Image: Tesla patent

Tesla improves hood hinge assembly in a new patent to make its vehicles safer for pedestrians in the event of an accident. The constant work of the manufacturer's team on its cars significantly increases their safety for all road users.

The US Patent Office has published Tesla's Vehicle Hood Hinge Assembly application, which relates to a safety system for a vehicle. In particular, the described safety system controls the position of the hood of the vehicle to absorb energy and protect pedestrians in the event of a collision.

Most of the different vehicles are equipped with a hood, such as a front hood. In a frontal collision, this part of the vehicle is more likely to be affected. The company has developed a special latch that can be configured to lock the hood in place while the vehicle is moving, and allow the user to unlock the hood to access the under hood compartment when the vehicle is stationary. Meanwhile, in the event of an inevitable or occurred collision between the front of the vehicle and a pedestrian, the pedestrian can touch not only the front bumper but also the front hood. Therefore, Tesla built protective structures and methods into the vehicle to protect pedestrians.

The invention described in the patent relates to a hinge assembly configured to raise the hood of a vehicle relative to the vehicle body in anticipation of, during, or immediately after a collision, to soften contact with a pedestrian. The company wrote: “Generally described, one or more aspects of the present disclosure relate to pedestrian safety systems. In certain embodiments, the disclosure relates to a vehicle hood hinge system that can include a locking and deployment feature for pedestrian protection. Pedestrians include humans regardless of the humans mode of transportation (e.g., walking, biking, skateboard, etc.). The system can further include one or more sensors configured to provide one or more characteristics of the pedestrian to a controller. The controller can determine an actuation profile that controls positioning of the hood and a time frame for positioning the hood to increase the level of safety provided to the pedestrian in the event of a collision.”

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