I get tagged in a social media post like once every 6 months about truck height. There were a variety of stories a couple years ago about the massive size of the grilles and overall height.
What I say is automakers have been working on this for several years. CAFE rules judging vehicles by footprint (2011), consumer demand for taller cab height, the push for massive towing numbers all resulted in a larger truck. Automakers then added parking sensors, cameras (front and rear that turn on in low speed situations), pedestrian detection systems, etc... to address those issues on seeing over the hood. New trucks and SUVs are also changing up how the hood is shaped to allow people to see over them better. Check out the Lexus GX video coming out next week for a pretty unique hood design.
The problem then is people still want to rely on their own eyeballs OR they have a truck without all the safety features. That's the problem IMO. If owners would use the cameras and trust the sensors, IF they have them, then this issue goes away.
I could see NHTSA making those safety features mandatory in the future which would make things safer as well as make vehicles more expensive. Automakers don't just absorb the cost of these features.
I think it is getting a lot of HOLY COW attention from uniformed journalists right now and it will go away eventually.
