Pedestrian Safety

Softening the punch of motor vehicles when they hit a pedestrian or cyclist is the next step in automotive safety, but U.S. pedestrians will benefit as an afterthought. This fall regulators in Europe will require that all new vehicles sold in Europe pass crash testing designed to mitigate head and leg injuries in accidents with pedestrians or bicyclists. In 2010, much stricter regulations will go into effect. U.S. pedestrians can expect the initial pedestrian-friendly designs to carry over to this market; but, in the absence of comparable U.S. regulations, the more sophisticated pedestrian-friendly technology geared to meet Europe's 2010 regulations may not be packed under U.S. hoods.

Statistics
Pedestrian deaths in other parts of the world are a bigger problem than in the States. In India, more than 40 percent of traffic fatalities involve pedestrians. Each year 8,000 European pedestrians are killed and 300,000 injured. In the U.S., 5,000 are killed and 70,000 injured each year.


When a pedestrian is hit by a car, their legs are knocked out from under them and the upper body is thrown down—very hard—onto the hood of the car. Today's cars are aerodynamically designed to glean extra miles per gallon. A consequence of this fuel-efficient design is minimal space between the outer body panels and the hard structural components. Serious or fatal head injuries often result because just below the hood, in most cars, is a heavy, rigid engine. In almost all collisions, the pedestrian falls onto the road after the accident has occurred. The exact influence of this on the seriousness of the injury has not been fully investigated, but modifications to the vehicle cannot overcome this aspect of pedestrian accidents.

Soften the Blow
Automakers are focusing on two areas in pedestrian safety: The first step is absorbing impact in a collision, and the more sophisticated second step will be avoiding the accident altogether.


Honda has been in the lead in pedestrian safety, developing the first pedestrian crash test dummy, Polar II, to measure the dynamics of car-pedestrian accidents. The dummy mimics the performance of the human leg, chest, and shoulders in a collision with a car. Utilizing feedback from the dummy, the 2001 Civic was designed with a 3-inch gap between the hood and engine block to cushion impact and bendable hinges that allow the hood to collapse more easily.