Dainese Smart Air review | Motorcycle airbag vest tested

Date reviewed: October 2024 | Tested by: John Milbank | Price: £599 | www.nevis.uk.com

The Dainese Smart Air on review here is an evolution of the company’s Smart Jacket, with several improvements to useability as well as the certified protection.

I’ve been wearing this fully autonomous motorcycle airbag vest on a variety of bikes, both over and under my riding kit to find out how comfortable and convenient it is, and whether it’ll become a part of my daily riding kit…

Pros & Cons

Features

Two major new features of the Dainese Smart Air are that the inflator is user-replaceable, allowing up to three deployments before the bladder needs to be swapped (it’s fully removable), and that the firmware updates can now be carried out wirelessly using the D-air app available for Android and iOS.

Weighing just 1.56kg, the Smart Air is an extremely compact electronic, fully-autonomous airbag that can be worn over or under your existing kit (as long as there’s space for it to expand).

The main shell is a ripstop nylon material with pretty much no unnecessary coverage – everything you see, apart from the stretch panels on the sides, is covering the airbag bladder.

The back contains the user-replaceable inflator and the electronics, with the inside having raised panels to help air flow more easily.

There’s one pocket at the chest for if it’s worn over a jacket, but if you use it under your other gear you need to make sure that there’s at least 5cm of space inside the front and rear before you put the vest on. If you’re in any doubt, just ask your dealer.

As with any airbag, do not wear it under one-piece or zip-together leathers unless they’ve been designed specifically for airbag use.

The Smart Air automatically arms as soon as you clip the popper into place at the top, which is a great design that makes for an extremely positive connection. This popper also keeps the zip in place to ensure the vest can’t open during deployment, and a red flap can be secured when it’s not in use to prevent accidental power-up.

The connectors and LED panel in the chest appear waterproof, but the Smart Air user guide says that it should be protected by a waterproof jacket if used in the rain. The main control box is well buried inside the back, but it isn’t totally sealed, so while I’d not be too concerned if I was caught in a shower, I wouldn’t want to wear this on the outside of my kit in a prolonged downpour.

The Smart Air must NOT be taken apart by the user, but I’ve opened it to check the battery capacity and sealing

Can you wear the Dainese Smart Air with a rucksack?

You probably wouldn’t wear a rucksack with the Smart Air due to the raised section on the rear. If you did though, you’d need to make sure that there’s space under the straps for it to inflate, so don’t do it up too tight. Also, don’t fasten the chest buckles, which might be a problem if you have a Kriega pack, or the new Oxford Atlas.

Trigger method

The Dainese Smart Air turns on automatically when you’re wearing it, but will only arm if you’re sat on a running motorcycle. Sensing the vibration of the engine, it works in the same way as the older Smart Jacket, but this also means that it won’t be active while at a standstill if you’re on an electric bike – if there’s no vibration detected, it’ll arm when you’re travelling at over 10kmh (6mph), but it’s important to understand that the Smart Air will only detect if you’re hit when at a standstill if you’re on a bike with a running engine.

The Smart Air’s algorithm – created and constantly refined with data from years of racing and road use – is designed to recognise the following incidents:

• 360° impact with an obstacle

• High-side

• Low-side with tumbling

• Low-side without tumbling

• Impact with another vehicle while stationary (except on electric motorcycles)

The Smart Air is intended for road use, though I’d have no qualms – as an average rider –wearing it on track in my intermediate level sessions. It can also be used on dirt roads, but it hasn’t been tested for riding over things like tree-trunks and rocks; green lanes should be fine, but more hardcore off-road use is not advisable. And definitely not motocross!

Dainese says that in ISO 1323-2 testing at 48kmh (30mph), the intervention time from first impact is fast enough to offer protection to the rider in accordance with the standard. But it is important to understand the limitations of any airbag system – even the fastest detection and inflation times might not be enough to fully inflate a device before you hit an object you directly crash into, especially if it’s at an angle. The reality is that pretty well nothing can fully protect you from a direct crash at speed, but a good airbag can offer a significant level of safety over and above traditional passive armour.

Can you accidentally trigger the Dainese Smart Air?

Despite trying, I’ve been unable to accidentally trigger the Smart Air. Electronic airbag algorithms have really advanced over the last few years, and false triggers are now very rare.

Besides the fact that the canister is user-replaceable, a genuine system fault would be shown in the logging data and would likely be dealt with under warranty.

The bladder is very similar to the one used in the previous Smart Jacket

Protection & Certification

The Dainese Smart Air uses the impact requirements of the EN1621-4 standard to certify it as being protective, and by achieving the highest Airbag Level 2 it’s been proven to reduce transmitted forces in the standardised lab test to ≤2.5% (compared to no protection) at the chest and back. This is the test procedure recognised throughout the UK and EU, but there is another standard created by the French that uses different requirements for some of the French brands. To fully understand the differences, check out our guide to the best motorcycle airbags here. Personally, I prefer to choose airbags based on the EN1621-4 criteria.

Coverage is impressive, with all of the front of the chest being protected with a ‘Dual Chest’ bladder (rather than two tubes running down the middle as with some other devices), while the back is a ‘Central Back’ design that covers 25% of the width of the entire back and 72% of the length. Despite being much more compact than the previous Smart Jacket, the bladder is pretty much the same size in the new device.

The Smart Air is said to provide some level of head and neck support, and the inflation at the rear will reduce hyper-extension to some degree, although not to the same extent as some other systems.

The bladder features Dainese’s unique microfilament design, which has millions of tiny threads internally connecting the front and back faces of the bladder. This means it can fill evenly and extremely firmly, while not distorting under impact with narrow objects like a tube design can.

The airbag stays fully inflated for at least five seconds, usually deflating after about 30-45 seconds.

If you choose to wear the Smart Air over the top of your existing kit, you need to consider abrasion damage, though the bladder is very tough. It is worth remembering the following…

• In urban environments, impact injuries are more likely than sliding

• On open roads, the most dangerous impacts are likely to occur before sliding

• An impact after a long slide is less likely to be as serious

• The chest and back are not considered critical areas for abrasion

However, the safest way to use an airbag like this (and the least likely to see it damaged beyond repair) is to wear it inside your riding kit.

The Smart Air can be worn with a passive protector fitted in your existing jacket if you want, and the inflation mechanism and electronics are backed with an expanded polystyrene panel to help protect you if you fell and it didn’t inflate.

From April 21 2018, all new motorcycle clothing is deemed to be Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). To meet this legislation, it must be tested to a recognised standard. For more information on the law, click here.

Comfort on and off the bike

The Dainese Smart Air is available in three sizes (there’s no women’s specific one at the time of writing): XS/S, M/L and XL/2XL. I have the M/L, but my chest measurement is right on the borderline of being XL/2XL, so it is a snug fit. However, besides the fact that I’m trying to lose some weight, the next size up would have been too big everywhere else, and this isn’t uncomfortable.

An electronically-triggered airbag should be a secure fit to avoid it potentially shaking around and mis-firing, but it shouldn’t of course restrict your movement, so always try it on for yourself. The sides of the Smart Air are a stretch material, but they also have a zip that allows you to expand them further.

I’ve found that both under and over my existing riding kit, the Dainese fits me fine, and doesn’t get in my way at all.

No airbag bladder can be breathable, but the compact nature of the Smart Air means there’s no thick 3D mesh inside the chest to help air move around, so when worn under your riding kit it can get a little sweaty on the front if you’re wearing a cotton tee-shirt. It’s always best to go for a wicking material on a bike, so I wear a base layer or simply one of my cheap technical tees from Mountain Warehouse or Regatta.

I’m more than happy walking around in the Smart Air off the bike, but it’s no bother to stow it away…

Convenience

The Dainese really is easy to fold up and tuck into your luggage or even a rucksack – the only solid part is the back section, meaning it can pack down to just 35 x 24 x 12cm.

Having just one pocket means there’s not the space to store things that the older Smart Jacket had, but this hasn’t been a problem for me as my existing jacket’s pockets are accessible with this new design.

The USB-C port is now much easier to access for charging than in the previous model – just pull open the slit on the back and reach inside with the cable. It’s still not perfect though: it’s a little bit of a fiddle to get to the port, and I’m surprised to see that the contact board in the centre of the port is more prominent than the outer shield, which takes some getting used to as you need to put the plug on straight, rather than offering it in at a slight angle while you find the location as on devices like your phone. I must admit to being a little concerned about the vulnerability of this port if it’s not treated with some care.

A full charge of the 1,300 mAh battery takes up to four hours, and the Smart Air will run for a maximum of 12 hours, which is a lot less than the claimed 26 hours of the Smart Jacket that has a 2,400 mAh cell. This is a bit disappointing, though at least it’s easier to charge now, and realistically this’ll be enough for most users each week.

The charge level can be checked with the app, but this isn’t particularly quick to access (it takes about three button presses and a pause as you wait for a connection), but the LED on the chest will flash five times to indicate the remaining charge:

This is quite a wide range of charge levels, so I’d suggest getting into a routine of charging; a yellow flash could mean you’ve got half the capacity left, or less than a fifth.

The Smart Air will vibrate when it’s turned on and off, but not when it arms or disarms, which I think is an oversight as you can’t tell if you’ve got it on under another jacket (and the LED isn’t clear in bright sunlight). Hopefully this will be changed in a future firmware update.

‘Shipping mode’ is accessible in the app, allowing you to temporarily disarm the system, while ‘Sleeping mode’ puts it into a deep sleep to conserve power if it’s stored for a long time. Only by connecting it up to charge will it activate again.

Firmware updates are quick and easy, though I should note that the app works fine on my Pixel 7 Pro, but won’t connect to the Smart Air on my very old iPad running iOS 15.

Build quality

The design and build quality of the Smart Air is impressive, with some neat touches like the yellow bladder showing through the perforations. Black, reflective strips at the shoulders and back are good to have too, though it’d have been great to include some more of these.

Washing

The Dainese Smart Air must not be immersed in water, and while the bladder and electronics are removable, they’re not really intended to be taken out fully by the user, so you’re limited to wiping it down. Not such an issue if you wear it under other kit, but a damp brush will probably be the best bet after a summer ride.

Costs

There are no ongoing subscription costs for the Dainese Smart Air, and while it should be serviced every three years – where the inflator, wiring, bladder, seams etc are all checked – this is absolutely free and can be carried out at the Dainese UK distributor (Nevis), Infinity in Camberley or Bridge Motorcycles in Exeter.

This makes the Smart Air one of the cheapest electronic airbags on the market, at least at full retail price.

If the airbag is fired, a new inflator costs £109 and can be replaced by the user, though after three inflations the bladder must also be changed. The cost of this is not yet known, though I’d expect it to be less than the £239.95 of the previous Smart Jacket as that included two inflators. I’ll update this review as soon as I have the price.

The Smart Air can be worn under or over your existing kit

Four alternatives to the Dainese Smart Air

The choices available for motorcycle airbags are really growing, and I’d urge you to check out our guide to the best here, but my recommendations are based on protection, convenience and price…

• Alpinestars Tech-Air 3, £519.99 | With impressive coverage and Airbag Level 2 protection at the chest and back – plus the option to add a passive protector – this is a very impressive piece of kit. Read the full review of the Alpinestars Tech-Air 3 here.

• Dainese Smart Jacket, £399.95 (street price) | At the time of writing, this previous model is heavily discounted. The charging port’s a bit fiddlier to access and the fact that it has to be plugged into a computer to update is irritating, but this is something of a bargain and well worth considering. Read the full review of the Dainese Smart Jacket here.

• MotoAirBag V4, £639 | The huge coverage offered by this fully EN1621-4 Airbag Level 2 system is exceptional, reaching up behind the head to prevent hyper-extension of the neck and down over the coccyx. The chest is equally well covered, and the unique ‘analogue accelerometer’ offers far superior triggering compared to any other mechanical system. The V4 also comes with a removable armoured mesh jacket, meaning this can be worn entirely on its own. Read the full review of the MotoAirBag v4 here.

• MotoAirBag M1, £440 | Offering the same protection and trigger system as the V4, the MotoAirBag M1 is excellent value for money and intended for more urban environments with its lighter shell construction. Expect a full review of the MotoAirBag M1 soon.

These are just four of many alternatives – you can find all the airbags we’ve tested here  and be sure to regularly check for the discounts available through Bikesocial membership.

Dainese Smart Air – Verdict

Despite making the Smart Air as compact as possible, introducing wireless updating and offering a user-replaceable inflator, this new airbag is a lot cheaper at full retail price than the old Smart Jacket was at launch. In fact, it’s now the cheapest electronic airbag system on the market over a period of five years of ownership, mainly thanks to the free servicing every three years.

The coverage at the back is smaller than some alternatives, but the chest is a lot better than many others, and the whole thing can be stowed very easily, so is perhaps more likely to be taken on every trip. The best airbag is of course the one you’re wearing.

My only real disappointment is with the significantly reduced battery life, though easier access to the charging port does mean this is less of an issue than it could have been. Overall, it’s well worth considering but remember to check out our guide to the best airbags to understand the protection offered.

Do you own this airbag? Tell us what it’s like, or ask us questions about it at bikeclub.bennetts.co.uk.

The BEST motorcycle airbag

Your guide to the safety standards, coverage and advice from medical experts