Height always rising from car caps a “clear threat” for children, says the report | Road safety

The hood height of new cars in the United Kingdom and Europe increases tirelessly, according to a report, providing a “clear and growing threat to public security, especially for children”.

Strong fronts on cars considerably increase the mortality rate when pedestrians are struck. The analysis also revealed that drivers in the highest cars could not see children as old as nine at all when they were directly in front of the vehicle.

The United Kingdom has a particularly large number of cars with the highest hoods. This is due to higher sales of Land Rover models which, with Jeep, are the only car brands with average hood heights of more than 100 cm. The researchers accused Land Rover of “negotiation on the intimidation which comes with vehicles up [and] ignore their related dangers ”.

In accidents, high code SUVs are more likely to hit the vital organs at the heart of the adult and children’s corps. Strong pedestrians over their center of gravity means that they are more likely to be overturned forward and down, then be trained. On the other hand, the low terminals tend to hit the legs of pedestrians, which gives them a greater chance of falling on the vehicle and being diverted to the side.

The report, by the Transport & Environment Defense Group (T&E), revealed that the average hood height of new cars sold in Europe rose from 77 cm in 2010 to 84 cm in 2024.

The increase corresponds to booming sales of 12% to 56% of all cars during the same period, the growing size of vehicles being described as “spreading cars” or “self -ability”. SUVs are also on average 20% on average and this increase in sales cancels the reduction in CO of climate heat₂ Due to electric vehicles and energy efficiency improvements.

There is no legal limit up to the hood in the United Kingdom and Europe. The researchers said that a limit should be introduced for 2035 and set at around 85 cm.

“A child is killed every day on our roads, but cars are so large that children are invisible to the driver’s seat. How is it acceptable? ” said Barbara Stoll, principal director of the Clean Cities of T&E campaign. “Fortunately, more and more city leaders grow against the repair of cars, defending what citizens really want – safe green streets without monster vehicles.”

Paris and Lyon in France, and Aix-Un in Germany, are among the cities that charge more cars to park. In the United Kingdom, the advice of Cardiff, Bristol, Oxford and Haringy in London study similar measures and last week, the London Assembly called for limits on the height of the hood.

A spokesperson for Jaguar Land Rover said: “JLR is engaged in the highest security standards and our vehicles are made with the strictest membership in safety requirements. We are continuously investing in advanced safety and technology characteristics – which, among other things, include pedestrian detection, 3D -surrounded cameras systems and autonomous emergency braking (AEB). “

The T & E report indicated that the AEB can prevent certain accidents, but that a “car with a good AEB system and a hood height between 60 cm and 75 cm will always be safer than a high -end vehicle with the same AEB.”

The report used Euro NCAP data, the security rating program for new vehicles and sales data to assess the HEIGHTS hatch growth. T & E also ordered the loughborough University School of Design to test the visibility of children from cars to height.

He found that a driver of a TRX RAM was unable to see children aged nine years who were standing directly in front, while a Land Rover defender driver could not see elderly children up to four and a half.

An increase of 10 cm of the hood height, from 80 cm to 90 cm, increases the risk of death in a 27% accident for pedestrians and cyclists according to a Belgian study involving 300,000 victims. Children are significantly more likely to be killed as a collision pedestrians compared to adults, according to the report.

The number of cars with extremely high hats is “very disproportionate” in the United Kingdom, according to the report. The United Kingdom represented 15% of all new car sales in Europe in 2024, but 39% of car sales with hats greater than 100 cm. Land Rover models represented 85% of 63,000 cars with cups of 100 cm or more sold in the United Kingdom that year.

The report noted aggressive marketing slogans for the defender of Land Rover – “locked and loaded” – and “built to impress, known to intimidate” for RAM vans: “The intention is clear: these companies are negotiated on the intimidation that comes with high -performance vehicles, ignoring their related dangers.”

The report concludes: “The increase in high -forehead SUVs is a clear and growing threat to public security, especially for children. Without advantage to society, it is time for legislators at all levels of acting. ” The European Association of Automobile Manufacturers, Jeep and Ram did not respond to a request for comments.

The SUV wave also makes European cars wider, a 2024 T & E report, half of the new cars too inflated to adapt to standard parking spaces.

The International Energy Agency recorded global sales records of SUVs in 2024 and Record SUV CO₂ 1 billion tonnes emissions. If the SUVs were a country, they would rank as the fifth more polluting in the world, said the IAI.