There Is No Technology Fix for Car Bloat
The number of pedestrian deaths in the United States is skyrocketing. In 2022 traffic crashes killed 7,805 people on foot—that’s an 83 percent rise from 2009, and a 40-year high. The vast majority of those deaths involved a car colliding into a human.
In September, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration took a significant step toward addressing the crisis of killer cars, proposing a new federal rule that would require—not ask—carmakers to ensure that the front ends of their vehicles do not create excessive risk of pedestrian head injuries. Should the proposal become law, hulking SUVs and pickups would face particular challenges passing NHTSA’s mandatory tests. Some cars would have to get a little bit smaller.
This wouldn’t solve car bloat; the head is just one part of the body that can become damaged by a vehicle. But it is a watershed moment for the NHTSA, the first time the agency has demanded that automakers adjust the physical shape of their vehicles to mitigate danger to those on foot. Currently, the NHTSA is soliciting comment, with the general public and automakers able to weigh in and help determine whether the rule ultimately goes on the books or gets watered down. The country stands at an important juncture, where it could finally start fixing the deadly problem of large cars—or allow them to continue their expansion.
Auto executives, for their part, do usually (though not always) acknowledge the role that their products have played in the American pedestrian safety crisis, but they favor a very different response. Rather than directly address vehicle size, they tout emergent technologies, like pedestrian automatic emergency braking, that can theoretically avoid crashes entirely, negating the risk that hulking vehicles present in a collision.
