Development of a Vehicle Structure with Protective Features for Pedestrians

New vehicle body structure was developed that reduce pedestrian head injury in traffic accidents. The structure was developed to be incorporated into mass production models. This report show the concrete examples and performance of the structure. At first this paper describe application area of vehicle and injury criteria. During development, it is nessesary to fine control of load characteristic especially at the place that cannot make long stroke. The difference of each structures arrived to some kinds of pattern of energy absorb structure. Next problem was to satisfy another basic performance of the body structure, for example panel stiffness, noise vibration. Generally, automotive engineers focus their efforts on increasing body strength in order to improve body performance. The new structures were developed to satisfy the target for energy absorption characteristics, and also provide a sufficient level of body strength.