The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is conducting a research program addressing pedestrian upper body injuries inflicted by vehicle front ends. The objective of the program is to determine and demonstrate the feasibility of significantly reducing injury severity through structural modifications. Analysis of U.S. pedestrian accident data indicated that head and thorax impacts against vehicle faces, hoods, and fenders are of major importance, and that children are over-representeads accident victims. Accordingly, the research program consists of two main activities, which are briefly outlined in this paper. The first addresses adult and child head injury resulting from contact with the above-mentioned vehicle areas; the second, child thorax injury caused by the leading edges of hoods and fenders. Finally, an approximate estimate was made of the target population of head injuries in the U.S.—numbers of injuries now being sustained by those pedestrian accident victims who might benefit from vehicle modifications. Estimates are based on accident data projections and test results on production vehicles.