America’s roads have become the frontline of a dangerous arms race. The SUV and truck boom has spurred a sea change in what vehicles we drive, making our cars collectively longer, wider, taller, and heavier than they have ever been before.
In 1990, sedans and wagons made up 70 percent of U.S. passenger vehicle sales. Today, SUVs, crossovers, and trucks account for just over 80 percent of sales. As a result, the average new car today is nearly two feet longer and a foot wider than in 2013, and at 4,300 pounds, 1,000 pounds heavier than in 1990.
Automakers love trucks, crossovers, and SUVs because consumers are willing to pay hefty premiums for these body styles. Drivers love the perceived benefits of space, comfort, and utility. Advertising campaigns have seen massive success using images of rugged work and off-road adventures to convince buyers they need capabilities most will never use. Trucks and SUVs have become a status symbol, often bought for their image.
Consumers often cite the feeling of safety as another major appeal of SUVs and trucks. They offer higher driving positions and commanding views of the road, helping some drivers feel more safe and confident. Critically, higher, heavier cars generally protect occupants better in car-to-car collisions. However, the arms-race approach to protecting oneself individually with more height and mass has dire consequences for our collective safety. Heavier cars increase risk in many situations, but the current trends are especially alarming for pedestrians. Every 220 pounds added to a vehicle’s weight increases the risk of a pedestrian fatality by 4 percent, and every four inches added to a vehicle’s hood height increases the likelihood a collision kills a pedestrian by 22 percent. Sedan and wagon pedestrian strikes have around an 8 percent total rate of fatality, but this jumps to over 12 percent for trucks and SUVs.
While a traditional car hits a pedestrian’s legs, often throwing them onto the hood, SUVs and trucks with their higher hoods are more likely to catch a person in the hips or torso, pushing the victim beneath the wheels. The consequences of the SUV and truck boom can be measured in human lives. While other types of traffic deaths decreased, between 2009 and 2023 U.S. pedestrian fatalities increased by a staggering 78 percent, surpassing 7,500 deaths per year.
Without even considering congestion and space issues, emissions and efficiency, and the increased wear on infrastructure like roads and bridges, we would all be better off pivoting away from massive vehicles. For passengers, car safety has never been better thanks to significant advances in crash protection and avoidance technology. However, as long as the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration continue to view car safety exclusively in terms of individual consumers while ignoring wider risks, antisocial auto design will prevail. It is time to demand an end to automakers guiding the market towards large, lucrative vehicles, thus walking consumers into a car size arms race that leaves us all less safe.
~ Jacob Madley `26
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