Abstract: The conventional theory is not suitable for sports utility vehicle (SUV). A compatible project was designed for SUVs
associating with design improvement items for pedestrian protection of several vehicles. The thicknesses and material parameters
of the key components in energy-absorbing structures are highly sensitive to the injury criterion defined in pedestrian protection
regulations. If associated analysies of deferent parts are not sufficient, thicknesses and materials can then hardly be more
ideal for design projects. Nonlinear analysis was made for pedestrian protection energy-absorbing structures of vehicle models
using design of experiment (DOE), with thickness of some structure strength parts changed and the analysis results compared.
Correlation analysis with test results was also made. The results show that the expected design effects can be obtained.

Key words: pedestrian protection, sports utility vehicle (SUV), energy-absorbing structure, computer aided engineering (CAE), design of experiment (DOE)