Citation

Youn Y, Kim S, Oh C, Shin M, Lee C. Proc. Int. Tech. Conf. Enhanced Safety Vehicles 2005; 2005: 10p.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2005, In public domain, Publisher National Highway Traffic Safety Administration)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Pedestrian safety is one of the most demanding topics in vehicle safety in Korea. Although the total numbers of deaths and injuries have continuously decreased year by year, the pedestrian is still a major source of traffic victims. Among 240,832 cases (total traffic accidents), 37% (89,443) was pedestrian involved accidents in 2003. Last year, 50% (3,594 fatalities) of all traffic accidents that involved a fatality (total 7,212) was the vehicle-pedestrian type accident in Korea. Among them, numbers of deaths in pedestrians age under 6 were 142 with 13,528 injured children. In 1999, the Korean government, Ministry of Construction and Transportation, launched a research project to develop a proper solution to pedestrian protection from vehicle related accidents. The project also included the evaluation of existing test methods, i.e., European Enhanced Vehicle Safety Committee (EEVC) type test and International Harmonized Research Activities (IHRA) type test, and the possibility of harmonization with these test methods. The main objective of the presented method is to develop the adequate dynamic test procedure and injury assessment criteria. The current front shapes of all existing passenger vehicles were measured and categorized into three groups according to IHRA recommendation, and the effect of vehicle shape on pedestrian kinematics was investigated to define the head impact speed, head impact angle and Wrap Around Distance (WAD) with the various impact speeds and walking postures as the test procedures. In this paper, JARI pedestrian computer model, TNO MADYMO computer model and FEM H-model were used to configure and compare the pedestrian dynamic behaviors during the various impact events. With head impact tests and simulations, the design feasibility, lead times for auto industry and suitable injury criteria were investigated. Based on this research, the Korean government will extend the Korean New Car Assessment Program (KNCAP) on new vehicle pedestrian impact tests to evaluate how pedestrian friendly the vehicle's front structure is. Following careful study of the results of the NCAP, vehicle design regulations for pedestrian protection will come into effect within 2 or 3 years.