Tall bonnets a ‘clear threat’ to children, new report finds
High bonnets on SUVs put us all at risk, and are getting higher year-on-year, yet remain totally unregulated in the UK.
A new study by Transport and Environment shows for the first time that bonnet heights of new cars in the UK and EU are growing 1cm taller every two years. The average UK bonnet height now stands at 83.7cm, up from 76.9cm in 2010, with surging SUV sales being the primary cause of this rise.
Oliver Lord, UK Head of Clean Cities Campaign said, “Carspreading is out of control and children’s lives are at risk. The failure to regulate supersized SUVs is leaving city leaders with little choice but to stand up and do all they can to discourage unnecessary and dangerous vehicles on our streets.”
Big bonnets, big problems
“a 10cm increase in bonnet height (from 80cm to 90cm) raises the risk of death by 27% for vulnerable road users”
If you are unlucky enough to e struck by a car, bonnet design counts for a lot. A low bonnet will strike around your legs, below your centre of gravity, sweeping you over the bonnet and away from the car. A high bonnet will strike you in the pelvis or stomach, close to your vital organs, and, if above your centre of mass, pushing you down and under the car.
Good practice vehicle design suggests bonnet heights should be between 60cm and approximately 75cm. A Belgian study of 300,000 road collisions between 2017 and 2021 concluded that a 10cm increase in bonnet height (from 80cm to 90cm) raises the risk of death by 27% for vulnerable road users in the event of a collision.
Higher bonnets also raise issues of driver visibility. In tests conducted for the T&E study, a driver seated behind the wheel of a RAM TRX pick-up truck was unable to see children aged up to nine-years-old standing in front of the vehicle. Average height drivers in Land Rover Defenders couldn’t see children aged up to four-and-half.
Mis-sold safety
SUVs are increasingly marketed to families, with big emphasis placed on their apparent safety credentials. A recent advert for the Volvo EX90 electric SUV labelled it “the safest Volvo car ever made” and included a scene of the vehicle’s automatic braking system narrowly avoiding a collision with a pregnant woman.
The EX90 has a bonnet height of approximately 85cm, compared to the Volvo V60 estate car, which has a bonnet height of approximately 70cm. Using a 2024 study, we can estimate a consequent 50% increase in the risk of fatality in a collision between the EX90 and a female pedestrian, compared to a collision with the V60.
Screenshot from the Volvo EX90 ad, available on YouTube.
The worst offenders
Excluding vans, 46% of new car sales in Europe exceed an 85cm bonnet height, 10% exceed 93cm and 1.5% exceed 1m.
The UK is vastly overrepresented when it comes to such high bonnets. Despite making up just 15% of new car sales in Europe in 2024, the UK accounted for 39% of new sales with bonnets over 1m in height. This is almost entirely down to Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) who in 2024 sold 62,500 vehicles exceeding a 1m bonnet height (Jeep sold another 1,500).
Regulatory black hole
Currently there exists no regulation at EU or national level governing car bonnet height. Vehicle type approval exists to regulate the safety, environmental, and technical standards of new cars before they can be sold in the UK. Type approval says nothing about vehicle bonnet height.
Our manifesto calls for a review of type approval, which could come as part of the upcoming, and delayed, Road Safety Strategy from the Department for Transport.
T&E’s new study proposes a policy timeline for the whole of the EU to adopt limits for car bonnet heights: an 85cm cap on bonnet height for all new cars sold from 2035, with an end to type approval for new models with bonnets above that height from 2032.
Ultimately, such measures would protect all of us on the roads, whether in cars or not. Bonnet height adds nothing to the utility or comfort of a car. Rising bonnet heights therefore put all road users at risk for absolutely no reason.
The case for regulation could not be clearer and the SUV Alliance continues engage with politicians on this topic.
Image: Lindsay Grime / Brandalism