This paper concerns ways of improving passive safety measures on a vehicle to protect people outside the car. Any measure to reduce casualties needs to be focused on the prime cause of injuries: the front of the car. A test procedure developed by the UK's Transport Research Laboratory with the European Enhanced Vehicle Safety Committee includes a set of subsystems tests. subsystems (head- and legforms) were chosen in place of dummies as the tests are more repeatable and more cost-effective. Pedestrian protection concentrates on tests for adult leg and pelvis protection and separate tests for child and adult head protection. Safer cars are expected to make significant improvements in the number of fatalities. Safety modifications investigated were a bumper unit combined with spoiler, extended bonnet edge, and removal of strong box edges from the shape. European crash test EuroNCAP procedures have been doing pedestrian testing and car manufacturers are taking a pro-active view of pedestrian protection.
Samenvatting