Patent ID: 7228723

Claim:
An energy absorber adapted for attachment to a face of a bumper impact tester, comprising: an energy-absorbing component thermally formed from a sheet of polymeric material, the component having a base wall shaped to engage the face of the bumper impact tester, a plurality of separated front walls shaped to replicate a profile of a vehicle bumper, and thermoformed fore-aft walls supporting the front walls on the base wall, the fore-aft walls forming with the front walls energy-absorbing crush boxes that extend forward of the base wall, the energy-absorbing crush boxes being sufficiently spaced apart and the base wall being sufficiently flat and flexible such that the energy-absorbing component can be flexed longitudinally and the front walls moved relative to each other, allowing the energy-absorbing component to bend to match different curvilinear shapes of a front surface on different bumper impact testers.