![Chalmers University of Technology truck front concept](/sites/default/files/inline-images/440x300_Truck.jpg)
By SEMA News Editors
Researchers at Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden have developed a new commercial truck front concept designed to significantly reduce fatal crashes in car-truck collisions. The concept features design principles that manufacturers can interpret and adapt.
"The internal design of the new truck front is aluminum honeycomb. This is a structure composed of repeating hexagonal tubes made from aluminum foil. This is ideal for a lightweight, energy-absorbing structure since around 97% of its volume is air. Aluminum honeycomb is used in many crash-test barriers to provide a distributed force and absorb energy. By changing the foil thickness, we can change the force and deformation characteristics. It also has the manufacturing flexibility needed to create 'one-of' prototypes and demonstrate 'proof-of-concept,'" said Professor Robert Thomson, division of vehicle safety at Chalmers University of Technology.
![Chalmers University of Technology truck front concept crash testing](/sites/default/files/inline-images/563x200_Trucks.jpg)
Crash tests on the new truck front were carried out by the Swedish Transport Administration, Trafikverket, and show that better truck designs can reduce passenger-car compartment deformations by 30%-60%, which reduces the risk of injury and possible death for the car occupants. Fatal crashes between heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) and passenger cars account for between 14%-16% of all car occupant fatalities in both the European Union and the United States. In more than 90% of traffic accidents involving HGVs, it is the other party who dies, usually in a passenger car, according to research. The most common accident types in these collisions are head-on crashes on rural roads and rear-end crashes on highways (the HGV drives into the rear of the car in front).
For the complete details, visit the Chalmers release here or chalmers.se/en/.