Importance of the Impact of Autonomous Vehicle Design on Pedestrian Mortality: NHTSA’s Proposed Recommendation

The proposed rules come amid a deadly period for pedestrians in this country. Each year, cars kill roughly 40,000 Americans. The lack of safety of people outside of vehicles is something that auto manufacturers have neglected.

The rules announced this week would make changes to the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards and make them more realistic for head-to-hood impact. If enacted, crash test dummies will have to be used for the first time for child and adult pedestrians. NHTSA thinks the changes could save at least 67 lives a 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.

Lawmakers in Congress introduced a bill last month that would require federal standards for hood height and visibility to protect pedestrians and other vulnerable road users.

Pedestrian deaths have gone up in the last few years. Between 2013 and 2022, pedestrian fatalities increased 57 percent, from 4,779 to 7,522, NHTSA reports. Pedestrian deaths occurred more in single-vehicle crashes than any other cause.

David Harkey, president of the IIHS, said the group is very pleased that NHTSA is taking steps to make vehicles less dangerous to pedestrians. The move is in line with recommendations that IIHS made to NHTSA in the past in order to make sure that every vehicle has 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 reading the proposal that NHTSA released Monday.

The use of cameras, blindspot detection, automatic braking, and other technology in cars is being pointed out to help 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. Even though Congress had told them to do this, they didn’t.

How far have we come from being so heavy? Understanding why SUVs and trucks are bigger than they’ve ever been and why pedestrians are more likely to be killed

SUVs and trucks are heavier and larger than they’ve ever been. In 2023, 31 percent of new cars in America weighed over 5,000 pounds (2.27 tons), compared to 22 percent in 2018, according to a recent investigation by The Economist. The shift to electric vehicles have made those vehicles even heavier. The Ford F-150 is 60 percent heavier than it’s gas equivalent, with a curb weight of 6,500 pounds.

The shape of a vehicle, especially the hood, also plays a critical role in determining whether a pedestrian can survive being struck. According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, vehicles with hood heights above 40 inches were 44 percent more likely to cause fatal accidents.