NHTSA Wants Pedestrians Protected from Big-Nose Trucks and SUVs

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• NHTSA’s new standard would “establish test procedures simulating a head-to-hood impact and performance requirements to minimize the risk of head injury.”

• The standard would apply to “multipurpose passenger vehicles,” including trucks, SUVs, crossovers and vans, but it’s pretty clear which models are the primary target: full-size trucks and large SUVs.

• Automakers have rather extraordinary freedom as they make the transition from internal combustion to EV power, but so far that means no more grille (see GMC Hummer, Tesla Cybertruck, etc.).

Toyota’s Tundra might just be the poster-truck for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s new rule proposal that would be its first designed to protect pedestrians and cyclists.

Toyota obviously was targeting the contemporary Ford F-150 when it launched the Tundra in May 1999 as a 2000 model. Compared with its predecessor model, the Ford had a softer, laid-back look with an almost friendly car-like grille.

Subsequent F-150s got fully boxed frames and more upright, squared-off grilles below imposing hoods. Ford triggered a half-ton towing capacity arms-race to 10,000 pounds and beyond, with Chevrolet/GMC and Dodge—then Ram—fully in the battle.

Toyota was trying to keep up, too, but it didn’t really hit the mark, styling-wise, until the third-generation Tundra launched with its Cyrano de Bergerac-size schnozz for the 2022 model year.

Toyota may want to think about reversing direction when it designs the next Tundra.

NHTSA’s standard would “establish test procedures simulating a head-to-hood impact and performance requirements to minimize the risk of head injury,” according to its release on the rule proposal. (Standard process for federal agencies is to collect public comments for 60 days. There’s still time to get your comments in—about three weeks.)

The standard would apply to “multipurpose passenger vehicles,” including trucks, SUVs, crossovers and vans, but it’s pretty clear which models are the primary target: Ford F-Series, Lincoln Navigator, Chevrolet Silverado, Cadillac Escalade, Ram 1500, Jeep Grand Wagoneeer, and the like.

“Data show that fatalities of pedestrians struck by the front of a vehicle are most common for multipurpose passenger vehicles (49%) followed by passenger cars (37%) in 2022,” NHTSA says in its release.

“We have a crisis of roadway deaths, and it’s even worse among vulnerable road users like pedestrians,” NHTSA Deputy Administrator Sophie Shulman said in the release.

“Between 2013 and 2022, pedestrian fatalities increased 57% from 4,779 to 7,522. This proposed rule will ensure that vehicles will be designed to protect those inside and outside from serious injury or death. We will continue to work to make our roads safer for everyone and help protect vulnerable road users.”

Clearly, NHTSA isn’t targeting Chevy Traxes so much as Suburbans.

What does this mean for the future of truck and SUV design? Automakers have rather extraordinary freedom as they make the transition from internal combustion to EV power, but so far that means no more grille (see GMC Hummer, Tesla Cybertruck, etc.).

New technologies, such as autonomy and vision-based emergency braking as well as electric power, can profoundly affect the way designers set about creating something completely new.

Consider Google’s—now Waymo’s—first bespoke autonomous electric vehicle, unveiled in 2014. Designed “primarily for safety,” according to a 2014 article in Wired magazine, the Google AV EV was designed with a “soft, foam-like fascia” to “protect pedestrians and cyclists in the event of a crash.” The foam was covered with an outer shell to match other body panels on the car.

Would a chunk of foam between the grille and the front cowl of the next Toyota Tundra offer sufficient protection against other vehicles on the road while protecting pedestrians and cyclists? Would a lowered, curved hood work better to meet the proposed standard?

“If the new standards affect front-end height requirements, or front-profile restrictions, I could see this scaring the bejeezus out of the design community, especially given the current trend toward those huge, intimidating front ends,” says Autoweek’s design columnist, Dave Rand, via email. “Could be a game-changer.”

Protection for pedestrians that may come into undesired contact with a passenger car or truck has been part of the voluntary European New Car Assessment Program (NCAP) since it launched in the European Union in 1997. In 2009, it was expanded to include cyclists, who with pedestrians now are called Vulnerable Road Users (VRUs).

“Ped Pro,” as it is widely known, has influenced vehicle design for models that are sold in both the EU and the US. Though the standards are voluntary, as with US NHTSA and Insurance Institute for Highway Safety ratings, any NCAP rating below four stars or the five-star max can severely damage a new model’s sales volume prospects.

The results of Ped Pro include hoods made of softer metals, with more air between the hood and the engine underneath, and nose designs that shouldn’t easily torpedo a pedestrian in the knees. It’s the primary reason you hardly see stand-up hood ornaments on Mercedes-Benzes and other luxury cars anymore, and that when you do, they are retractable.

It's also the reason you will see few big American trucks on your next visit to Western Europe, though Wired reports that Tesla Cybertrucks recently have been imported into the Czech Republic with “worrying slender rubber pads” to “blunt” the truck’s hard, sharp edges.

Are you prepared for truck and SUV front ends to look differently, in the name of pedestrian safety? Please comment below.