US Patent 10246044 Vehicle hood assembly with deployable pedestrian protection

A hood assembly for a vehicle includes an inner hood, an outer hood, and a plurality of deployable devices. The outer hood is fixed relative to the inner hood. The plurality of deployable devices are spaced apart from each other between the inner hood and the outer hood. The deployable devices each define an inflation chamber and are formed of thermoplastic elastomer. Upon detection of impact between the vehicle and a pedestrian, the deployable devices are deployed to separate the outer hood and the inner hood. As such, during impact of the pedestrian with the outer hood, the outer hood may deform and/or the outer hood may space the pedestrian from relatively hard components under the hood assembly.