During an appearance at the Aspen Ideas Festival this summer, Ford CEO Jim Farley made a suggestion that would harm his company’s bottom line.
In an effort to rationalize his view on EVs, the CEO of the automaker known for its big SUVs, pickup trucks, and other gas-guzzlers noted that Americans will have to give up the vehicles they love most if they want to compete with Tesla and Chinese firms like BYD.
“We have to start to get back in love with smaller vehicles. It’s super important for our society and for EV adoption,” he said. “We are just in love with these monster vehicles, and I love them too, but it’s a major issue with weight.”
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Undoubtedly, we Americans love these so-called “monster vehicles.” According to the latest data from Kelley Blue Book, eight out of the ten bestselling vehicles in the United States are pickup trucks or SUVs.
However, a new study from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) suggests that our love for SUVs and trucks has a huge consequence that might impact our everyday driving habits.
Contractors secure a new speed limit sign in the Capitol Hill neighborhood in Washington, DC.
Robert Nickelsberg/Getty Images
In a new study published this week by the IIHS, researchers found that Americans’ love for bigger, much heavier vehicles like pickup trucks and big family SUVs is making safe speed limits inadequate in today’s kind of traffic.
In their research, the safety organization found that higher speeds contribute to more serious injuries to pedestrians in the event they collide, and the height of the offending vehicle makes the difference. Essentially, taller vehicles make the risk of higher crash speeds much more serious than those in smaller cars like sedans or hatchbacks.
IIHS researchers looked at the data behind 202 crashes that involved at least a single pedestrian aged 16 and over between 2015 and 2022 and found a link between higher vehicle front ends and higher likelihoods of moderate and serious pedestrian injuries.
According to their findings, when a median-height car, such as a sedan or a hatchback, hits a pedestrian at 27 miles per hour, there is a 60% chance that the person getting hit will suffer a ‘moderate’ injury and a 30% chance they’ll suffer a ‘serious’ injury.
Related: Some popular family cars are more likely to pose a deadly risk to pedestrians
However, if the offending vehicle is a “median-height pickup” — i.e., with a front end measuring 13 inches higher than sedans and hatchbacks — there is an 83% chance of inflicting moderate injuries and a 62% chance that the pedestrian they hit will go to the hospital with serious injuries.
Additionally, they found that speed played an additional factor when taller cars are involved in pedestrian-striking incidents. As per their data, when the speed of a crash increases from 15 mph to 35 mph, the risk of a serious injury goes from 9% to 52% when a median-height car is involved.
However, with the pickups, the numbers jump to 11% and 91%, respectively.
“A small increase in crash speed can really ramp up the danger to a pedestrian,” said IIHS President David Harkey. “Our fondness for tall SUVs and pickups in the U.S. has intensified that effect.”
Steglitz exits on the A 115 freeway near the Dreilinden junction in Germany.
picture alliance/Getty Images
The German connection disconnect
The researchers in this study compared their data to 2022 data they collected in another car-loving country: Germany.
They found that while speed limits are fairly similar in the U.S., pedestrians are more likely to be injured at all speeds, as vehicle choices in Deutschland contribute to lower instances of serious injuries at low speeds.
“Although SUVs are a growing share of the market in Europe, the passenger vehicle fleet there has long been dominated by cars. In contrast, the majority of passenger vehicles on U.S. roads today are SUVs or pickups,” IIHS senior statistician Sam Monfort said in a statement. “These choices have very real consequences for pedestrian safety.”
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The results of this study coincide with a previous IIHS study released in November 2023. The study suggests that vehicles with high front ends, like tall SUVs and pickup trucks, are more likely to kill pedestrians they hit, while shorter cars also pose an increased threat if they feature a flatter nose in the front.
As per their data, the IIHS found that pickups, SUVs, and vans with a hood height greater than 40 inches off the ground are about 45 percent more likely to cause fatalities in pedestrian crashes, while shorter vehicles with blunt front ends are 44 percent more likely to cause fatalities.
“Manufacturers can make vehicles less dangerous to pedestrians by lowering the front end of the hood and angling the grille and hood to create a sloped profile,” IIHS Senior Research Transportation Engineer Wen Hu said at the time. “There’s no functional benefit to these massive, blocky fronts.”
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The IIHS’ findings suggest that the current 25-mile-per-hour speed limits commonly used in residential neighborhoods and dense cities like New York City are a tad too fast; speed limits of 15 miles per hour can reduce serious injuries.
However, they note that reducing this phenomenon is a team effort by lawmakers, auto designers, and engineers.
“This study is a vivid illustration of how multiple factors — in this case speed and vehicle height — converge to create negative outcomes on the road,” Harkey said. “Similarly, it will take a combination of actions from different corners of the transportation world to improve pedestrian safety.”
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