Design of a pedestrian compatible car front

Gaegauf, M.; Kaeser, R.; Meyer, E.; Reif, G.

Affiliations

¹Institute of Lightweight Structures, ETH Zurich

Abstract

The paper deals with the development and the design of a car front which corresponds to human tolerance levels in car/pedestrian collisions up to an impact velocity of 4Okm/h. At higher velocities less severe injuries are to be expected than with current car fronts. Starting from specified load limits of various body parts of a pedestrian, the course of development is described:

2-dimensional mathematical simulation, preliminary design and testing of the main components of the car front (bumper, leading edge and head impact area)
design and construction of the entire car front and the verification in several full scale crash tests

The presented pedestrian-activated displaceable hood seems to be a suitable solution to reduce significantly the severity of injuries in car/pedestrian collisions. There is no severe change of current styling and little additional space is needed for energy absorbing components.

Cited Works (3)

Year	Entry
1983	Walz FH, Hoefliger M, Fehlmann W. Speed limit reduction from 60 to 50 km/h and pedestrian injuries. In: Proceedings of the 27th Stapp Car Crash Conference. October 17-19, 1983; San Diego, CA. Warrendale, PA: Society of Automotive Engineers:311-318. SAE 831625.
1978	Appel H, Kuehnel A, Stuertz G, Gloeckner H. Pedestrian safety vehicle: design elements results of in-depth accident analyses and simulation. In: 22nd Annual Proceedings, Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine (AAAM). July 10-14, 1978; Ann Arbor, MI.132-153.
1984	Niederer PF, Schlumpf MR. Influence of vehicle front geometry on impacted pedestrian kinematics. In: Proceedings of the 28th Stapp Car Crash Conference. November 6-7, 1984; Chicago, IL. Warrendale, PA: Society of Automotive Engineers:135-147. SAE 841663.