Estimation by World health organization reveals that by 2020, road traffic injuries may be the third leading contributor for the cause of death with significant proportion of pedestrian causalities [9]. Pedestrian safety was not considered essential for vehicle design for developing countries, due to the vehicle manufacturer's reluctance to invest in area not governed by legislation, unavailability of new car assessment programs. However, as regulatory norms are turning out to be more stringent with increased competition of NCAP star ratings, advancements in vehicle research, significant progress in this field of safety is being made without compromising on contradictory fields like vehicle low speed insurance, stiffness etc. This paper provides an insight into the recent findings at MARUTI SUZUKI INDIA'S R&D centre, aimed at improving the lower leg pedestrian performance in the new model design with special attention to NCAP ratings.
Understanding of leg impact kinematics and Identification of the potential areas in the front fascia styling is the first step in reducing the vehicle aggressiveness to a pedestrian. The effect of design and performance constraints integrated with material choice and stiffness pose considerable hindrance. Permissible changes to the styling focus to address the improvement in crush depth and energy absorption is to be targeted and to be assessed through CAE and actual tests. Design Improvement, so achieved must also to be validated for contradictory demands put on the front fascia of the vehicle like dent resistance, bumper low speed tests, insurance and repairability. Unless iterated and optimized, engineering solutions will add a significant cost the overall product.
This case study presents findings during the course, cost effective solution during the packaging and fine tuning of pedestrian safety elements in the current platform in this literature in detail.
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