The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has proposed a new vehicle safety standard aimed at decreasing pedestrian deaths and injuries when struck by a vehicle. The proposed new Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard would require automakers to design new passenger vehicles to perform in a new head-to-hood impact test procedure. If put into effect, the NHTSA estimates that the proposed rule would save an average of 67 lives annually, and cost between $2.86 and $3.50 per vehicle for passenger cars, and $3.29 to $4.08 per vehicle for light trucks and vans.
According to NHTSA Deputy Administrator Sophie Shulman, pedestrian fatalities increased by 57 percent between 2013 and 2022, rising from 4,779 to 7,522. “We have a crisis of roadway deaths, and it’s even worse among vulnerable road users like pedestrians,” Shulman said. “This proposed rule will ensure that vehicles will be designed to protect those inside and outside from serious injury or death.”
The standard would include a new test procedure simulating a head-to-hood impact, and would include “human-like headforms” to measure said impact. The headforms would represent a wide range of pedestrians, including both small children and adults.
The rule would follow the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law directive, and would coincide with global vehicle regulations.
“This standard, when finalized, would align with Global Technical Regulation No. 9, with focused enhancements to ensure that uniquely American platforms, such as pickups and large SUVs, would provide the proposed level of pedestrian head protection,” the NHTSA states. “Those two platforms represented nearly a quarter of U.S. passenger vehicle sales in 2020.”
In an extensive Department of Transportation document, the NHTSA outlined the details of the new rule proposal. The new standard would apply to passenger vehicles with a gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) of 10,000 pounds or less, and is expected to mitigate 67.4 fatalities annually, although the count of injuries would increase “as averted fatalities are replaced by injuries.”
The overall annual cost for the proposal is estimated between $48.94 million and $60.43 million. The new proposal will be open to public comment for 60 days.
Comments
67 lives for 60 million… Not sure thats the best use of the money!
Wait wait wait. How absurd is this? A head to hood test? If you get hit by a car a series of events have gone horribly wrong and I doubt some whiz bang hood or front end design will defeat the laws of physics.
Nhtsa needs to provide more background information on the rise of associated deaths other than it’s due to trucks getting bigger and taller. Like what are the locations and demographics for where the biggest increases are occuring, big cities or mid size, cross walks or a long rural roads, what are the age groups of drivers and pedestrians, is there an increase of drivers under the influence, are more pedestrians coming from places where they have less acknowledgement for pedestrian rules.
In a city near where I live it has been very obvious that over the last few years certain groups of pedestrians have become more self entitled in that they are failing to use crosswalks, walking out right in front of ongoing traffic expecting everyone to just stop, riding bikes in the middle of a street with traffic stacked up behind etc. Its always going to be typical for some to blame the weapon rather than the individual.
I agree, I see entitled people every day just walk right out in front of traffic some are even texting or reading on their phone. Even worse are Electric Scooters and Bike riders ignore Red Lights and Stop Signs
Come now. Don’t you know in today’s America you are responsible for the idiocy of others?
This look like someone living on government funding and trying to justify their job.
The government has got to get out of the vehicle safety and emissions, or start paying for the cost of all this garbage that they want on our cars and trucks. This is costing the consumer far to much to afford.
A new dumb idea by a nanny state that wants to be both mother and father to us all. How about we get peoples heads up and out of their cell phone screens? Better yet mandate that if the cell phone recognizes a person is moving either in a car, or walking, the screens lock out. You can still call, but no screen time. Our phones already track where we are at all times. It could tell if you are in motion. Then we would not have to redesign and rebuild our cars and trucks to protect against the clueless and dumb.
George Orwell said “there will come a time when people are so busy looking at their screens they won’t look up to see what is going on around them.” Very appropriate for this issue as well!
This from Crash Stats
Still, more than half of pedestrian fatalities are due to jaywalking.
until you stop illegal crossings -you will have deaths…
The herd will never get thinned out.
Actually, the US is very late getting into pedestrian impact protection – probably because no one walks in the US. But now add the distracted driver with a distracted pedestrian and the statistics are being noticed. More than 7300 last year.
The Euro NCAP Testing had Pedestrian Impact requirements in place since it’s initial release in 1997 and in full they test for:
> Head impact , Upper leg impact, Lower leg impact, AEB pedestrian, AEB cyclist.
The quoted cost for this update seems very high and more aligns with vehicles that can’t design itself out of the hard points and need to add pyrotechnics to lift the hood up to meet the pedestrian to “soften” the hit.
Up front design and engineering can provide the protection for no more cost than what’s seen in a current vehicle program.
How odd that 6 people so far haved voted this down and yet I offer no opinion and just state the facts of the industry. What a world of negative nannies.
Distractive infotainment screens on half the dash,
Some vertical ones larger than an iPad, cell phone use, pedestrians walking without looking first all contribute.
How about a law that says pedestrians can’t cross roads while looking at their phone. How many of these deaths were the fault of pedestrians?
Wow. Weak sauce. EU has real pedestrian safety requirements.
Maybe anything classified as a truck should require a CDL endorsement to my drive, and require massive liability insurance for injuries to pedestrians.
Why not put your energy to use getting better Headlight for vehicles. There are many cars without “Fog” or low visibility lights that are very critical, especially in the Fall and Winter months. Maybe that would help being able to see ahead so no one is hit in the first place.
Interesting. Why not make cars safer, prevent serious accidents from happening, and export more cars if this helps selling them abroad?