[Peanuts99]

Perversely they're higher partially because of pedestrian safety. More space between the engine and the bonnet and hinges that extend that space when a force is applied to the front of the car to cushion the impact. Euro NCAP has a whole category for pedestrian safety to test exactly these features.

[habosa]

I’m confused. I read (see below) that these very tall fronts are significantly more deadly to pedestrians. Which is true?

https://www.iihs.org/news/detail/vehicles-with-higher-more-v...

Not to mention how much bigger the blind spot is now:

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/rcna52109

[Marazan]

You are correct, they are more dangerous. But the way the EuroNCAP test is constructed doesn't capture that danger. Leading to perverse, bogus results where SUVs are rated more safe for pedestrian collisions than small cars due to the artificial standard being applied.

[potato3732842]

Not partly, pretty much wholly.

Like every other safety regulation, it's a stupid game of stupid optimization. You "score best" by keeping the dummy's head off the windshield so you make a big giant flop/crunch zone full of engineered plastics and empty void spaces that is (ideally) at least as tall as the dummy's center of mass (belly button). This is why every car, suv, crossover, whatever that's expected to be sold in europe (including most of the small SUVs and crossovers that people complain about in North America) has a tall(er than it would have been 20yr ago) hood line these days.

[iainmerrick]

It can’t be just that, surely? Or the more traditional sloped fronts would be gone completely.

I don’t think people are buying these because they’re safer for pedestrians, they’re buying them because they like the way they look, and/or because they (the drivers) feel safer when they’re in a huge box sitting high up, looming over the surrounding cars.

[p_j_w]

Does the Euro NCAP test for the likelihood of a collision occurring or only what happens if we assume a collision will occur? It's important, because if a class of vehicles is safer under the assumption of a collision but the collisions happen more frequently versus another class of vehicles, then it's pretty easy to imagine numbers such that the second class of vehicle is actually much safer for pedestrians in spite of a worse safety rating.

[Marazan]

Except the NCAP test is flawed and everyone knows it. They are testing a SUV-pedestrian collision that doesn't actually happen and then rating the SUV's as super safe based on it when based on empirical evidence SUVs are vastly more dangerous to pedestrians in a collision as pedestrians (especially children) and vastly more likely to be dragged under than thrown onto the bonnet.