Campaign groups concerned over rising heights of car bonnets
European campaign groups say the rising heights of car bonnets are a danger to vulnerable road users, particularly children.
Transport and Environment and the Clean Cities Campaign groups say the front ends of new cars sold in Europe are getting higher by an average of 0.5cm a year.
They say this increases the severity of crashes while making it harder for drivers to see what is in front of them.
The groups analysed new vehicle registrations in the EU, UK and Norway and says average bonnet height has risen from 76.9cm in 2010 to 83.8cm in 2024.
Their report says: "In crashes, high-bonneted SUVs and pick-up trucks typically strike adult pedestrians above the centre of gravity, often first hitting vital organs in the body's core."
It also warns that higher bonnets increase blind spots: "Drivers behind high bonnets can fail to see children in front of them, for example, when leaving a driveway or parking space. At junctions, compromised vision increases crashes, particularly when turning."
The report singles out vehicles with a bonnet height above 1 metre as particularly hazardous.
It says a driver of average European height, sitting behind the wheel of a RAM TRX pick-up truck cannot see children aged up to nine standing just in front of their vehicle. The truck is marketed in Ireland as an "APEX predator" which comes with "a menacing grille".
The report also says that average height drivers in a Land Rover Defender cannot see children aged up to four-and-half years old standing immediately in front of their SUV.
It cites a report from the European New Car Assessment Programme (Euro NCAP) which found the Defender's 115cm high bonnet "revealed poor protection to a pedestrian's pelvis at nearly all points across [its] width".
Lower fronted cars would strike adults in the legs, causing less severe injuries and the impact tends to push them over the bonnet while a higher front increases the risk of pedestrians or cyclists being pushed under the car and run over.
While those models with bonnets higher than 100cm represent just 1.5 percent of the new car market in Europe, 46 percent of the new cars sold in Europe last year had bonnets higher than 85cm.
Transport and Environment and the Clean Cities Campaign are calling for the EU to cap bonnet height on new cars at 85cm from 2035. Their report says a road safety report from Belgium, by the VIAS Institute, found a 10cm increase in bonnet height, from 80cm ot 90cm, raises the risk of death for vulnerable road users by 27 percent.
It also warns that high fronted SUV's present a higher risk, of between 20 and 50 percent, of serious injury to the occupants of regular cars.
The best-selling car in Ireland in recent years has been the Hyundai Tuscon SUV. RTÉ News measured the height of the Tuscon's bonnet at just under 85cm.
The groups also call for the bonnet height of vehicles to be added to Vehicle Registration Certificates (VRC) of new cars sold in Europe for 2030, so consumers can make an informed choice and for a new child visibility test to be included in Euro NCAP ratings.
They recommend a reform of motor taxes and parking charges to link them to the size and weight of vehicles.
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