Vehicle hood hinge assembly for a pedestrian protection device

A resettable pedestrian protection device comprising:

• a bracket movable between an extended position in which a rear portion of the vehicle hood is in an elevated position and a retracted position in which the rear portion of the vehicle hood is in a drivable position;
• a shear pin extending through the bracket for maintaining the bracket in the retracted position until a threshold force is applied to the bracket;
• an actuator configured to apply at least the threshold force to shear the shear pin thereby moving the bracket to the extended position;
• a reset latch configured to relock the bracket in the retracted position after the shear pin has been sheared;
• and
• a pin extending from the bracket, wherein the latch locks the pin to maintain the bracket in the retracted position.

A method for resetting a pedestrian protection device, the method comprising the steps of:

• actuating a pedestrian protection device of a vehicle in response to detection of a pedestrian collision by elevating a rear portion of the hood;
• resetting the pedestrian protection device by pushing downward on the elevated rear portion of the hood;
• wherein the resetting step involves the step of latching a bracket to a latch assembly associated with the pedestrian protection device;
• and
• wherein the latch assembly is a continuous member that has been bent to form a spring.