Maybe expanded use of those "bike airbag helmets"? I can't imagine a mountain biker wearing a bunch of bulky padding and still being able to participate in the sport.
XC or recreational trail riding, probably not, but if you're into enduro, freeride or downhill, you can (should) already be wearing a lot of really bulky gear. Heavy duty boots with toe protection, pads for your knees, hips, elbows, gloves, spine and chest protectors, neck braces, full face helmets with MIPS
I believe some kind of airbag solution could actually be really helpful, but here's the thing about falls in MTB: they happen quite often and they're usually harmless, sometimes you even toss the bike on purpose when you realize you've messed up or miscalculated a feature.
And you probably don't want to replace an expensive gas [generator] cartridge or suffer burns or just have to endure loud pops every time you make a mistake.
I dunno, just brainstorming and have no experience building protective wear/devices.
The brand name of the material is D3o, it's used in products like the Fox Baseframe.
From personal experience this helps quite a bit, but i never had a crash where my spine took a hit.
Issue is, many people don't wear torso protection, just like a lot of people ride motorbikes in a T-Shirt/
Yeah, that makes sense. I was thinking something that when expanded, would protect the bottom somehow + the top (maybe helmet is connected to this imaginary "spine protector"), so compressions would be really difficult on that axis.
https://discerningcyclist.com/hovding-bankruptcy/
In some types of crashes, the Hövding had better crash performance than ordinary helmets. In others it performed worse.
More generally, it may be that someone comes up with a design which incorporates inflatable sections which is more successful.