In a significant advancement for road safety, researchers at Sweden’s Chalmers University of Technology have developed an innovative truck front designed to mitigate the severe consequences of car-truck collisions. This breakthrough follows revisions to European Union regulations, which have eased restrictions on truck length, paving the way for potentially life-saving design enhancements. The newly devised design has demonstrated promising results in crash tests conducted by the Swedish Transport Administration (Trafikverket), indicating that improved truck fronts could reduce passenger car compartment deformations by 30-60%, thus significantly lowering the risk of injury or fatality for car occupants.
Inherent Danger of Truck-Car Collisions
Collisions involving heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) pose a disproportionate risk to passenger cars. Statistics reveal that between 14-16% of all car occupant fatalities in both the EU and the US involve HGVs, with car occupants accounting for 90% of the victims. The geometric configuration, rigidity, and sheer mass of large trucks exacerbate the severity of crashes compared to car-on-car impacts, even at moderate speeds.
Current safety standards are designed to ensure that two modern passenger cars with the highest safety ratings can withstand an 80 kph collision without fatalities. However, this level of safety assurance does not extend to vehicles colliding with trucks. The disparity in size and structural rigidity between trucks and cars poses a significant challenge, leading to devastating consequences for those in passenger vehicles, even at relatively moderate collision speeds.
Functionality of the New Design
The team at Chalmers University of Technology focused on a pivotal aspect – safeguarding the passenger car cabin in head-on collisions. Conventional truck designs do not adequately address this issue, prompting the research team to reimagine the dynamics of truck-car interactions during crashes.
The innovative truck design prioritizes safety, incorporating elements such as an energy-absorbing aluminum honeycomb structure designed to distribute and diminish impact forces. With revised EU regulations relaxing previous constraints on truck length, designers now have greater flexibility to integrate these safety features. Additionally, researchers are exploring strategies to optimize the truck’s front, aiming to divert cars away from the truck’s forward trajectory and further bolster safety measures.
Promising Test Results
The unique crash tests conducted by the Swedish Transport Administration have validated the efficacy of the new truck design. It is noteworthy that these tests simulate collisions where emergency braking systems reduce the original speed of both vehicles from 80 kph to 30 kph.
Rikard Fredriksson, Senior Advisor at Trafikverket, underscores the importance of this innovation in addressing road fatalities, particularly those involving trucks. He emphasizes the aim to establish a standard for truck crash tests that can be incorporated into Euro NCAP’s consumer tests by 2030.
Professor Robert Thomson from the Division of Vehicle Safety at Chalmers University of Technology highlights the need to distribute force evenly across the impacted car to optimize the performance of its crash structures. The ongoing collaboration between the research team and the automotive industry aims to refine the truck front design and set a new benchmark for truck crash testing. This innovation holds immense potential to revolutionize road safety and mitigate the alarming number of fatalities in mixed-vehicle collisions.
See the Video Below:
