US seeks new pedestrian safety rules targeting increasingly massive SUVs and pickups

DETROIT — The U.S. government's highway safety agency wants the auto industry to design new vehicles, including larger SUVs and pickups, to reduce pedestrian deaths and injuries.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration announced Monday that it is proposing for the first time a new rule establishing testing and performance requirements to minimize the risk of pedestrian head injuries.

The rule would cover all passenger vehicles weighing 10,000 pounds or less, but it primarily targets large SUVs and pickup trucks, which have grown in size and hood height over the years, creating blind spots for drivers.

NHTSA said pedestrian deaths increased 57% between 2013 and 2022, from 4,779 to 7,522. The agency says the rule would save 67 lives per year.

Data shows that nearly half of pedestrian deaths when struck by a front-end vehicle are more likely to involve SUVs and trucks.

The proposed rule, required by Congress as part of the bipartisan infrastructure bill, would establish testing procedures to simulate a head-on-hood impact as well as requirements to reduce the risk of head injuries. Human-like dummies that simulate children and adults would be used in the tests, NHTSA said in a prepared statement.

“We are facing a crisis of traffic fatalities, and it is even worse for vulnerable road users like pedestrians,” NHTSA Deputy Administrator Sophie Shulman said in the statement. This proposed rule will ensure that vehicles are designed to protect people inside and outside from serious injury or death.

The Automotive Innovation Alliance, a leading industry trade group, said companies have already developed crash-avoidance technology to make roads safer for pedestrians and other road users. The industry has provided feedback to NHTSA on pedestrian safety and will review the proposal, the alliance said in a statement.

The infrastructure bill required NHTSA to bring U.S. regulations into line with a global rule on pedestrian safety, with regulations that would focus on vehicles made only for the U.S. market.

In August, SUVs and trucks of all sizes accounted for nearly 79% of new vehicle sales in the United States, according to Motorintelligence.com.

Last year, a study by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety found that vehicles with taller, more upright front ends increase risks to pedestrians. The insurance industry’s research arm found that pickups, SUVs and minivans with hoods more than 40 inches high are about 45 percent more likely to cause fatalities in pedestrian crashes than cars and other vehicles with hoods less than 30 inches high and sloped profiles.

The authors also wondered whether the wider pillars supporting the roofs of larger vehicles made it harder for drivers to spot people walking near the corners of the vehicles.

Consumer Reports found in 2021 that raised vehicle hoods also obstruct drivers' views of pedestrians crossing in front of them.

The magazine and website found that the hood height of pickup trucks has increased 11 percent since 2000. The hood of a 2017 Ford F-250 heavy-duty pickup truck was 55 inches off the ground, as high as the roofs of some cars.

Consumer Reports said it measured the visibility of 15 new vehicles, including full-size trucks. Because of height and long hoods, the agency found that the front blind spots of some trucks were 11 feet longer than those of some sedans and 7 feet longer than those of many popular SUVs.

Automakers and the public can comment on the proposal for 60 days, after which NHTSA will develop a final rule.

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