WHETHER GENERAL Motors’ British subsidiary Vauxhall will build its VX Lightning sports car may not be a simple decision for the bean counters in Detroit. The fate of the sharp-edged Kappa-based creation, built as a concept for Vauxhall’s centennial celebration in May, is also tied to whether it can meet the European Union’s new pedestrian crash standards that go into effect in October 2005.

The new laws, adopted after 20 years of debate, threaten to force major restyling of everything from knife-edged front-engined sports cars to blunt-nosed sport/utility vehicles. The rules specify that any new model for sale in the EU after October 2005 must pass crash tests that simulate the impact of a pedestrian on the front of a vehicle. Approximately 30 percent of crashes in some European countries involve pedestrians, so legislators wanted to act. Think of it as Europe’s equivalent to SUV rollover rules in the United States.

To limit pedestrian injuries, engineers and designers will have to make the front of a car or SUV into an enormous, soft-crumple zone, while still maintaining car-to-car crash performance in offset barrier tests and while still satisfying low-speed parking impact protection. As a result, automakers say hood lines will rise by about 2.75 inches to provide an ample crush zone above the hard parts, like engines and suspension mounts. At the same time, the leading edge of the hood must be at least 5.9 inches ahead of the nearest hard point, such as the radiator or engine. The first rule will hurt sports car styling; the second will radically alter SUV front ends.

The ideal role model is the slope-nosed, small minivan look of the Mercedes A-Class or the Euro Honda Civic hatchback. Not encouraging if you like your sports cars low and mean or your SUVs imposing and tall.

“This is going to be a real challenge,” admits Andy Wheel, lead designer at Land Rover. “Over the next 10 years you’re going to see fundamental changes in the look of new cars.”

Adds Russell Carr, design chief of Lotus Engineering, “This is going to make a front-engined sports car with a low bonnet (hood) line very difficult to design to look good.”

Some solutions are novel: For the next-generation Jaguar XK sports car, at least for the EU, engineers are fitting the car with pyrotechnic hood hinges that blow upward to provide the necessary space between the hood and the engine in the event of a car-pedestrian collision. Jaguar isn’t sure whether the same devices will carry over into U.S. models.

Other vehicles will likely escape unscathed, like mid- and rear-engined sports cars that don’t have to worry too much about hard pieces under the front-end sheetmetal. So Porsches will generally stay the same, but not so for front-engined Mercedes-Benz and BMW sports cars, which will need to either raise the hood or lower the engine.

Some, like the Vauxhall VX concept designed by Brit Simon ***, may try to beat the deadline by making it to market in the EU before the new regulations take effect. In that case, only significant redesigns will require the car to meet the standards. That may be the plan. GM showed the VX at the Detroit auto show, and rumors swirled that the company desperately wants the VX in production is some form—maybe as a Saab and a Saturn, as well as an Opel and Vauxhall. “Watch this space. The VX is not necessarily dead,” said ***.

Originally posted by CamaroJim
is it that hard to look both ways before crossing?

Originally posted by morb|d
don't the europeans always knock on the US for being stupid? if they're so much smarter than us, why do they need laws like this?