Motor vehicles with higher, more vertical front ends raise risks for pedestrians, according to a highway safety organization.
But among vehicles with hood heights between 30 and 40 inches, a blunt, or more vertical, front end increases the risk to pedestrians.
Vehicles with hood heights of more than 40 inches and blunt front ends angled at greater than 65 degrees were 44% more likely to cause fatalities.
“There’s no functional benefit to these massive, blocky fronts.”While sloping front ends did not reduce the risk posed by vehicles with the tallest hoods, they did make a difference for vehicles with hood heights of 30 inches to 40 inches.
There was a 25% increase in the risk of a fatality for vehicles with flat hoods — those with angles of 15 degrees or less — compared with vehicles with more sloping hoods.
Persons:
”, Wen Hu, “
Organizations:
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, IHS, Research Transportation
Locations:
U.S