According to statistics on traffic accidents in Japan; (1) approximately 60% of four-wheel vehicles involved in pedestrian accidents are passenger cars; (2) 70% of the pedestrians involved are struck by the front of the vehicle; and (3) 50% of the fatalities are 65 year-olds or older. The proportion of elderly persons to the total number of pedestrian fatalities is expected to continue to increase. The findings from in-depth case studies of 113 pedestrian casualties show that: (1) the severity and location of the impact on the pedestrian depend upon the body size of the pedestrian and the shape of the front of the car; and (2) the parts of a car most important for pedestrian protection are the bumper, the hood edge, and the hood top. Parametric studies were performed by using full-scale sled tests and computer simulations. Important results of these studies are: (i) The shape of the front of the car, particularly the hood edge height, greatly influences the pedestrian kinematics after the impact; and (ii) the influence of the force-deformation characteristics of the front of the car upon the pedestrian kinematics appears to be small, compared to the dependence on the shape of the front of the car.
Abstract