding pretensioners systems are high maintenance costs. Also, most of the SUV buyers in the emerging markets drive off-roaders on paved roads in the cities and have little need to have safety systems. The standard seatbelt pretensioner systems may result in higher growth rates in the market studied due to the higher growth rate of entry-level sports utility vehicles.

Asia-Pacific to Witness Highest CAGR during the Forecast Period

Asia-Pacific occupies the largest share by volume and value, due to the high vehicle sales in the region; countries such as China, South Korea, Japan, and India are the major manufacturers of automotive seatbelt pretensioners.

The integration of advanced seat belt safety systems may continue to grow in the automotive industry, worldwide, upon which, consumer confidence is primarily developed. Continuous evolution in the automobile industry working upon regulatory measures has been leading to constant developments in the safety features and components of automobiles.

According to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration in the United States, seat belt usage by commercial drivers has jumped from 65% to 86% over the past decade.

The increasing penetration of automotive seat belt pretensioners in the Asia-Pacific region, owing to the rising production of premium vehicles that are equipped with a higher number of automotive seat belt pretensioners in the seat belt systems is expected to be a key driver for the automotive seat belt pretensioner market.

Europe holds a significant share in the global automotive seat belt pretensioner market, as the region is home to many vehicles with active seat belt pretensioners as compared to other regions.

Competitive Landscape

The automotive seatbelt pretensioner market is dominated by several players, such as ZF Friedrichshafen AG, Autoliv Inc., TOKAI RIKA CO. LTD, Continental AG, Takata Corporation, DENSO Corporation, and Joyson Safety Systems. The market is relatively consolidated, with about five players accounting for more than 50% of the market share, and the acquisition of Takata Corporation may also result in a change of company-wise market shares.

These companies have been expanding their business by new products so that they can have an edge over their competitors.

Over the past few years, there have been several instances where car manufacturers have recalled a huge number of vehicles regarding issues in seatbelt pretensioners. For instance, during August, Ford in the United States has recalled 103,000 units of Ford and Lincoln models manufactured from Aug 2014 to Jan 2015. In order to reduce concerns due to recalls, manufacturers have been focusing on developing advanced seatbelt pretensioners, which may significantly reduce the number of recalls.

• In January 2018, ZF Friedrichshafen AG started supplying its next generation SPR8 (Snake Pretensioner Retractor) seat belt system to the Jeep Wrangler. The innovative system uses a plastic piston instead of conventional metal components to transfer tensioning torque through the torsion bar to the spool, resulting in a simpler design, more compact packaging, and industry leading system weight. This unique technology utilizes lighter weight with plastic material, thereby, allowing the overall system weight to be reduced by up to more than 20%.
• In August 2019, 103,000 Ford Fusion, Lincoln MKZ sedans recalled for faulty seat belt parts, as they may not have the strength to restrain a passenger.

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