Jaguar has received the 2006 World Traffic Safety Symposium’s Traffic Safety Achievement Award in the Automaker Category for the new XK's Pedestrian Impact Safety System.

To reward major advancements in traffic safety, the World Traffic Safety Symposium recognises organisations and individuals that are creating a safer environment for motorists and pedestrians. Each year, nominations are submitted for the Symposium’s Achievement Awards and winners are selected by the Symposium’s Advisory Committee, which is comprised of auto safety experts from government agencies, educational institutions, private foundations and individuals with a passion for the advancement of traffic safety.

Chris Sams, spokesperson for the World Traffic Safety Symposium said: “Jaguar deserves this honour for its commitment to pedestrian safety and for its innovation and technical excellence. “The judges were particularly impressed by the far-reaching, comprehensive nature of the Jaguar system.”

This recognition is due in large part to the 2006 XK’s Pyrotechnic Deployable bonnet system - an all-new, industry-leading safety feature which was created to meet Phase One of the new European safety legislation.

On behalf of the Jaguar XK Pedestrian Safety team, Jonathan Mabey commented, “The whole team is extremely proud to be recognised for the Jaguar Pyrotechnic Pedestrian Deployable Bonnet system on the new XK.”

The new European standards for pedestrian safety are designed to help mitigate the severity of injuries to pedestrians in the event of a collision. In the unfortunate event of a pedestrian impact, the deployable bonnet on the new XK automatically ‘pops’ up a few inches, to increase space between the engine and the bonnet. This helps to isolate the pedestrian from hard points in the engine compartment – and takes place in less than a tenth of the time it takes to blink an eye. An advanced sensing system is mounted in the front bumper to help discriminate between a pedestrian collision and any other possible front-end collisions.