The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is conducting research to develop methods of reducing pedestrian head injury due to automobile hood contact at speeds that would result from cars hitting pedestrians at less than or equal to 30 miles per hour (48kph). This paper describes the current status of work to develop vehicle designs which reduce pedestrian head injury severity. The development of techniques used to simulate head impacts on vehicle surfacesis briefly described. Tests were conducted on production hoods and fenders to:​ 1) determine the head injury potential of common hood and fender impact regions, and 2) understand how specific geometric and/or material characteristics influence injury severity and might be altered to reduce the severity of head impacts. Accident reconstruction research results identified an injury criterion which enables headform test responses to be related to injury severity with a high degree of confidence. The large variation in predicted head injury severity, obtained in production car testing, demonstrates that significant injury reduction could be achieved by making all cars perform as well as the best current production cars. The best head impact results, from 30 miles per hour (48kph) impact speeds, produced 10% probabilities of fatality with 2 to 2.5 inches (5.1–6.4 cm.) of dynamic deflection. The least injurious impacts occurred when nearly 100% of the impact energy was absorbed by the vehicle structure, acceleratiotn pulse duration was 20 milliseconds or greater, and structural stiffness did not exceed 2000 pounds per inch (3500 N/cm). The potential for a significant raise in severe pedestrian head injury is indicated with widespread use of plastic composite or fiberglass materials in hoods and fenders.