Pedestrian Safety

Mazda redesigned the hood of its RX-8 with pedestrians in mind. Instead of being made of a flat sheet of steel with a few widely spaced supports, the RX-8's aluminum hood has a deeply dimpled structure underneath, designed specifically to provide extra cushion.


These hood systems would not work with SUVs because the head impact would be at the front of the hood. SUVs are more likely to employ passive protection like eliminating sharp edges, and softening front ends. For instance, rhino bars have virtually disappeared from European SUVs.

Outer Airbags
Researchers at the Ford's German center, in collaboration with the Cranfield Impact Centre in England, developed a family of pedestrian computer models to test vehicle/pedestrian crashes. The family includes a six-year-old child, a small female, an average and an above average sized man. Based on this research, Ford is developing two air bags designed to protect pedestrians during an impact.


An over-the-hood airbag deploys from just above the bumper. Activated before impact by a pre-crash sensor, it inflates in 50-75 milliseconds to a 54-inch wide and 22-inch high pillow covering the headlights, the top of the bumper and several inches above the hood. The grill and hood areas are a source of abdominal and hip injuries for medium or large adults, and chest and head injuries for smaller stature adults or children. A second airbag design offers head protection when the pedestrian is thrown over the hood toward the base of the windshield. The system consists of two air bags triggered when a sensor detects the pedestrian's initial impact with the bumper. The airbags deploy in the time it takes the pedestrian to travel across the hood area toward the windshield—about 100 milliseconds. When fully inflated, the two airbags cover the full width of the vehicle along the windshield base, from A-pillar to A-pillar. This covers the critical "hard points", such as the windshield wiper spindles and hood mounts, as well as the base of the windshield glass. However, the bag does not completely block the driver's view. The latter airbag is closer to production because it does not require sophisticated pre-impact detection.

Newer Technology
Still in development to meet stricter regulations in 2010 are driver assistance technologies that would alert drivers to pedestrians in their path and apply braking quicker than is humanly possible. For instance, Mazda is testing laser radar that can detect pedestrians 50 yards in front of the vehicle. The system sets off a warning bell and dashboard light to alert the driver and applies the brakes if the system detects an imminent collision. A strip of fiber-optic detectors spanning the front bumper can tell whether the vehicle has struck a person and then deploys a bumper airbag to minimize leg injury and at the same time raises the hood slightly up and straight back, providing a few crucial inches of extra cushioning above the engine. Airbags housed at the base of the windshield also instantly inflate, providing a protective cushion over the wiper blades and windshield.