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Traffic injuries are an important public health issue. To prevent these injuries, safety systems in a vehicle are recognized as valuable tools. These safety systems are active before and during a crash event. Passive safety is one such safety tool which comprises of occupant restraint systems to prevent fatal injuries during an event of a crash. To improve the real life safety further, active safety systems plays an important role in mitigating the real world accidents. Moreover, effective integration of active and passive safety systems has a potential to further reduce car occupant fatalities. However, in the recent developments in India towards road safety, vehicle safety standards are oriented more towards passive safety. In the present work, road accidents data from India between 2005 and 2014 are studied, to estimate the major mode of accidents and factors influencing the fatal injuries. Technological and human factor interventions are derived from these accidents statistics.

In the current competitive automobile market, with growing knowledge and concern for occupant and vulnerable road user safety, design & engineering of passenger cars in stipulated time is a challenge. As front styling is a crucial factor, early involvement of Computer Aided Engineering (CAE) through front loading helps reduce the product development time considerably with a pedestrian friendly engineered design. The present paper explains how initial inputs are given to styling & engineering teams during early stages of product development where availability of Computer Aided Design (CAD) data is minimal. Critical load paths were identified and shape of the front end was modified accordingly. Various locations of hinge mechanism were evaluated to reduce the severity of injury in the head impact zone. Sufficient gaps between the exterior surfaces and interior hard points were worked upon to reduce the impact values.