Members of Delphi (a spin off of General Motors), have just been awarded the 39th annual BorgWarner Louis Schwitzer Award which recognizes engineering excellence in the field of racecar design at the Indianapolis 500. The Delphi team created the Delphi Earpiece Sensor System.

The system is an earpiece that is placed in a racecar driver’s ear. In the event of a crash it delivers the information necessary to determine the degree of head injury a driver may have experienced. The system provides actual head acceleration values at the moment of crash impact.

This technological development has been accepted by professional race drivers who are each measured for and fitted for an earpiece, as well as race governing bodies such as the Indy Racing league, Infiniti Pro Series, and ChampCar World Series who each have made its use mandatory. NASCAR and FORMULA 1 are evaluating the device currently.

You can read more about the device here.