Vulnerable Road User Protection
VRU (Vulnerable Road User) Protection evaluates how well a vehicle minimises injury risks to pedestrians and cyclists through front-end structural design and advanced AEB-VRU detection capabilities. AutoSafe™ combines headform, legform and pelvis impact testing with day and night AEB scenarios to address the most common real-world VRU risks.
The domain covers both passive design features—such as energy-absorbing bonnets, bumpers and glazing—and active safety systems that can prevent or mitigate collisions by automatically braking before impact. Special emphasis is placed on complex urban situations where visibility and reaction times are limited.
VRU Protection contributes 10% of the AutoSafe™ global score and plays a vital role in modern mobility safety, particularly in dense city environments where pedestrians and cyclists represent a large proportion of serious road injuries and fatalities.
Vulnerable Road User Protection links front-end crash friendliness with AEB-VRU performance to show how effectively a vehicle protects pedestrians and cyclists in real urban traffic.
Headform Impacts
Headform impact testing measures the likelihood of severe or fatal head trauma when a pedestrian or cyclist strikes the bonnet or windshield base area of a vehicle. Test points cover both adult and child headform zones to reflect different statures and impact locations.
High-risk regions such as the windshield base and A-pillars are analysed for stiffness and energy absorption, with head injury criteria used to identify whether the vehicle offers genuinely forgiving surfaces in these critical zones.
- Adult & child headform impact zones
- HIC15 thresholds and deformation mapping
- Windshield base and A-pillar risk assessment
- Energy absorption uniformity across bonnet surface
Upper Leg & Pelvis Protection
Upper leg and pelvis protection focuses on impacts with the bonnet leading edge in low to mid-speed collisions. The evaluation examines loads transmitted to the pelvis and upper leg when a pedestrian is struck and rotates onto the bonnet edge.
Geometry, stiffness and the presence of soft zones are analysed to reward designs that distribute loads more evenly and avoid sharp or overly rigid structures in the contact area.
- Pelvis acceleration and force metrics
- Load distribution and edge stiffness mapping
- Bonnet leading edge geometry optimisation
- Soft-zone compliance evaluation
Lower Leg & Knee Impact
Lower leg and knee impact testing assesses bumper design and stiffness with the aim of reducing tibial fractures and ligament damage when the bumper strikes a pedestrian’s legs. The focus is on how the bumper and its supporting structures manage impact energy.
By controlling tibial acceleration, knee shear and bending moments, vehicles can considerably reduce the severity of leg injuries in urban impact speeds where pedestrian crashes are most common.
- Tibial acceleration and bending assessment
- Knee shear displacement and ligament load
- Energy-absorbing bumper structures
AEB – Pedestrian
AEB–Pedestrian testing measures automatic braking performance when detecting pedestrians in multiple representative traffic scenarios. Both day and night conditions are used to verify that detection and braking performance remain robust in challenging visibility.
The scenarios include crossing pedestrians, children appearing from behind parked vehicles and pedestrians walking along the road edge—situations that frequently lead to serious or fatal injuries in real traffic if not mitigated.
- Adult crossing scenarios (day and night)
- Child dart-out from behind parked vehicles
- Pedestrian walking along road edge
- Running or erratic pedestrian paths
AEB – Cyclist
AEB–Cyclist evaluations focus on recognising and responding to cyclists in complex traffic settings. Testing covers both crossing and parallel cyclists, as well as partially occluded situations that challenge sensor perception.
Night-time and low-contrast conditions are included to reward systems that can reliably detect cyclists beyond ideal daytime scenarios, reflecting real-world commuting conditions.
- Cyclist crossing the vehicle path
- Parallel cyclist detection in same direction
- Occluded cyclist emergence scenarios
- Night-time and low-visibility performance
Advanced Detection & Sensor Robustness
Advanced detection and sensor robustness extend beyond traditional NCAP test cases to examine how well perception systems cope with glare, adverse weather, cluttered environments and multiple VRUs moving simultaneously.
AutoSafe™ applies unique modifiers for sensor robustness, rewarding vehicles that maintain reliable VRU recognition in challenging real-world conditions, rather than only in controlled test tracks.
- Glare, fog, rain and low-contrast detection
- Partial occlusion and cluttered streetscapes
- Moving and stationary VRU combinations
- Multi-target conflict resolution strategies
Scoring Summary
VRU Protection contributes 10% of the total AutoSafe™ rating and includes mandatory performance thresholds for AEB-VRU night-time scenarios to qualify for higher AutoSafe™ classes.
- Combined headform, legform and pelvis biomechanical scoring
- Day and night AEB pedestrian evaluation
- Day and night AEB cyclist evaluation
- Sensor robustness modifiers for challenging conditions
Characteristics of High Performance
Vehicles achieving top VRU scores typically demonstrate:
- Soft, energy-absorbing front-end geometry
- Stable night-time AEB pedestrian intervention
- Reliable cyclist recognition even under occlusion
- High sensor accuracy in adverse weather and lighting
Next in the AutoSafe™ Standard
Active & Preventive Safety Systems
Discover how AutoSafe™ evaluates AEB-C2C, lane support, ACC, ISA and driver monitoring technologies in realistic, scenario-rich environments.