Reducing Injuries

Although the pedestrian is impacted twice, first by the car and then by the ground, most of the fatal injuries occur due to the interaction with the car.
The vehicle bumper first contacts the lower limbs of the pedestrian, the leading edge of the hood hits the upper thigh or pelvis, and the head and upper torso are struck by the top surface of the hood and/or windshield.

Most pedestrians die due to the traumatic brain injury resulting from the hard impact of the head against the stiff hood or windshield. In addition, although usually non-fatal, injuries to the lower limb (usually to the knee joint and long bones) are the most common cause of disability due to pedestrian crashes.

"Pedestrian safety through vehicle design"
Very interesting, easy to understand and useful wikipedia article.

Bumpers need to deform when they hit a pedestrian’s leg. Protection is improved if the leg is impacted low down, away from the knee, and if the forces are spread over a longer length of leg.

For the leading edge of the bonnet, improvements can result from the removal of un-necessarily stiff structures.

The bonnet top area needs to be able to deflect, to protect the head. It is important that sufficient clearance is provided above the stiff structures beneath, which would stop this deflection.
www.euroncap.com

Frontal Protection System (FPS)

A Frontal Protection System (FPS) is attached to the front of a vehicle like a bull bar but is made of a technical composite of energy absorbing materials. It protects pedestrians and cyclistst that are involved in a front end collision with a vehicle.
www.wikipedia.org

Airwaves City Car - Focus on Pedestrian Safety

A special lift mechanism in Airwaves can provide good protection for the driver, passengers and pedestrians. When the driver uses the emergency brake and the car hits a pedestrian, the cabin will lift up by inertia. At the same time, the outside and inside airbags will be released to protect the pedestrian, driver and passengers.
www.tuvie.com

Car Fronts' Impact on Pedestrians

Lower extremities and pelvis sustain injuryare the most frequent cases. Leg injuries from the bumper are the most common injuries in nonfatal pedestrian accidents (38%).

Most severe injuries
- bonnet top: life-threatening head injuries (children & adult)
- bumper: serious knee joint injuries and leg fractures
- bonnet leading edge: upper legform (femur & hip fractures & injuries)
www.waset.org

Pedestrian protection features built into cars can be very effective in preventing serious and fatal injuries in impacts at moderate speeds. Most of the serious injury pedestrian impacts and many fatal crashes occur at impact speeds of up to about 40 km/h in fatal accidents with the fronts of cars. Because of the high forces that pedestrians can withstand, only a relatively small change is required from current car strengths, but larger crush depths between the car skin and underlying immovable parts are needed.

More information to the following you can find here
Improvements to the bumper
Improvements to the bonnet leading edge
Improvements to the bonnet top

Deformable Hood - Jaguar XK

To comply with the EU requirements, automakers are already adapting the design of their cars’ fronts— ground zero for pedestrian fatalities. Obviously, a smooth, soft front end is the way forward. That's why the styling of many European cars (e.g. Jaguar’s new XK) has already been changed, with higher, more easily deformable hoods.
www.thetruthaboutcars.com

EuroNCAP - European New Car Assessment Programme

By law, all new car models must pass certain safety tests before they are sold. The site contains an explanation of how Euro NCAP's different crash tests are performed and how our safety ratings are reached.
www.euroncap.com

See best and worst test results
www.euroncap.com