The effects of bull bars on pedestrian injury mechanisms and kinematics

Reilly-Jones, Carleen; Griffiths, Michael

Affiliations

¹Roads & Traffic Authority of NSW, Australia

Abstract

This paper describes a full scale crash testing program designed to assess the effects of bull bars on pedestrian injury mechanisms, severity and kinematics in pedestrian-vehicle frontal interactions.

Laboratory testing was conducted using an instrumented Hybrid-III dummy fitted with pedestrian pelvic conversion kit, and advanced lower leg assembly. The dummy was impacted by a late model production sedan, in control configuration and equipped with 2 popular aftermarket bull bars of varying aggressivity. Test speeds of 20 km/h and 30 km/h were used. Analysis of data and high speed film allowed comparison of the effect of the bull bars on pedestrian injury and kinematics.

The testing showed that kinematics were significantly changed by the addition of a bull bar. Biofidelity of the test dummy was a limitation of the testing. Further dummy development is necessary to provide a useful pedestrian test dummy.

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