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Original poster

Car bonnet heights

134 replies

GingerBeverage · 12/06/2025 15:02

I don't understand how they pass safety tests?

In crashes, high-bonneted SUVs are more likely to strike the vital organs in the core of adults’ bodies and the heads of children. Hitting pedestrians above their centre of gravity means they are more likely to be knocked forward and down and then be driven over. In contrast, low bonnets tend to hit pedestrians’ legs, giving them a greater chance of falling on to the vehicle and being deflected to the side.
The report, by the advocacy group Transport & Environment (T&E), found that the average bonnet height of new cars sold in Europe rose from 77cm in 2010 to 84cm in 2024.
The rise matches booming sales of SUVs from 12% to 56% of all cars over the same period, with the increasing size of vehicles being described as “carspreading” or “autobesity”. SUVs are also 20% more polluting on average and this rise in sales is cancelling out the reduction in climate-heating CO2 due to electric vehicles and fuel efficiency improvements.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jun/11/ever-rising-height-car-bonnets-suv-threat-to-children-report

Ever-rising height of car bonnets a ‘clear threat’ to children, report says

High-fronted SUVs are more likely to kill and are on the rise in Europe, with the UK an extreme example

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jun/11/ever-rising-height-car-bonnets-suv-threat-to-children-report

OP posts:
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5
Stellaris22 · 12/06/2025 15:39

Chiseltip · 12/06/2025 15:13

And?

If we supervised children properly they wouldn't be running out in front of cars.

Cars are dangerous if you get hit by one, so keep away from them. Stop walking out in front of them. Problem solved. The height of the bonnet is irrelevant, trucks and vans are bigger.

A properly enforced jay walking law (with extremly punitive fines which in the case of children, their parents/carers would held responsible for) would have a dramatic effect on the number of vehicle/pedestrian collisions. If people were fined £500 for crossing the road anywhere other than a pedestrian crossing, attitudes would soon change.

Edited

Yep, let’s blame those pedestrians for dangerous cars.

ExpressCheckout · 12/06/2025 15:34

parietal · 12/06/2025 15:27

Cars should be taxed on size and weight so that these awful SUVs are priced out. I wanted to buy an ordinary family car recently but every dealer tried to sell me an SUV and I had to work hard to find something else.

^ this, absolutely. I've just spent a week in another (much wealthier) part of the country and these child-maiming middle-class killing machines are everywhere.

Etheral · 12/06/2025 15:32

Not another thread about the MN hatred of SUVs.

DisappearingGirl · 12/06/2025 15:31

I agree totally. We have a fiesta which is perfect for the narrow roads where I live. However I'm worried about my family's safety if one of these high-bonneted SUVs crashes into us, as their bonnet would be at our head level.

Also for my kids trying to cross the busy roads near here on the way to school. Someone mentioned jay walking - a lot of the roads on the way to my kids' secondary have no crossing, so they have to "jay walk".

MemorableTrenchcoat · 12/06/2025 15:29

Chiseltip · 12/06/2025 15:13

And?

If we supervised children properly they wouldn't be running out in front of cars.

Cars are dangerous if you get hit by one, so keep away from them. Stop walking out in front of them. Problem solved. The height of the bonnet is irrelevant, trucks and vans are bigger.

A properly enforced jay walking law (with extremly punitive fines which in the case of children, their parents/carers would held responsible for) would have a dramatic effect on the number of vehicle/pedestrian collisions. If people were fined £500 for crossing the road anywhere other than a pedestrian crossing, attitudes would soon change.

Edited

What rubbish. There is nothing separating pedestrians and motor vehicles. Even if no one ever stepped off a pavement again, there would still be collisions between the two. Obviously nothing can be done about lorries and buses, but these are vastly outnumbers by cars.

parietal · 12/06/2025 15:27

Cars should be taxed on size and weight so that these awful SUVs are priced out. I wanted to buy an ordinary family car recently but every dealer tried to sell me an SUV and I had to work hard to find something else.

Original poster
GingerBeverage · 12/06/2025 15:22

Goodness grief.

Jay walking was an idea created by car makers to sell more cars in America.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-26073797

Absolutely wild to think anyone's answer in current year is: Make UK more like America.

Pedestrian crossing lights

Jaywalking: How the car industry outlawed crossing the road

The idea of being fined for crossing the road can bemuse foreign visitors to the US, where jaywalking first became law after a car industry campaign.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-26073797

OP posts:
Chiseltip · 12/06/2025 15:13

And?

If we supervised children properly they wouldn't be running out in front of cars.

Cars are dangerous if you get hit by one, so keep away from them. Stop walking out in front of them. Problem solved. The height of the bonnet is irrelevant, trucks and vans are bigger.

A properly enforced jay walking law (with extremly punitive fines which in the case of children, their parents/carers would held responsible for) would have a dramatic effect on the number of vehicle/pedestrian collisions. If people were fined £500 for crossing the road anywhere other than a pedestrian crossing, attitudes would soon change.

Needspaceforlego · 12/06/2025 15:06

Fashion, and batteries, it's easier to fit batteries if you have more height to put them under the floor

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