WARRENDALE, Pa., Feb. 18 /PRNewswire/ -- Every year, several thousands of
unprotected pedestrians are killed in car accidents. Can vehicles be designed
and manufactured to help minimize the damage inflected on innocent bystanders
when a vehicle loses control? Automotive engineers at Concept Technologie
GmbH, Austria, say "yes," and will share their research during the SAE 2002
World Congress, March 4 - 7, Cobo Center, Detroit, Michigan, USA.
"In the European Union," says Martin Krenn, Head of Project Management at
Concept Technologie, "about 40,000 people perish in accidents involving
automobiles. More than 6,000 of these accidents kill pedestrians.
"In the United States in the year 2000, about 40,000 people died in
auto-related accidents and almost 5,000 of these fatalities were pedestrians.
Pedestrian deaths can be reduced by means of passive pedestrian protection."
Passive Pedestrian Protection can be defined as measures on a vehicle
which provide more safety for pedestrians in case of an accident. These
measures can vary, such as deformation materials in the bonnet area and
front-end structure or "pedestrian friendly" front geometries or even outside
airbags to protect the weakest form of road users.
"By modifying the design of a vehicle's front-end structure," says Krenn,
"most of the kinetic energy in an accident between pedestrian and vehicle can
be absorbed by the car instead of the person."
According to the researchers, the ideal car design would be that the
vehicle absorbs all the kinetic energy so that the human body keeps position
on the vehicle where hit, avoiding any secondary impact when hitting the
ground after collision. The impact energy absorbed through deformation of the
vehicle components where the crash occurs is dependent on the area of the
vehicle and the material used to manufacture the car.
The European Commission is in favor of creating a testing procedure within
the automotive industry to evaluate a vehicle's impact on pedestrians.
"Passive Pedestrian Protection-Evaluation of Simulations Versus Test
Results According to EEVC WG 17 Specifications" will be presented 2:30 p.m.,
Monday, March 4, Room W1-55.
SAE World Congress, the world's largest showcase of automotive engineering
technologies, attracts attendees from more than 50 countries. For more
details, including registration and special events, visit the SAE 2002 World
Congress web site at http://www.sae.org/congress or call 1-877-SAE-CONG (723-2664);
outside the U.S. and Canada, call 1-724-772-4027.
SOURCE SAE
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Related links:
http://www.sae.org
http://www.sae.org/congress
CONTACT:
Leslie Rizzi, Corporate PR of SAE,
+1-724-772-4031, or rizzi@sae.org
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