Patent ID: 8196979

Claim:
A bumper system for a vehicle having a longitudinal direction and adapted to receive an impact from a standardized test fixture impactor for simulating an impact against a pedestrian's leg where the impactor has an outer diameter of about 132 mm and includes a bone-simulating first part and flesh-simulating and skin-simulating additional parts, the bumper system having corners defined by vertical planes oriented at 60° to the longitudinal direction and engaging a front of the bumper system, the bumper system further having a center region of 250 mm width and a “bumper test area” defined about 66 mm inboard of each of the corners to an adjacent edge of the center region but excluding the center region, comprising: a bumper reinforcement beam for attachment to a vehicle frame; and an energy absorber positioned on a face of the beam, the energy absorber including a plurality of spaced-apart hollow crush lobes in the bumper test area that crush and absorb energy during a pedestrian impact, the lobes defining lobe centerlines, the spacing between lobe centerlines being between 90 mm to 132 mm and straps of between 15 mm and 50 mm in width, such that the lobes provide a uniform impact energy absorption during crush of within +/−30% of a desired average impact energy absorption force-deflection profile for impact intrusions that crush the crush lobes at least 10 mm in longitudinal locations along a length of the “bumper test area,” whereby the bumper system provides for pedestrian safety regardless of a specific location where a pedestrian's leg strikes the energy absorber.