The role of vehicle design in collision fatality rates: Commentary on U.S. regulations on head-to-hood impact of new vehicles
Safety advocates celebrated the news, while also noting that vehicle design is only one piece in a large, complex puzzle to make roads safer. It also includes lower speed limits, infrastructure improvements and more enforcement of traffic laws. Europe has taken many measures to protect pedestrians, which may cause US manufacturers to stop making vehicles for the European market.
The rules announced this week would update the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS), the government’s bible for everything that’s required in a new vehicle before it’s sold — from steering wheels to rearview mirrors — to set testing procedures to simulate head-to-hood impact, with the aim of reducing head injuries. If enacted, automakers will have to test their vehicles using crash test dummies representing adult and child pedestrians for the first time. NHTSA says the changes could save up to 67 lives every year.
“It will bring American standards more in line with global leaders in Europe and Asia, who in many cases have traffic fatality rates that are a fraction of ours,” said Angie Schmitt, the author of Right of Way: Race, Class, and the Silent Epidemic of Pedestrian Deaths in America.
Federal standards for hood height and visibility were introduced in Congress last month.
Meanwhile, pedestrian deaths have skyrocketed in recent years. NHTSA says that the number of pedestrians killed in the last four years increased 57 percent from 4,779 to 7,522. Almost all of the deaths of pedestrians happened in single-vehicle crashes.
David Harkey is the president of IIHS and he is very happy to see NHTSA take this step towards mandating less dangerous vehicle designs. In the past, NHTSA has been recommended by the IIHS to ensure that every new vehicle comes with baseline protection for pedestrians in the event of a crash.
But the auto industry may not be so welcoming. The Alliance for automotive innovation is still analyzing the proposal from NHTSA.
The use of technology in vehicles allows manufacturers to reduce pedestrian deaths. But rarely do they address the role that vehicle design plays in crash fatalities. That’s because big trucks and SUVs are not only popular but also better moneymakers than smaller vehicles. SUVs have a profit margin that’s 10–20 percent higher than smaller cars because they command a higher price while costing only slightly more to manufacture.
“It’s good to see NHTSA acknowledge that a myopic focus on pedestrian detection — which is imperfect — is no substitute for actually regulating car bloat,” said David Zipper, a senior fellow at the MIT Mobility Initiative and a Verge contributor.
“The US has never used pedestrian crash test dummies officially,” said Angie Schmitt, author of Right of Way: Race, Class, and the Silent Epidemic of Pedestrian Deaths in America. I thought they would keep avoiding it, even though Congress had said that they should do it.
The Weight of a Prius and a Truck: Implications for the Pedestrian Safety in the Next Three-Year United States
SUVs and trucks, two of the most popular segments in the US, have become larger and heavier. A recent investigation by The Economist shows that in the next three years, 31 percent of new cars in the United States will weigh over 5,000 pounds. Many of the vehicles with the shift to electric have become even heavier. The Ford F-150 has a curb weight of over 6,400 pounds which is 60 percent heavier than the gas equivalent.
The shape of a vehicle, especially the hood, also plays a critical role in determining whether a pedestrian can survive being struck. Vehicles with hood heights of more than 40 inches and blunt front ends angled at greater than 65 degrees were 44 percent more likely to cause fatalities, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.