Bull bars are to be banned from all new cars under EU plans to be considered in Brussels, but the European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) says the proposals will not be strict enough.
The move is part of a voluntary agreement in which car makers will redesign car fronts to reduce the risk to pedestrians.
But the ETSC says the European Commission and EU governments are bowing to the car industry lobby and trimming their demands for tougher car-impact standards.
Four new crash tests for car fronts have been in the pipeline for years, designed to cut injuries caused to pedestrians by protruding bonnet edges and bumpers.
The ETSC says that if all four tests were mandatory the current 9,300 pedestrian and cyclist deaths a year could be cut by 2,000, and the annual 200,000 injured in accidents involving cars reduced by 18,000.
But the voluntary code being considered by ministers commits the European Automobile Manufacturers Association only to a more limited range of modifications which, says the ETSC, will only cut pedestrian deaths by 500 a year.
The compromise deal includes the introduction of ABS - the Advanced Braking System that helps prevent skidding under heavy braking - on all new cars by 2003. There would be car front design modifications by 2005, which would mean the end of the road for bull bars fitted at the factory.
More comprehensive design changes would be phased in from 2010.
However, the agreement does not include bull bars bought as an accessory. Morever, the ETSC says the bull bar problem represents only a small proportion of all pedestrian injuries caused by car fronts of all types.
PA