Federal safety regulators on Monday proposed new car safety standards meant to better protect pedestrians and bicyclists. The rules would require new cars to pass a test “simulating a head-to-hood impact.”
A Growing Problem
SUVs and pickup trucks have taken over American roads, and they keep getting taller. Compact and midsize SUVs are now America’s best-selling vehicles, and today’s compact crossovers are as large as the midsize SUVs of 20 years ago. Full-size trucks run a close third most months.
Car design follows trends almost as closely as fashion does. In recent years, boxy block designs have taken over the market.
That poses a growing safety risk, as research has shown tall, blocky vehicles are more dangerous to pedestrians and bicyclists.
They’re more likely to hit pedestrians than lower cars. High viewing angles and blocky front ends create front blind spots where drivers can’t see people in front of them, particularly children.
A Consumer Reports analysis in 2021 found that “some trucks had front blind spots 11 feet longer than those in some sedans and 7 feet longer than in many popular SUVs.”
Related — Safety Group: Pedestrian Deaths From Cars Hit 41-Year High
When taller vehicles hit someone, they’re more likely to kill. A low-slung car with a sloped hood will hit a pedestrian low in their center of gravity, throwing them up where their head impacts the hood. A high, blocky truck will hit them high on the body or in the head and throw them under the wheels.
“Pickups, SUVs, and vans with a hood height greater than 40 inches are about 45% more likely to cause fatalities in pedestrian crashes than cars and other vehicles with a hood height of 30 inches or less and a sloping profile,” according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, a group funded by car insurance companies.
“Head-to-Hood” Test
To combat the problem, the federal government’s primary car safety watchdog has proposed a new test.
“The proposed standard would establish test procedures simulating a head-to-hood impact and performance requirements to minimize the risk of head injury,” the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) explains.
The test would join the battery of crash tests the agency already conducts, with results published for car shoppers to see. The agency wouldn’t simply crash cars into a test dummy, it says, because there are so many variables in pedestrian crashes that it might be impossible to create a representative accident. But test engineers would use “two different impactors: one representative of the head of a struck 6-year-old child and another representative of the head of a struck 50th percentile adult male pedestrian” to measure injury forces.
The test would apply to all vehicles under 10,000 pounds, not just trucks and SUVs. Vehicles would have to meet a “head injury criterion when subjected to testing simulating a head-to-hood impact.”
Most pedestrian crashes occur at low speeds, NHTSA says, because walkers are usually crossing roads at intersections. So, the test would be performed under 25 mph.
Just a Proposal so Far
Federal law mandates a long process for enacting new rules. Agencies must publish a proposal (what NHTSA did Monday), then accept public comments for 60 days.
Those comments often come from industry groups looking to water down the proposal. The agency must then consider the comments and publish a final version.
Testing would begin two years after the final rule is published, NHTSA says.
One of Several Proposals
The agency’s move comes just weeks after a member of the U.S. House of Representatives proposed a tougher measure – a law limiting the height of new vehicles.
Most newly proposed laws fail. But that proposal mirrored a Senate bill proposed in 2022, showing a growing effort to impose some kind of safety restriction on new vehicle height.
Matches Worldwide Standards
It also matches a global effort.
NHTSA notes, “The proposed rule meets a Bipartisan Infrastructure Law directive to harmonize U.S. vehicle regulations globally to promote vehicle safety.”
A similar effort from the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe would affect many vehicles sold on multiple continents. Today’s automakers frequently sell virtually identical cars in the U.S. and Europe. But some of America’s most popular pickup trucks are not sold widely outside the U.S. and Mexico.
