Europe’s Growing Cars Threaten Road Safety, Report Warns

New cars in Europe are getting larger every year, and the trend is creating a growing threat to road safety that could lead to hundreds of additional deaths annually by 2040, according to a major new report published on Wednesday by Transport & Environment (T&E) and the Clean Cities Campaign.

The report, titled “Ever-bigger? Car size at a crossroads”, warns that if current trends continue, the average new car will reach 4.56 meters in length and 1.90 meters in width by 2040 — a significant increase from 4.09 meters by 1.69 meters in the year 2000. The analysis projects that this relentless expansion could result in approximately 400 additional deaths of vulnerable road users — pedestrians, cyclists, motorcyclists, and moped riders — per year by 2040 compared to a “right-sizing” scenario where car dimensions return to 2015 levels.

A Deadly Trajectory for Children

According to VRT NWS, the Belgian public broadcaster that first reported the findings, children face the most severe risks. The report projects that 40% more children walking would be killed annually by 2040 under current trends compared to the right-sizing scenario. In 2040 alone, 39 children aged 0 to 14 could die in collisions, versus 28 under a more balanced approach.

The danger stems primarily from rising bonnet heights. The fleet average bonnet height is projected to reach 86.2 centimeters by 2040 under current trends. A 2023 study by the Belgian road safety institute VIAS linked a 10-centimeter increase in bonnet height to a 27% higher risk of fatalities among vulnerable road users. US research by Tyndall (2024) found that the same increase corresponds to an 81% higher fatality risk for child pedestrians specifically.

“Innocent, playing children are the biggest victims of these ever-larger and heavier cars,” said Klaas Decorte, mobility policy expert at Bond Beter Leefmilieu, a Belgian environmental organization. “That is not a law of nature, but a consequence of the profit hunger of the auto industry. It is the government’s task to intervene and curb the growth of SUVs.”

Parking and Urban Space Under Pressure

The consequences extend beyond safety. The report warns that cities across Europe could lose between 8.5% and 14% of their on-street parking spaces by 2040 as longer and wider cars occupy more public space. London and Berlin are each projected to lose over 100,000 on-street parking spots. In Belgium, the city of Ghent could lose between 2,400 and 3,900 of its approximately 40,500 street parking spaces.

“Right now we’re in the middle of a massive heatwave,” Decorte told VRT NWS. “Are we going to install more parking spaces or are we going to ensure we green more and plant more trees to do something about the heat? It creates problems on multiple levels, both in terms of safety and public space.”

Environmental and Economic Costs

The report also highlights significant environmental consequences. Larger electric vehicles require more energy, and the current trend would demand an additional 22.5 terawatt-hours of electricity per year by 2040 — equivalent to 1,500 additional onshore wind turbines. This would add approximately €7 billion annually to household charging bills across the EU and UK, with cumulative costs reaching €36 billion over 2026 to 2040.

For combustion-engine vehicles still on the road, the trend would require an additional 100 million barrels of imported oil by 2040. If EU CO₂ standards are weakened further, that figure could rise to 140 million barrels, costing nearly €10 billion.

The ‘Carspreading’ Trend

Lucien Mathieu, cars director at T&E, described the phenomenon as a deliberate industry strategy in a press release accompanying the report. “Car manufacturers have pursued a strategy of larger, more profitable vehicles over smaller models,” he said. “After 25 years of relentless growth, our roads are increasingly dominated by huge SUVs that pose a physical danger to everyone else.”

The report is the third in a series from T&E documenting what it calls “carspreading” — the steady expansion of vehicles across all dimensions. Previous reports in 2024 and 2025 documented widening car bodies and rising bonnet heights respectively.

Calls for Regulatory Action

T&E and Clean Cities are urging European policymakers to act. Their recommendations include capping bonnet height at 85 centimeters and limiting car width to 192 centimeters for new type approvals from 2033, with full compliance required by 2036. They also call for tax reforms to discourage oversized vehicles, size-based parking charges in cities, and a child visibility standard to be incorporated into vehicle safety ratings.

Barbara Stoll, senior director of Clean Cities Campaign, said: “You can’t argue with physics: bigger cars mean more danger on our roads, especially for children and people walking around. This trend isn’t inevitable; it’s marketing over safety and the public good.”

What’s Next

The report comes as the EU reviews its car CO₂ standards and pursues its ‘Vision Zero’ goal of eliminating road fatalities by 2050. The findings are likely to intensify pressure on regulators to address vehicle dimensions — an area currently without EU-wide limits for passenger cars. Some cities, including Paris, have already introduced size-based parking tariffs, and the report’s projections may accelerate similar measures across Europe.

Without intervention, the report warns, the regressive impacts of ever-bigger cars will continue to mount — claiming more lives, consuming more public space, and driving up household costs.