Press Release
16 Mar 2009 - New Cranfield technology focuses on pedestrian and cyclist safety
Cranfield Impact Centre has developed an innovative technology that has the potential to significantly reduce fatalities caused by pedestrian impact with car windscreens.
Current legislation ignores head impact to the windscreen in vehicle design assessment, despite data demonstrating that 30% of fatalities involving pedestrians are caused by head impacts.
The technology has been developed during the course of a five-year collaborative research project on pedestrian and cyclist safety, one of seven sub-projects of a €30 million project on Advanced Protection Systems (APROSYS) sponsored by the European Commission.
The group, led by Cranfield and involving academic specialists and commercial organisations from the UK, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Spain and Sweden, used detailed accident data accumulated from across Western Europe to identify the areas of the windscreen that received the majority of the impacts and those which resulted in fatalities.
An energy absorbing mounting system comprised of a flexible Z shaped section of metal has been developed for attachment between the main structure of the vehicle and the windscreen. By reducing the apparent stiffness of the windscreen, it allows more energy to be absorbed during a head impact.
Computer simulations demonstrated that the ‘Z section’ reduced the Head Injury Criterion (HIC) value at the edge of the screen by over 50% to 828, significantly below the recommended ‘safe’ value of 1,000. Head impacts at other locations on the windscreen also benefitted.
Roger Hardy, Project Manager at Cranfield Impact Centre said: “This technology can be implemented at minimal cost using the existing attachment technologies and will allow for roadside replacements. The technology will make a valuable contribution towards road safety.”
The results of this research follow the recent news that Euro NCAP, the organisation that assesses the safety of new cars, has introduced a new overall car safety rating. The new system will now include the Pedestrian Protection rating among other new areas of assessment in the overall rating of a vehicle, challenging manufacturers to produce cars that are safer all-round.
The design of this technology is currently patent-pending.
ENDS
Further information
Pictures – flexible ‘z’ shaped section shown between window and frame.
Cranfield University is a wholly postgraduate institution with a worldwide reputation for excellence and expertise in aerospace, automotive, defence, engineering, environment and water, health, management and manufacturing. The University is made up of the following Schools: Cranfield Health, School of Management, School of Applied Sciences, School of Engineering, and Cranfield Defence and Security at Shrivenham. For more information visit http://www.cranfield.ac.uk/
Cranfield Impact Centre (CIC)
CIC is a leader in the field of safety structures, vehicle crashworthiness, and occupant safety analysis and design. CIC is a division of Cranfield Innovative Manufacturing Ltd which is wholly owned by Cranfield University. CIC offers research and consultancy in key areas including vehicle and vehicle occupant simulation, analysis, design, development and testing of safety structures including F1 cars, design for crashworthiness and crash protection and pedestrian impact modelling (biomechanics).
APROSYS (Integrated Project on Advanced Protection Systems)
The field of passive safety concerns in particular human injury biomechanics, vehicle crashworthiness and protection systems. APROSYS is mobilizing and integrating the European scientific & technological expertise for the development of new technologies for the protection of road users in all relevant accident conditions. Furthermore, this IP aims to increase the level of competitiveness of the European industry by developing new safety technologies.
For further information please contact: Naomie Stanford-Jones, Press Officer, Cranfield University, tel: +44 (0) 1234 754999
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Press release number: PR-07-09-SAS
