A coalition of parents and 15 grassroots groups has written to the organisers of the Wimbledon tennis championships urging them to drop sponsorship from Range Rover.

This latest call comes as a new report from Transport & Environment states that the increasing height of car bonnets is posing fatal dangers to pedestrians, especially children.

The increasing public demand for large SUV vehicles has already raised concerns over road damage, environmental harm, parking bay design, and road lane width issues. 

A majority of London Assembly Members are supporting measures to curb the use of dangerous, supersized SUVs in London. 

High life

Despite the serious dangers posed by large and heavy SUVs, Range Rover was confirmed as an official partner of the Wimbledon championships in May last year, in a decade-long deal.

However, a landmark report from Transport & Environment (T&E), backed by the FIA Foundation, warns that rising bonnet heights in modern vehicles—driven by SUV popularity—are posing a grave threat to pedestrians, particularly children.

The research reveals that bonnet heights climbed from an average of 77 cm in 2010 to 83.8 cm across Europe, the UK, and Norway by 2024.

A bonnet for life

High-fronted vehicles typically strike pedestrians higher, impacting vital organs rather than lower limbs, and are more likely to knock individuals under the car, resulting in more serious injuries.

A Belgian study of 300,000 crash victims found that a 10 cm increase in bonnet height boosts fatality risk by 27 %.

Similar U.S. research estimates that a 10 cm rise correlates with a 22% increase in pedestrian deaths.

Children are especially vulnerable.

About 31% of the 430 children killed in traffic incidents annually in Europe are pedestrians — almost double the adult rate of 18%.

T&E’s tests at Loughborough University show that drivers of high-bonnet vehicles such as the RAM TRX (132 cm bonnet) cannot see children up to nine years old directly in front, and those driving a Land Rover Defender (115 cm) cannot spot children aged four-and-a-half.

 

 

Autobesity

SUVs now comprise roughly 56% of new car sales in Europe, compared with just 12% in 2010.

In the UK, Land Rover and Jeep models dominate the high-bonnet vehicles, with bonnets over one metre.

Land Rovers alone represented 85% of the 63,000 such SUVs sold in 2024.

Critics label this trend “autobesity” or “carspreading,” highlighting how oversized cars worsen urban congestion and safety concerns.

The report calls for urgent regulatory intervention.

T&E and over 30 civil groups are urging the European Commission to cap bonnet heights at 85 cm for new vehicles by 2035, banning type approval for models exceeding this height by 2032.

The UK’s London Assembly and several city councils (e.g., Bristol, Oxford, Cardiff, Haringey) are exploring higher parking levies for large vehicles.

In France and Germany, cities such as Paris and Lyon already impose higher charges on larger vehicles.

Expert and Industry Reactions

Barbara Stoll, T&E director, said: “A child is killed every day on our roads, yet cars are being made so large that children are invisible.” 

James Nix, T&E’s vehicles policy manager, emphasised the visibility dangers of tall bonnets and urged immediate legal cap-setting to prevent these risks from increasing.

Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), the leading manufacturer of high-bonnet SUVs in the UK, said it meets safety standards and incorporates advanced systems such as pedestrian detection and autonomous emergency braking.

However, beyond child invisibility, taller front ends compound crash severity.

Research by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) has found that front-end height significantly increases the risk of crashes.

It means that the threshold for serious injuries begins at lower speeds for taller vehicles.

For instance, a mid-level pickup 33 cm higher than a standard car has an 83% chance of inflicting moderate injury and a 62% chance of serious injury to pedestrians.

Further research highlights that SUVs expose pedestrians and cyclists to 44 % greater odds of fatal injury.

For children, they face an 82 %  higher risk, rising to 130 % for those under 10.

A switch from SUVs to compact cars would reduce pedestrian and cyclist fatalities by an estimated 8% in Europe and 17% in the U.S. 

In design

T&E and the FIA Foundation stress that bonnet-height regulation offers no design advantage, but it provides significant safety dividends, reducing fatalities, raw material use, emissions, and reclaiming urban public space.

With SUVs increasingly marketed as safe family vehicles, campaigners warn that the reality is far more perilous for younger, more vulnerable pedestrians, also part of families.

As the debate moves from analysis to possible legislation, the trend toward ever-taller cars is set to continue.

It is now clear that it will only increase road dangers for pedestrians, particularly for children, as well as cyclists and other vulnerable road users.

There is also an increasing danger to the occupants of other vehicles when collisions take place.