When you walk onto a new car dealership’s lot, the biggest, boldest vehicles are the pick-up trucks. Automakers put a lot of effort into making pick-ups imposing eye candy with serious towing power, optional four-wheel drive, large dashboard screens and comfortable interiors.
Their attention pays off, too. The three best-selling vehicles so far this year are all pick-ups: the Ford F-Series sits on top, followed closely by the fast-rising Ram truck line-up and Chevrolet’s reliably popular Silverado.
America’s love affair with pick-ups
Twenty percent of all new vehicles sold in the U.S. are pick-ups.
Seemingly, the only things larger than our appetite for big pick-ups are the trucks themselves.
According to Consumer Reports, the hood height of pick-ups has risen by an average of 11 percent since 2000 and they added heft, too: growing an average 24 percent heavier from 2000 to 2018.
Heavy-duty models such as Ford’s F-250 are even bigger. The front edge of its hood is 55 inches off the ground.
A good view with an important exception
While pick-up owners undoubtedly enjoy the views from ever-taller trucks – they can look right over sedans, sports cars and most crossovers – there is often no view at all of the pedestrians and small cars directly and closely in front of pick-ups. They’re in a blind spot created by poor design driven by marketing rather than concerns for safety.
Some pick-ups have front blind spots 11 feet longer than in some cars and 7 feet longer than in some popular SUVs.
Like the crash late last year when the driver of a Jeep Gladiator pick-up struck Eva Barcza as she was taking a walk near her suburban home. One account contained a heartbreaking description: “Her husband of 60 years found her lying in a crosswalk crying in pain from broken bones and serious internal injuries.”
The teacher and grandmother died a few hours later in a hospital.
The pick-up driver told police that he didn’t see her in the crosswalk. No charges were filed.
The hood of a Gladiator is 45.5 inches high – nearly 10 inches lower than an F-250’s.
Traffic down, fatalities up
Though traffic was dramatically lower for a significant portion of last year, there were 42,000 people killed and 4.8 million seriously injured in wrecks last year – an 8 percent increase over the year before.
Pedestrian fatalities rose 46 percent over the past year.
Safety advocates say the solution is obvious: lower the hoods and reduce the weights. Automakers, however, are reluctant to mess with a sales formula that generates enormous profits and ever taller, heavier trucks.
The toll that their marketing and design choices take on people is largely ignored.
If you or a loved one has been injured in a crash, ensure that all medical needs are taken care of first and foremost. Then take time to review your legal options.
