This week, the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) surprised safety advocates by proposing new vehicle rules that it says will help reduce the number of pedestrian deaths in America. The new rules appear to be aimed directly at the trend toward ever-massive SUVs and trucks, which have been proven to be more deadly to pedestrians than smaller and midsize vehicles.
In its more than 50 years of existence, the regulator has never issued new rules for automakers to change their vehicle designs to better prevent pedestrian fatalities. If the new rules go into effect, they could change the way vehicles are designed in the United States — permanently.
“It is good to see NHTSA recognize that a myopic focus on pedestrian detection – which is imperfect – is no substitute for actual regulation of bloated vehicle systems,” said David Zipper, senior fellow at the MIT Mobility Initiative and edge Contributor.
In recent years, the NHTSA has issued a handful of new regulations aimed at reducing pedestrian fatalities. Earlier this year, the agency announced that automatic emergency braking systems would be required on all new vehicles. It also updated the New Car Assessment Program (NCAP), also known as the five-star safety rating, to include technologies that can help reduce pedestrian injuries and deaths. But vehicle design has never been targeted.
The regulations announced this week would update the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS), the government's bible for everything a new vehicle must have before it goes on sale – from the steering wheel to the rearview mirror – to establish testing procedures that simulate head-on-hood impacts, with the goal of reducing head injuries. If these rules take effect, automakers will be required for the first time to test their vehicles with crash test dummies representing adult and child pedestrians. The changes could save up to 67 lives each year, according to NHTSA.
“The United States has never officially used pedestrian crash test dummies,” says Angie Schmitt, author Right of Way: Race, Class, and the Silent Epidemic of Pedestrian Deaths in America“I thought they would continue to avoid doing that even though Congress had basically told them to do that – but apparently that wasn't the case.”
The proposed regulations come at a time when pedestrians are at risk of death in this country. About 40,000 Americans are killed by cars each year. Yet while automakers have become very good at protecting people inside their vehicles, they have essentially neglected the safety of people outside their vehicles.
“I thought they would continue to avoid this”
SUVs and trucks, two of the most popular segments in the U.S., have become larger and heavier than ever before. In 2023, 31 percent of new cars in America weighed over 5,000 pounds (2.27 tons), compared to 22 percent in 2018, according to a recent study by The EconomistAnd with the switch to electric vehicles, many of these vehicles have become even heavier. The Ford F-150 Lightning has an empty weight of around 2,900 kilograms, around 60 percent more than its gasoline equivalent.
Meanwhile, the number of pedestrian fatalities has skyrocketed in recent years. Between 2013 and 2022, the number of pedestrian fatalities increased by 57 percent, from 4,779 to 7,522, the NHTSA reports. In 2022, 88 percent of pedestrian fatalities occurred in single-vehicle crashes.
Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images
“I think it will put positive pressure on the industry,” Schmitt said of the new proposal, “and maybe curb some of the worst excesses in the industry.”
The shape of a vehicle, particularly the hood, also plays a crucial role in whether a pedestrian survives a collision. According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, vehicles with a hood height of more than 40 inches and a blunt front end with an angle of more than 65 degrees are 44 percent more likely to be involved in a fatal crash.
Automakers often point to the increasing use of technology in vehicles – cameras, blind-spot detection, automatic braking – to reduce the number of pedestrian fatalities. But rarely is the role of vehicle design in the number of fatalities addressed. That's because large trucks and SUVs are not only more popular, they also make more money than smaller vehicles. SUVs have a 10 to 20 percent higher profit margin than smaller cars because they command a higher price while manufacturing costs are only slightly higher.
Safety advocates welcomed the news, but also pointed out that the vehicle design is just one piece of a large, complex puzzle designed to make roads safer, including lower speed limits, infrastructure improvements and stronger enforcement of traffic laws. Many point out that Europe has already gone much further in pedestrian protection, passing regulations that would prevent many of the largest vehicles made by American manufacturers from being sold on the continent.
“Considering that NHTSA estimates the new standard would save 67 lives per year, it is a step in the right direction, but still falls short of what Europe has successfully achieved,” said Cathy Chase, president of Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety. “A number of proven solutions must be deployed to improve the safety of all vulnerable road users.”
NHTSA's new proposal is an important step, but only the first of many needed to overcome this crisis.