Toyota has been introducing and expanding the use of vehicle-body structures designed to decrease pedestrian injuries. The new vehicle-body structures are based on the results of testing and verification using both conventional crash-test dummies and THUMS (The models facilitate in-depth computer analysis of injuries sustained during traffic accidents. THUMS stands for total human model for safety) virtual-human models.
Toyota’s newly developed pop-up hood helps reduce pedestrian head injury caused by collision with a vehicle—even when a vehicle has a low hood with limited space underneath—by automatically raising the rear of the hood to increase the space underneath.
Toyota showed some of its up and coming safety innovations in a demonstration to reporters Thursday at its facility in this town, west of Tokyo, near Mount Fuji.