{"id":882348,"date":"2026-09-06T18:12:45","date_gmt":"2026-09-06T18:12:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/882348\/"},"modified":"2026-09-06T18:12:45","modified_gmt":"2026-09-06T18:12:45","slug":"safety-truth-of-australias-favourite-cars-bega-district-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/882348\/","title":{"rendered":"Safety truth of Australia’s favourite cars | Bega District News"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"SafetySafety truth of Australia’s favourite cars<\/p>\n

This is the real danger of utes and SUVs.<\/p>\n

For the longest time, sedans<\/a> were the dominant player of the car market and held the majority of sales.<\/p>\n

Over the past 15 years though, the SUV<\/a> revolution has been in full swing across the world, taking over from those sedans and hatches that previously dominated the sales charts.<\/p>\n

Read More About<\/p>\n

SUVs have higher bonnets than regular cars, making it more difficult for drivers to see over the top of, and presenting more deadly consequences for pedestrians when they get hit.<\/p>\n

When a pedestrian is hit by a vehicle with a lower bonnet, they often roll onto the top of the car.<\/p>\n

\"2026<\/p>\n

But, on vehicles with raised bonnets like SUVs and utes<\/a>, pedestrians go under the vehicle, according to research conducted by The New York Times.<\/p>\n

SUVs and utes are by far the most popular cars in Australia, and research like this is not going ignored.<\/p>\n

What did the New York Times data find?<\/p>\n

Put simply: Bonnets are getting taller, increasing the danger to pedestrians.<\/p>\n

The study found that since 2009, the number of pedestrian deaths each year in collisions with vehciles has increased by an enormous 75 per cent.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Between 200 and 400 pedestrians a year would have been spared if vehicles had stayed the same height, according to findings from the study.<\/p>\n

\"2026<\/p>\n

This is despite significant increases in on-board safety<\/a> systems and software, with safety groups now placing significant emphasis on preventing accidents and not just how cars perform for occupants in crashes with other vehicles or stationary objects.<\/p>\n

What does this mean for Australia?<\/p>\n

As the top 10 best-selling cars in Australia are all either SUVs or utes, and this is something the local car safety watchdog is paying attention to.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Australasian New Car Assessment Programme (ANCAP<\/a>) weighed in on the dangers of large pick-ups last year.<\/p>\n

\"2026<\/p>\n

“Larger vehicles pose a bigger threat to other road users than passenger cars,” ANCAP Chief Executive Officer Carla Hoorweg said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“The best way to reduce the potential risk of fatalities and serious injuries from large vehicles is to make sure they do the best possible job at avoiding a crash.<\/p>\n

“There is community concern over the size of pickups when they are driving in suburban streets, around schools, and in built-up areas.”<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for ANCAP told CarsGuide the organisation would consider bonnet heights more closely as part of its safety comparison testing in the future.<\/p>\n

Transport for NSW have been contacted for comment on bonnet height and their impact on pedestrian safety, but has yet to provide a response.<\/p>\n

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Loading…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Safety truth of Australia’s favourite cars This is the real danger of utes and SUVs. For the longest…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":882349,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-882348","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/882348","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=882348"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/882348\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/882349"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=882348"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=882348"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=882348"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}