The technology
Thousands of innocent pedestrians and cyclists lose their lives or get seriously injured after being hit by cars. To minimise this kind of mishaps, Impact absorption specialists Cellbond in collaboration with Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge have developed a ‘soft’ car bonnet that will fold inwards on impact.
What’s new?
Right now, when a car hits a person walking on the road, the resulting strong jerk from the hard bonnet causes fatal injuries and even death of the person. Juxtaposed to this, once the ‘pedestrian friendly bonnet’ concept, which is a pioneering design concept, is consumed by car manufacturers we can reduce the intensive head injuries by 60 per cent for those hit by cars.
What’s refreshing?
What comes as great news is the fact that one of the major car manufacturers has welcomed the technology and will soon adopt it in its vehicles. And soon every car on the road will feature a ‘soft’ bonnet and the figures that show that 20 per cent of road fatalities in Europe involve pedestrians and cyclists will soon become history.
Slideshow
Slideshow of Pedestrian safety tech
How it works?
At the time of a collision, the person hit the car bonnet with a dynamic force, which makes the bonnet yield equal amount of force on the hit pedestrian causing head trauma. This happens because the kinetic energy of the impact is not absorbed by the bonnet. In the all new Cellbond design, the kinetic energy is absorbed by the collapsing structure of the bonnet, thus reducing the “head impact criteria” by 50 to 60 per cent. An ‘aluminum mechanical energy absorber’ that lies within a sheet of metal that collapses inwards is the agent of change in this revolutionary technology.
The impact
A great boon to the society, the new and highly utilitarian Pedestrian Friendly Bonnet concept will reduce the number of pedestrian casualties, which currently make a massive chunk in accidents happening around us every day.
Check out the video of ‘Pedestrian Friendly Bonnet’ in action.
