Development of passenger cars to minimise pedestrian injuries.

The European Experimental Vehicle Committee (EEVC) Working Group 10 has devised a series of body segment tests to establish the injury levels that a vehicle would inflict on pedestrians, rather than a test on a whole dummy. In this paper, the methods proposed for this evaluation are discussed and conclusions drawn on how this will affect the design and construction of cars in the future. Motor manufacturers demonstrated 'pedestrian friendly' vehicles in the 1970s, but only a small proportion of the design concepts were adopted for production cars. The challenge for the late 1990s is to significantly improve the safety of vehicles, whilst retaining the essential requirements of practicality, cost and customer appeal.