Influence of geometric parameters of passenger car's front-end structure on the head dynamic response and injury risk of pedestrian

Journal article, 2014

The AIS 3+ injury risks of pedestrians in their collisions with different passenger cars are studied by in-depth analysis on accident data, and the effects of the front-end structure of passenger car on pedestrian injuries and their causative factors are investigated by simulation analysis. With 128 makes of passenger cars from the market in China as samples, the main geometric dimensions of front-end structure of sedans, SUVs and minivans are compared. Based on detailed pedestrian accident data, the distribution and severity of injuries in all kinds of car-pedestrian accidents are statistically analyzed, and the relationship between vehicle impact speed and pedestrian casualty risks are determined. The pedestrian head impact conditions of different makes of cars are compared at different impact speeds of 20, 40 and 60 km/h respectively with multi-body dynamics models. The results show that the front-end geometric shape of passenger cars has obvious influence on the dynamics response and injury risk of pedestrians' head. The findings from the study could provide certain theoretical basis for better developing the pedestrian protection measures for different types of passenger cars.