Pedestrian protection apparatus for vehicle

A pedestrian protection apparatus for a vehicle, comprising a plate member which is disposed at a lower part of a front face of the vehicle so as to extend in a frontward and backward direction of the vehicle with a suitable width, which is made of a synthetic resin, which includes a front portion and a rear portion, and which is fixed at the rear portion to the vehicle with at least a leading end part of the front portion protruded from the front face of the vehicle, the apparatus being arranged to sweep a leg portion of a pedestrian that has collided with the front face of the vehicle by contact of the leading end part of the front portion of the plate member with the leg portion of the pedestrian, thereby protecting the leg portion of the pedestrian,

• wherein the plate member includes:
• a front-side vertically extending portion which is located at the leading end part of the front portion of the plate member so as to vertically extend over an entire width of the plate member;
• a plurality of rear-side vertically extending portions which are located at the back of the front-side vertically extending portion with a suitable distance interposed therebetween so as to extend in the vertical direction over the entire width of the plate member such that the plurality of rear-side vertically extending portions are opposed to the front-side vertically extending portion and spaced apart from each other by a suitable distance in the frontward and backward direction;
• a plurality of horizontally extending portions which are located between mutually corresponding vertical ends of a forwardmost one of the plurality of rear-side vertically extending portions and the front-side vertically extending portion and between mutually corresponding vertical ends of the plurality of rear-side vertically extending portions, such that the plurality of horizontally extending portions horizontally extend over the entire width of the plate member and such that adjacent two of the plurality of horizontally extending portions in the frontward and backward direction are located at mutually different height levels, thereby connecting the front-side vertically extending portion and the forwardmost one of the plurality of rear-side vertically extending portions integrally to each other and connecting the plurality of rear-side vertically extending portions to each other;
• and a connecting portion which is constituted by a proximal end part of the front portion of the plate member that is located on the back side of a rearmost one of the plurality of rear-side vertically extending portions so as to extend in the frontward and backward direction and which connects, integrally to the rear portion of the plate member, a posterior surface of the rearmost one of the plurality of rear-side vertically extending portions at a point thereof having a different height position from that of a connecting point of an anterior surface of the rearmost one of the plurality of vertically extending portions at which the rearmost one of the plurality of vertically extending portions is connected to a corresponding one of the plurality of horizontally extending portions, and
• wherein the leading end part of the front portion of the plate member extends in a zigzag form in a height direction with a U-shaped configuration in vertical cross section.