Vehicle Aggressivity

Design Alternatives (con’td)The Ford Excursion, the largest SUV on themarket, has a "blocker beam" located behind andbelow the front bumper to prevent passengercars from riding under it in frontal collisions.A design that is actually being used at this timeis active suspension control that lowers the rideheight of a vehicle as the vehicle acceleratesabove a certain speed.The heavy truck industry has been plagued for decades by rear underride impact crashes. As thevideo clips demonstrate, the lack of rear underride protection is dramatic. Some may rememberthat movie star Jane Mansfield died in an underride impact.When reinforced panels are installed, the vehicle does not completely underride the rear portion ofthe heavy truck. Hence, the occupants of the much smaller vehicle have an increased chance ofsurviving even though the vehicles have substantial structural, weight and geometric differences.The reinforced panel serves as an energy absorbing barrier.Page 12thefirm