Godzilla pops bonnet to help save lives

Posted Thu Aug 2 2007 9:21 AM by Ralph Hanson

Everyone’s eagerly waiting for Nissan to release the new Skyline later this year. The car affectionately dubbed ‘Godzilla’ is expected to bring us Porsche 911 performance at Boxster prices and will revive the famous nameplate that’s been gone for too long. One little-known aspect of the Skyline is that it will also be one of the safest cars on the road thanks to a bevy of airbags and a tougher passenger cell.

A new feature Nissan will be introducing to this model is a bonnet that will reduce head injuries in the event you run into a pedestrian. The technology, which was first pioneered by Jaguar in the XK (pictured above), involves the use of a small explosive charge that will cause the hood to pop-up and increase the protective buffer between it and the engine below.

The pop-up bonnet was necessary because of increased pedestrian safety legislation around the globe. Use of this technology has helped the designers behind the GT-R to retain the aggressive look the car is famous for.

Reader Comments

Thu Aug 2 2007 5:48 PM
admin says

Show me a Honda car with the popping hood in production.

Any company can claim it's developing something but actually putting it in production is the tough part.
Thu Aug 2 2007 8:18 PM
Hanakoala says

Just because they (Jaguar) brought it to market first doen't mean they pioneered the technology. You implying the Honda press release is fake?

Nissan are also calling their pop-up hood tech 'innovative'... well that depends on who you ask doesn't it.
Thu May 1 2008 10:29 PM
Lotus says

Its innovative, because they are implementing it.

Datsun/Nissan has always been innovative. Even if they didn't "create" it, they sure as heck are putting it into production.

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