A Game-Changer for Road Safety In a groundbreaking development for road safety, researchers at Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden have unveiled a new truck front design that promises to mitigate the deadly severity of car-truck collisions. This innovation comes after revisions to European Union regulations loosened restrictions on truck length, creating space for potentially life-saving design changes.
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Revolutionary Truck Front Design Aims to Protect Cars in Deadly Head-On Collisions
Heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) pose a disproportionate risk to passenger cars in collisions. Between 14-16% of all car occupant fatalities in both the EU and the US involve HGVs, with the car occupants being the victims in 90% of these incidents. The significant size and structural rigidity mismatch between trucks and cars drastically increases crash severity, even at moderate speeds.
Subheading: Protecting the Passenger Car’s Cabin The Chalmers University research team focused on a critical aspect – protecting the passenger car’s cabin in a head-on collision. Traditional truck designs fail to address this issue, so the researchers aimed to transform how trucks and cars interact during crashes.
Innovative Design Features
The new truck front design incorporates features like an energy-absorbing aluminum honeycomb structure designed to distribute and reduce impact forces. Thanks to revised EU regulations, designers now have greater flexibility to implement these safety features. Researchers are also exploring ways to optimize the truck’s front to deflect cars away from the truck’s forward path, further enhancing safety measures.
Promising Test Results
Crash tests conducted by the Swedish Transport Administration (Trafikverket) have validated the effectiveness of the new truck design. Researchers emphasize that the tests simulate a collision where emergency braking systems reduce both vehicles’ original 80 kph speed by 30 kph.
“A truck is involved in every fifth fatal accident in road traffic,” notes Rikard Fredriksson, Senior Advisor at Trafikverket. “The goal is to develop a standard for crash tests for trucks that can be introduced in Euro NCAP’s consumer tests in 2030.”
“We know that providing a distributed force over the struck car would allow its crash structures to perform more efficiently. From the first test, we could also see that the energy levels observed were high and better energy absorption by the truck was needed,” says Professor Robert Thomson, Division of Vehicle Safety at Chalmers University of Technology.
A Collaborative Effort for Road Safety
The research team continues refining the truck front design in collaboration with the automotive industry to create a new standard for truck crash testing. This innovation holds the potential to revolutionize road safety and reduce the tragically high number of fatalities in mixed-vehicle collisions, marking a significant step forward in protecting the lives of those on our roads.
