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Hood development of internal structures in vehicles is an important alternative to minimize the injuries to pedestrians in case of a running over accident. In fact, according to Berg et al (2002), about 17% of head impacts occur on the hood. Moreover, according to Farooq and Schuster (2003), 62% of fatal injuries are caused by head trauma. This study focuses on evaluating the influence of free space between the hood and rigid components, considering cut out hood inner panel design, which is one of the geometries most commonly used by auto industries. The major advantage of this structure is its weight, leading, however, to small stiffness. Injuries to the head of a pedestrian is measured through a finite element model, in accordance with the European Committee for improvement in vehicle safety. There are several ways to measure the damage caused by the deceleration of the head.

In order to reduce the injuries during the vehicle- pedestrian collisions some alternatives for energy absorption have been applied. On average 27% of the head impacts occur on the hood and fenders and generally a great part of these are fatal injuries. For this reason some alternatives to hood development have been applied to reduce the injuries. Depends on Vehicle Style the impact could occur straight on the fenders, so for this cases we need to provide enough free deformation space between fender catwalk and upper rail to absorb the kinetic energy from Head impact because is physically necessary the deformation of the external surface for the other internal components to reduce the HPC values. Most of Automotive Manufactures has been applied the deformable brackets between fender and rail with purpose to deform during the head impact and absorb the kinetic energy.

In order to reduce the injuries during the vehicle-pedestrian collisions some alternatives for energy absorption have been applied. On average 27% of the head impacts occur on the hood and generally a great part of these are fatal injuries. For this reason some alternatives to hood development have been applied to reduce the injuries. This paper presents a comparative analysis for different hood Inner geometries. With this we are able to come to a conclusion about HPC influences, compare the head intrusion and reach a conclusion about the material influence for each hood inner geometry type.

Currently The European Union has been considered the best example in pedestrian protection. Since the 70s, the European Parliament together with research institutes and the automotive industry have been studying and developing methods to improve adjusted road structure, have also conducted studies on biomechanics applied to the subject, medical structure and required modifications in the vehicles. Although it has been considered the best example, during 2004 in Europe (IRTAD)[1] about 39250 fatalities occurred in traffic situation. About 6900 (17,6%) of these were pedestrians and 2650 (6,7%) were bicyclists. During 2004 in Japan (IRTAD) about 8500 fatalities occurred in traffic. About 2600 (30,7%) of these were pedestrians and 1150 (13,5%) were bicyclists. The injury frequency of the pedestrian body segments has been investigated since the 60s and the head and the lower extremities have been found the most frequently injured.