A new NYT analysis found that anyone shorter than 5-foot-6 — about half of American adults — would frequently be knocked to the ground in front of today's average vehicle.
There are studies that link hood height to higher threat to pedestrians. But honestly, how could it not be that way. If you are hit by a vertical wall or by something at the height of your knees that throws you onto a hood, those two scenarios are not the same. Try it out some day, it really isn’t. Add to that that high hoods negatively impact visibility, substantially and I don’t need a study for simple facts of geometry.
Halari et al., 2026 (doi.org/10.1080/15389588.2025.2516717): “Compared to car impacts, pedestrians struck by high hood edge vehicles were more likely to be runover.”
And you’re basing “not much” on data and not Feels/anecdotal evidence?
This whole thread is based on feels since the data actually blames phone use not hood height.
There are studies that link hood height to higher threat to pedestrians. But honestly, how could it not be that way. If you are hit by a vertical wall or by something at the height of your knees that throws you onto a hood, those two scenarios are not the same. Try it out some day, it really isn’t. Add to that that high hoods negatively impact visibility, substantially and I don’t need a study for simple facts of geometry.
Halari et al., 2026 (doi.org/10.1080/15389588.2025.2516717): “Compared to car impacts, pedestrians struck by high hood edge vehicles were more likely to be runover.”