Car companies must think drivers are so insecure, so desperate to feel powerful, that we need oversized, pumped-up pickups and SUVs. Either that, or drivers really are that collectively insecure and desperate to fulfill some kind of power fantasy that we can’t stop buying mammoth, angry-looking machines despite the fact they pose a greater danger to pedestrians and cyclists.
Adding to the growing body of research on the dangers posed by tall vehicles, a new study by the U.S. Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) looks at how vehicle design – the height of the hood and shape of the front grille – affects pedestrian safety.
The conclusion is clear, and not surprising: Aggressive-looking vehicles are more dangerous. Medium height and tall vehicles with blunt, squared-off front ends are significantly more likely to kill a pedestrian in the event of a collision.
What’s worse, as IIHS transportation engineer and lead author of the study Wen Hu points out, “There’s no functional benefit to these massive, blocky fronts.” A blunt or sloped front end is merely a stylistic choice. “Manufacturers can make vehicles less dangerous to pedestrians by lowering the front end of the hood and angling the grille and hood to create a sloped profile,” Hu explained in a statement accompanying the study.
This is a fashion trend that’s killing people.
“No, there’s no functional reason for [tall, blunt designs],” said Ken Cummings, a professor of transportation design at Toronto-based Humber College. Before teaching, he worked in the commercial vehicle studio at Chrysler, designing Dodge Ram pickups. “As a matter of fact, it’s worse for aerodynamics. Of course, it’s worse for visibility as well,” he said. Vehicles don’t need that space for big engines or radiators either, he added.
And yet, according to the IIHS, “over the past 30 years, the average U.S. passenger vehicle has gotten about four inches wider, 10 inches longer, eight inches taller and 1,000 pounds heavier.”
The nonsensical Hummer EV is powered by electric motors that hardly take up any space, and yet it’s one of the tallest, most slab-faced trucks on the market.
“I think it’s mostly psychological,” Cummings says. “Traditionally, that long, high hood and blunt front end implied power and gives the driver a sense of command of the road. A sloping front end implies compromise with the environment and with others on the road. And, in some peoples’ minds, it sort of represents weakness. … There’s a sort of ‘get out of my way’ attitude” with the flat-faced, big grille design, he explained.
Historically, a bigger hood meant a bigger engine and signified a more expensive, luxurious car. And, in the 1920s, large blunt grilles housed large radiators, which, again, would have signified a more powerful machine.
I’m not immune to the appeal of these boxy designs. I admit, I enjoy driving the Mercedes G-Wagon, which is as blunt and slab-sided as a barn, and the boxy Land Rover Defender 90. They make me feel as if I could summit a mountain or cross the Sahara when I’m heading downtown to spend $40 on brunch.
Is that powerful feeling worth risking the lives of pedestrians? No, and I hope you’ll agree.
The IIHS study refers to a “baseline” risk of being struck by a vehicle with a sloped front and low hood, where the hood’s front edge is no higher than 30 inches. Picture nearly any sedan or sports car: That’s the baseline.
Lead author Hu said in an email that the risk of a fatal injury when struck by a low/sloped vehicle was 9.1 per cent, versus 13.1 per cent when struck by a tall/blunt one. For every 100 pedestrian crashes, that translates to an average of four additional deaths.
As for medium-height vehicles (many SUVs, for example) a sloped front grille is significantly safer for pedestrians than a blunt one.
If you’re looking for some practical car-buying advice then, here it is: Buy the lowest vehicle with the most sloped grille that you can. That doesn’t mean don’t buy an SUV if you need one; it means buy one with a more pedestrian-friendly design.
But that may be difficult. Boxy is back. Look, for example, at the blunt grilles of the new 2024 models, including the Toyota Land Cruiser, the redesigned Hyundai Santa Fe and Lexus GX. They look good, but not good enough to justify the added danger.
“The most effective way to change vehicles would be through regulation,” Hu said in an email. “IIHS has called on [the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration] to regulate pedestrian crashworthiness standards and to take this new research into account. We think that the magnitude of the pedestrian safety crisis on our roadways warrants regulation,” Hu wrote.
More than 300 pedestrians are killed in Canada each year. Key solutions include redesigning roads and intersections, and getting cars to slow down in urban areas. It’s past time we added redesigning cars to that list.