A vehicle hood assembly comprising an inner hood 42, an outer hood 44 fixed thereto, preferably via a hem flange, and multiple, spaced inflatable chambers 78 disposed between the two hoods and made of thermoplastic elastomer. Each chamber may comprise moulded top and bottom panels connected by sides, preferably pleated, the bottom panel being attached to the inner hood via adhesive. The pleats are preferably folded when a chamber is in an undeployed position and extend when it is filled with gas by an inflator 82. Multiple inflators may be used for the airbags 78, actuated by a controller (94, fig. 7) when the latter receives a signal from an impact sensor (92, fig. 7) preferably located in the vehicles front bumper. Inflation of the deployable devices 70 (fig. 4) causes the outer hood to be pushed upwards, whereby increased spacing is provided between it and underlying hard engine parts and the force of impact in a pedestrian-vehicle collision is absorbed without severe injuries to the pedestrian. The airbags may be located in key areas of the hood to provide protection, such as the front edge, above the bonnet latch, the rear edge or the left and right edges.
Vehicle hood assembly with deployable pedestrian protection
2017-08-30
Patent
Electronic Resource
English
IPC: | B60R Fahrzeuge, Fahrzeugausstattung oder Fahrzeugteile, soweit nicht anderweitig vorgesehen , VEHICLES, VEHICLE FITTINGS, OR VEHICLE PARTS, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR |
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