Fast Company: “Earlier this month, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) unveiled a significant change to car regulations that delighted safety advocates, annoyed automakers, and surprised pretty much everyone. In a first, NHTSA proposed forcing car companies to limit the risk of pedestrian head injuries in a collision. If the proposal becomes law, models whose front ends pose excessive danger to people walking—think hulking SUVs and pickups—could no longer be legally sold. That would represent a major step toward addressing the soaring number of U.S. pedestrian deaths, which hit a 40-year high in 2021. Lest there be any doubt: This is a big deal. Despite the risks that oversized cars pose to pedestrians (as well as cyclists and those in smaller cars), NHTSA has until now refused to restrain the design of big models that produce the bulk of Detroit’s profits. Automakers, for their part, have insisted that emergent pedestrian detection technology will negate any danger from car bloat (a term I use to describe the ongoing expansion of automobiles). With its new proposal, NHTSA has effectively rejected automakers’ position, arguing that even with automatic braking, constrains on car bloat are necessary to protect those on foot…”