Abstract
KEYWORDS:
Pedestrian protection, Active bonnet, Car-to-dummy collision, Headform-to-bonnet impact, HIC
ABSTRACT
In a vehicle-pedestrian impact, the majority of pedestrian fatalities are caused by the head injuries. Accident analysis showed that the bonnet of car and its surrounding often had consequences with severe head injuries in such accidents, especially when young or small pedestrians are involved. The study discuses a potential of active bonnet and shape modifications of chosen structural members of bonnet and fender to reduce the severity of the resulting head injuries. The pedestrian friendliness of the vehicle front end (original and modified) was assessed on the base of data obtained from mathematic simulations (HIC, acceleration etc.) of both headform impact and dummy-to-car impact (50%Hybrid_III and 5%Hybrid_III ware used) to relevant points of vehicle front end. Moreover, simulation results ware discussed in contrast with results of analytic study of impact physics.