It’s not only chlorinated chicken, it’s also the safety of the cars we drive that is at stake in a possible UK/US trade deal, Over the last twenty years UK and US automotive safety regulations have diverged. Since 2005, for example, our cars must meet pedestrian protection standards. Those from the US do not.
Earlier this month US President Donald Trump claimed that these global regulations represent an ‘unfair’ trade practice. According to Trump “Its tariffs where they put things on that make it impossible for you to sell a car. It’s not a money thing. They make it so difficult, the standards and the tests. They drop the bowling ball on the top of your car from 20 feet up in the air and if there’s a little dent they say no, I’m sorry, your car doesn’t qualify”1.
President Trump is wrong. It’s not a money thing, it’s a saving lives thing. It’s why China, the European Union (EU), India, Japan, South Korea and the UK apply pedestrian protection standards. All require that passenger cars have softer bonnets and bumpers to reduce pedestrian injuries to the head, chest, and leg if struck by a car.
Characteristically President Trump’s was ignorant of the facts. Cars can’t pass the test if the bonnet fails to dent, not if it does. Trump’s jokey references to a so-called ‘bowling ball’ test are no laughing matter. Between 2013 and 2022 pedestrian fatalities in the US have increased from 4,779 to 7,522.
Rather than complain about pedestrian protection regulations, the US should adopt them That was the plan last September when Pete Buttigieg, US Transportation Secretary in the Biden administration published a notification for a federal standard for pedestrian protection2. It now seems unlikely that Sean Duffy, his successor at the US Department of Transport, will implement the proposed rule; but that is exactly what the UK and EU should insist upon as part of any deal to allow US cars on our streets.
The reasons for the loss of market share of US car exports are complex – partly caused by self-imposed isolation from global standards and policies that have incentivised the US auto industry to stop making passenger cars in favour of large sports utility vehicles (SUVs) pickups. The enormous size and weight of their SUVs has become a major concern for influential US safety bodies such as the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety3. For car buyers here and in Europe, vehicles that are so large, fuel thirsty, and very dangerous to pedestrians are simply undesirable.
With nearly 40,000 road deaths every year, it’s tragic that President Trump’s aim to ‘Make America Great Again’ doesn’t extend to road safety. In contrast the EU is moving further ahead on automotive standards. From last July all new vehicles now require a package of technologies under the General Safety Regulation (GSR) designed specifically to protect vulnerable road users4. These include Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB) with pedestrian detection and Intelligent Speed Assistance (ISA) which will help cut pre-collision speed which is vital in reducing risk of injury. In combination with existing bonnet softening requirements, AEB and ISA are forecast to further improve pedestrian safety which accounts for 21% of the EU’s traffic fatalities.
All these measures are already included in the European New Car Assessment Programme (Euro NCAP) which provides independent five star safety ratings of most cars sold in the UK and the EU. Tellingly if Euro NCAP where today to carry out crash tests on US cars – without pedestrian protection or AEB – they would all be rated zero stars.
Europe’s dynamic approach to vehicle regulation has been a major contributor to making the region’s roads the safest in the world. Since 2013 road deaths overall in Europe have declined by 16% and pedestrian fatalities by 40%. In the US the comparable figures are increases of 25% and 57%! The last thing either the UK or the EU should do now is follow the dismal road safety performance of the US.
So far UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves has taken a robust line against any weakening of either UK food or car safety standards. However, Trump’s plans to impose a 25% tariff on cars would be deeply damaging to the automotive industry in both the UK and the EU. Which is why fears are growing that his arm-twisting tactics could undermine both British and European support for global safety standards. This must not happen. Rather than level down our safety standards the US should level up.
David Ward is President Emeritus of Global NCAP, a UK registered charity promoting vehicle safety worldwide.
1 With comments about cars and bowling balls, Trump brings back a weird, discredited classic
2 https://www.nhtsa.gov/press-releases/nhtsa-proposes-new-vehicle-safety-standard-protect-pedestrians
3 Vehicles with higher, more vertical front ends pose greater risk to pedestrians
4 New Vehicle General Safety Regulation