Bumper Airbag Design and Experiment for Pedestrian Protection

Researches on pedestrian protection have become a very important theme in automotive industry. Design for vehicle front-bumper system has proven rather essential and been extensively used to improve the vehicle performance of pedestrian protection. However, there are some limitations in the design of vehicle front-bumper system to meet a multiple-pedestrian impact conditions at the same time. In order to improve the vehicle performance of lower extremity and pelvis protection for pedestrian, a new type of front bumper airbag was developed. Firstly, based on European New Car Assessment Programme (Euro-NCAP), the Flexible Pedestrian Legform Impactor (Flex-PLI) to vehicle and Upper Pedestrian Legform Impactor (U-PLI) to vehicle impact tests are carried out to evaluate the pedestrian protection performance of the initial structure. Secondly, the structural design of the bumper airbag is carried out, including the layout of the bumper airbag, the shape of the bumper airbag and the parameter design of the bumper airbag. Finally, the performance of bumper airbag is tested and verified. The test results show that the new bumper airbag can significantly reduce the injuries of lower extremity and pelvis of pedestrian, which provides a reference for the development of similar front bumper system in the future.