New Safety Rules Could Change How Cars Look. Again.

Remember those awkward bumpers tacked onto US-market Lamborghini Countaches back in the '80s? The ones that looked like a cartoon mustache up front and a child's drawing in the back? Those might seem laughable now, but car designers could face similar headaches soon.

With pedestrian deaths up 57% from 2013 to 2022, NHTSA proposed new safety standards last September aimed at reducing injuries when cars hit pedestrians. The rules would apply to passenger vehicles up to 10,000 pounds and focus specifically on reducing head injuries.

Automakers are pushing back through lobbying efforts, but many are already working on solutions. As GM's design chief Michael Simcoe puts it, "We don't wait for it to happen. We're there from the start."

There's no one-size-fits-all approach to meeting these standards. Manufacturers might use materials that deform in specific ways during impact, redesign suspension components, create breakaway lamps, or rethink where body panels join together.

The challenges vary by vehicle type. It's harder to have meaningful design conversations about giant SUVs with bull noses, while sports cars present unique difficulties because designers are "trying to make something small that wants to try to be bigger," according to Simcoe.

Lamborghini has already adapted. For their new Revuelto supercar, designers eliminated planned hood air outlets because the underlying structure wouldn't deform properly in a collision. They also adjusted exterior vents based on a 10-cm diameter standard to prevent a child's head from getting stuck.

Even tiny details matter - the Lamborghini logo had to be raised by seven millimeters to meet standards.

Despite these constraints, designers remain optimistic. As Lamborghini's design chief Mitja Borkert says, supercar brands "are still able to have our own design DNA."

Simcoe agrees: "Our job is to take a potential compromise and turn it into an advantage. If a designer designs a crappy vehicle because physics and regulations couldn't be overcome, they're not doing their job."