Vehicle Aggressivity

Design Alternatives (con’td)Apparently realizing that LTV’s are part of our cultural fabric, vehicle manufacturers and component partmanufacturers alike are trying to devise new ways to make vehicles less aggressive and more compatible.Concept IllustrationTRW and Ford Motor Company have performed work on an airbag system that would deploy fromthe bumper of an LTV to absorb some of the impact.Ford has also considered a sinking grille that would drop when a sensor detects an imminent crash,somewhat like a cowcatcher on a railroad locomotive, to offset the override tendencies on a car.Other designs that have been considered by vehiclemanufactures to overcome aggressivity andincompatibility is the use of honeycomb aluminummounted on a strong support frame. This designwould serve as a friendly barrier. This design iscurrently used by Texas Department ofTransportation.Concept IllustrationAnother design that is being considered byGMC is hydraulic actuators, which during acollision would thrust forward six inches sothat the crash pulse is lengthened. Itshould be noted that this design was firstproposed in 1974 by a NHTSA researcher.In a recent magazine article, the author hinted that vehicles of the future would all have the sameunderbody “skateboard” configuration but with a different replaceable body. This concept makes allvehicles have identical crush zones and bumper heights which equates to perfect compatibility andequal aggressiveness.Page 13thefirm