Development of countermeasures to reduce pedestrian head injury.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) 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 surfaces is briefly described.