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Scania's nose for safety
Page 20
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Last week, the great, the good and Brussels bureaucrats met for Scania's 2003 Road Safety Conference. As Brian Weatheriey discovered, the real news was the Swedish manufacturer's push for longer trucks.
It's been said before and Scania is saying it again. Increase the maximum length of a truck by 600mm and you can build in an energy-absorbing front-impact zone which offers increased survivability for the occupants of a car in a head-on collision.
Having unveiled its design study for a 'semi-bonneted' truck with front impact protection in 2001. Scania is now pushing the European Commission to amend HGV length laws to permit the adoption of its safety -nose", saying it could save 900 lives a year on Europe's roads.
At its conference,the truck maker unveiled a fully styled quarterscale model, and hinted that a full-size prototype could appear within the next 12 months.
The safety'nose extends 600mm beyond the normal 4 Series R cab and adds 250kg to its kerbweight (the bonnet of a 1-cab extends 1.585mm). However, by using a mixture of a deformable subframe and energy-absorbing composite materials.not only does it raise the chances of survival for occupants involved in a car/truck head-on smash; it also offers extra protection to an HGV driver in the event of a tail-end shunt with a stationary artic.
The overall depth of the energy-absorbing crash-zone at bumper height is 800mm. That's 200mm more than the actual safety nose as Scania has been able to utilise the space normally occupied by the truck's front bumper and front underrun protection system.
Also, as the front of the safety nose is not as wide as a normal cabover, if a car strikes the corner it will be pushed to the side with reduced impact forces.The 'softer' external surfaces are also kinder to pedestrians and cyclists.
Benefits to operators include slightly better aerodynamics. and Scania claims: "The swept radius of the outer front corner is the same for a conventional truck."To aid ground clearance, raising front air suspension can be fitted. Airbag and seat-belt manufacturer Autoliv Protection Systems showed an intriguing HGV rollover protection package. Simply put, a rapidly deployed front windscreen 'net' drops from the headlining to prevent an unrestrained driver or passenger from being thrown out of the vehicle in a crash or rollover.The net can also offer head protection to a driver wearing a seat-belt.
An additional door-mounted side cushion operates like a normal air bag and is intended to protect the head of a belted driver while the screen net would be activated pneumatically A `pop-out' grille section is designed to absorb the impact of minor collisions, especially those involving pedestrians.
Small radar scanners at each corner of the front bumper detect an object in the danger zone, causing the front panel to spring out. Impacts are absorbed by air bags or pneumatic cylinders.