SUVs are a 'growing threat to public safety' and drivers can't see children as old as nine directly in front of them

• e-mail

The ever-increasing height of bonnets on new cars sold in the UK has become a 'clear and growing threat to public safety, especially for children,' a new report claims. 

The dramatic rise in popularity of SUVs has been blamed for triggering the trend for bonnets to increase in height by half centimetre annually for the last 15 years.

The higher front of cars significantly increases the death rate when pedestrians are struck, as vulnerable road users are more likely to be pulled under a moving vehicle rather than bounce off them, it said. 

The analysis also suggested that drivers in the tallest SUV models can no longer see a child as old as nine at all when they are standing directly in front of the vehicle.

Transport & Environment, the green campaign group behind the study that has been lobbying for demise of SUVs for years, says the UK has an especially large number of cars with the tallest bonnets. It attributes this to a high volume of sales of Land Rovers, which - along with Jeep - only sells vehicles with bonnet heights of over a metre.

Its researchers accused these car firms of 'trading on the intimidation that comes with high-fronted vehicles [and] ignoring their related dangers'.

T&E's analysis of the new car market found that the average bonnet height of a passenger car sold in the UK has jumped from 77cm in 2010 to 84cm in 2024

The report pointed at Jaguar Land Rover and Jeep for only selling cars with bonnet heights over a metre tall. However, JLR has hit back saying its vehicles use the latest technology designed specifically to mitigate collisions with pedestrians and vulnerable road users

A Jaguar Land Rover spokesperson responded to T&E's claims telling This is Money: 'JLR is committed to the highest safety standards and our vehicles are made with the strictest adherence to safety requirements. 

'We continually invest in safety and advanced technology features – which, amongst other things, include pedestrian detection, 3D surround camera systems, and autonomous emergency braking (AEB).'

While Land Rover and Jeep were singled out in the report, both have traditionally only sold 4X4 vehicles for years as part of their long heritage.

The report said that in a collision with a pedestrian, a high-bonneted SUV is more likely to strike the vital organs in the core of an adult's body - and the head of a child.

When colliding with a pedestrian above their mid-section, there is an elevated likelihood that they are knocked forward and down - and then ran over by the same car that's hit them, it warns.

In contrast, vehicles with lower bonnets tend to collide with pedestrians' legs, resulting in them falling onto the vehicle or being deflected to one side and away from secondary danger.

The report says higher-fronted SUVs significantly increases the death rate when pedestrians are struck as they are more likely to be pulled under a moving vehicle rather than bounce off them

The think tank said cars with higher front ends (like the Land Rover Defender pictured) are more likely to hit a pedestrian and then drag them underneath the moving vehicle, increasing the risk of death

Analysis carried out by Loughborough University on behalf of T&E said a driver of a RAM TRX truck is unable to see a child up to 9 years old directly in front of their bumper. For a driver of a Land Rover Defender, the high bonnet blocks their view of children up to 4.5 years, it claimed

A RAM TRX pick-up truck pictured. These US models are not sold as right-hand-drive UK cars but there are a number of vehicles that have been imported into Britain

The environmental think tank's analysis of the new car market found that the average bonnet height of a passenger car sold in the UK rose from 77cm in 2010 to 84cm in 2024.

A study conducted by Loughborough University School of Design on behalf of the campaign group tested the visibility of children from the highest-fronted cars on sale. 

It found that a driver of a Ram TRX pick-up truck was unable to see children aged up to nine (1.36m tall on average) when standing directly in front of the bumper, while a Land Rover Defender driver could not see children aged up to four and a half (1.1m tall on average).

Popularity of SUVs to blame, says T&E 

This increase in car bonnet heights correlates with a huge surge in SUV demand, with jacked-up 4X4-type models representing more than half (56 per cent) of all new cars registered in Europe last year - up from just 12 per cent in 2010.

Last year, SUVs overtook superminis for the first time in history to become the UK's favourite new car body type, representing 33 per cent of all registrations. A decade earlier, SUVs accounted for just 12 per cent of new cars entering Britain's roads. 

A recent study suggested that Britons are increasingly being pushed into choosing these larger vehicles because SUVs make up more than half of all car options in UK car showrooms.

There are 193 different SUV and 'crossover' (conventional hatchbacks with increased ride height) variations across the 35 most popular brands sold in the UK in 2025, a report by CarGurus found.

This is an uplift of 543 per cent compared to 2000 when just 35 SUV variants were available, the comprehensive review of the new car market revealed.

T&E has already criticised the automotive sector's shift to SUVs, describing it as 'carspreading' and 'autobesity'.

It said the industry has allowed newer vehicles to become much larger in scale to seem more appealing to drivers but to the detriment of vulnerable road users - including cyclists - who are more likely to suffer injury if hit by one. 

'The intention is clear: [car] companies are trading on the intimidation that comes with high-fronted vehicles, ignoring their related dangers,' the report said.

'The rise in high-fronted SUVs poses a clear and growing threat to public safety, especially for children. 

'With no benefit to society, it's time for lawmakers at all levels to act,' it concluded.

Read More

EXCLUSIVE

I bought 239 Land Rover Defenders before production ended in 2016 and made millions selling them at profit

There is no legal limit to bonnet height in the UK and Europe. However, T&E called on policymakers to introduce one for 2035, restricting them to selling cars with front ends no taller than 85cm.

'A child is killed every day on our roads, yet cars are being made so large that children are invisible from the driver's seat. How is that acceptable?' said Barbara Stoll, senior director of T&E's Clean Cities campaign. 

'Thankfully, more and more city leaders are pushing back against carspreading, standing up for what citizens actually want – safe, green streets without monster vehicles.'

Steve Gooding, director of motoring research charity the RAC Foundation, said: 'Over the past decade the number of pedestrians hurt or killed on the roads has fallen, but only at around half the rate of car occupants.

'It is incumbent on carmakers to ensure they pay enough attention to those around a vehicle as to those within it, and that will include making assessments about car heights and weights.'

Backlash against SUVs intensifies 

Paris and Lyon in France, and Aachen in Germany, are among the cities that charge bigger cars more to park. 

In the UK, councils in Cardiff, Bristol, Oxford and Haringey in London are looking into similar measures and last week the London assembly called for limits on bonnet height.

Last week, Sir Sadiq Khan was urged to seek higher taxes and parking fees for SUVs.

Campaigners want fewer SUVs on our roads for a variety of reasons. Here's just some of the major gripes with these jacked-up cars

A report by the IEA calculated that if SUVs were a country, they would be the world's fifth largest emitter of carbon dioxide behind China, USA, India and Russia

Parisians voted last year to muscle SUVs off the French capital's streets by making them three times more expensive to park, and called on London to follow suit 

Local authorities across the UK are considering implementing additional parking charges and bans on SUVs deemed too large for bays and too polluting for urban areas

Wide load: Transport & Environment previously accused supersized SUVs of leaving less room for other road users as well as being too big for standard parking bays

London Assembly Members agreed a motion calling on the mayor to take action because of fears that the increasing size of cars is damaging road surfaces, causing congestion and putting other road users at greater risk of death and severe injury.

The London Assembly called on Sir Sadiq to ask the Treasury to amend vehicle excise duty to include a tax based on vehicle weight.

It also wants the mayor to request that councils in the capital consider charging more for parking larger cars, and to call on the Department for Transport to introduce tighter limits on the size and bonnet height of passenger vehicles.

The motion was agreed by 14 votes in favour and eight votes against.

The International Energy Agency recorded record global SUV sales in 2024 and record SUV CO2 emissions of one billion tonnes. 

If SUVs were a country, they would rank as the fifth most polluting in the world, the IEA said.