Cars that are safe for pedestrians as well

When people talk about car safety, they usually mean the safety of the occupants. But the legislation also contains requirements for the safety of pedestrians and other road users. Škoda is one of the leaders in this field.

14. 11. 2024 Škoda World

Needless to say, it’s always better to prevent crashes, and that’s why today’s Škoda cars have a range of advanced assistance systems to help avoid collisions with pedestrians, cyclists, scooter riders or motorcyclists. Even so, accidents do happen. “Accidents most often occur in cities at speeds of up to 40 km/h and statistically these accidents have very serious and even tragic consequences,” says Csaba Sirgely, who focuses on passive safety for vulnerable road users at Škoda Technical Development.

During testing, impactors simulating various body parts are fired at the car.

The requirement to develop cars so that they pose as little risk as possible to pedestrians in the event of a collision is actually a relatively new issue. Cars have only had to meet the homologation conditions for pedestrian protection since 2006, and pedestrian protection only began to be addressed in Euro NCAP tests around the turn of the millennium. “The first car evaluated in Euro NCAP, but not yet developed for pedestrian protection, was the Fabia from 2000. And the Roomster was the first to meet the homologation criteria,” says Jaroslav Urbánek, another engineer working on pedestrian safety. Historically, carmakers started to pay more attention to pedestrian protection in the 1970s, but the solutions were limited to removing “unnecessary” protrusions on the bodywork or making some parts of the car more energy-absorbent.

Animation of a leg impactor hitting the front of a model of a Superb

Contradictory requirements

It is the “softness” of the body surfaces that actually helps protect pedestrians the most. But the requirement for energy-absorbing parts that a vulnerable road user can come into contact with goes against the requirement for the whole car to be as rigid as possible to protect the occupants. “There’s very little room for decelerating pedestrians,” says Csaba Sirgely. This is also why the requirements for pedestrian protection have a significant impact on the final design of the car. “In theory, the homologation conditions can be met with any body shape, you just have to pay attention to it. But we want to go further and be even better than the homologation requires, so the shapes we have on the cars at the moment are ones that have proven themselves over the long term,” Sirgely explains.

Contradictory requirements

Tough tests

It’s a lot of work for a car company to develop the most pedestrian-friendly car possible. For the purposes of Euro NCAP’s independent tests, the front of the car is covered by a network of points where the carmaker must always demonstrate that it meets the required parameters, i.e. pedestrian deceleration. In practice, the tests are carried out by engineers in the laboratory firing so-called impactors – bodies that mimic different parts of the human body and which contain a set of sensors – against parts of the car. An impactor that mimics a head looks different from one that mimics a leg. “We do over 200 of these tests as we develop the car. For each physical test there are on average about 140 virtual simulations,” Csaba Sirgely explains. Parts of the car are tested for collisions with various figures, from children to grown men.

Tough tests

The tests are both time-consuming and expensive. The latest impactor, for example, which simulates a person’s leg and is used in Euro NCAP tests, costs about CZK 5 million. The complex design tries to have similar properties to this part of the human body: the inner structure simulating bones is made of fibreglass, with plastic segments simulating muscle and a neoprene layer on top like skin. The impactor also has an elaborate artificial knee with ligaments for measuring how stretched they get. The entire test body has 18 different sensors and weighs 24.5 kilograms. Škoda Auto conducts tests focused on pedestrian protection in a laboratory that was opened in 2011 and is the only one of its kind in the country.

Impactors simulating an adult’s or child’s head and legs.

Stricter rules

The rules and requirements for protecting vulnerable road users have become stricter over time. What Euro NCAP, the consumer organisation, demands for a good result today may become mandatory in terms of legislation in a few years’ time. From 2026, for example, the legislation will tighten the conditions for pedestrian protection in the windscreen area, which is often impacted by the head of vulnerable users, especially cyclists and motorcyclists. “The conditions change according to what the statistics show. This means they can change as the population ages or as certain types of accidents increase. We’re also noticing an increase in the number of accidents with scooter riders,” Pavel Horyna points out. The rules vary around the world, but the trend towards tighter rules is clear.

Animation of a head impactor hitting the bonnet of a model of a Kodiaq

There are no specific requirements for electric vehicles in this respect. “However, in terms of pedestrian protection, they may have an advantage due to the fact that there is no engine under the front bonnet, and this makes it easier for us to work with this part’s deformation properties,” Jaroslav Urbánek explains.

Five stars in Euro NCAP

Škoda takes great pride in the safety of its cars, and the results of the independent Euro NCAP tests are proof of this. These tests assess the safety of cars more strictly than homologation criteria. The Czech carmaker’s models traditionally score the full five stars in these tests, and its cars are often among the best in their class in the overall assessment, with pedestrian protection being one of the areas evaluated. For example, the Fabia and Enyaq models that passed the tests in 2021 were among the best in class at the time. On top of this, Škoda recently published the Euro NCAP test results for its latest Superb and Kodiaq models.

The Superb scored 87% of the maximum total: 93% for protection of adult occupants; 87% for protection of children; 82% for protection of vulnerable road users; and 80% for safety assistance systems.