Pedestrian fatalities account for about 30% of all traffic accident fatalities in Japan. As head injuries in particular often lead to death or serious injury, it is important to reduce their severity, and so a newregulation for head protection is currently being drawn up.

The regulation is based on the results of discussions by IHRA, and applies to passenger vehicles and trucks built on a passenger car chassis weighing 2500 kg or less. The test procedure involves a sub-system test that uses two head form impactors, an adult head form and a child head form. The test area is zoned for both adult and child heads impacting against the bonnet top, and the regulation requires both adult and child head injuries to be reduced to the required level.

All newmodels of applicable vehicles introduced after 2005 will have to comply with the new regulation. After 2010, all newapplicable vehicles will have to comply.Vehicles that have difficulty meeting the regulation requirements, such as low-bonnet-height vehicles and certain types of trucks, will have a two-year grace period in which to comply. This report explains the regulation in detail.