Stylish and boxy: The SUV once again adopts a boxy design, but

From facelifts to all-new models, SUVs and crossovers become more angular, even as pedestrian safety becomes more important

The career in sports looks more utilitarian than it has in years. If you’ve been paying attention to the new SUVs and crossovers that have been launched over the past few quarters, you’ve no doubt noticed that curves are out and boxy shapes are in.

This trend applies not only to all-new models such as the 2025 Subaru Forester, launched earlier this year, which looks more angular than before, but also to facelifted models such as the updated Ford Kuga/Escape. In both cases, the SUV’s automakers are abandoning car-like front-end treatments in favor of a more traditional square-jawed SUV front.

More: Honda’s new 2026 Passport desperately needs to be taken seriously as an off-roader

It’s easy to see why SUV design has shifted in this direction. First, vehicles from this period are hot right now, with subtle retro influences from the SUVs of the late 1980s and early 1990s. You only have to look at the success of the Radwood scene for proof of this. In case you forgot how angular SUVs were in the early 1990s, seven vehicles from this period car and driver The comparison test serves as a good reminder. The wheels and gauges are the only ones that aren’t square.

SUV discovers curves and carvings

Long before many cars embraced curves, SUVs of the day used boxy shapes to signal their toughness. However, the problem with many older SUVs is that they drive like trucks, usually because they yes There are trucks down there. But then a new generation of SUVs emerged, with car platforms and car-like driving manners and refinement, and they increasingly used automotive styling cues to differentiate themselves from older body-on-frame SUVs, which were largely Stick to the classic boxy shape.

With the addition of space-grabbing sloping rear windows on road-biased models in recent years, sportiness in SUVs has definitely become more of a sports car reference than sporty sportiness. But now it seems the automaker wants to once again project the tough, no-nonsense image of the old-school SUV.

They’re doing so first by offering more and more off-road-focused trims, such as Subaru’s Wilderness series and Honda’s Trailsport series, and second by changing the shape of their SUVs. Some SUVs, such as the large body-on-frame truck-based models, have never strayed far from the boxy look of decades ago, but now it’s becoming popular again across the industry.

Boxy design raises pedestrian safety concerns

However, this trend toward upright front fascias and high-mounted bonnets comes at a time when U.S. regulators appear to want car design to go a different route. Pedestrian impact regulations have helped guide the look of cars sold in Europe — one of the reasons the Tesla Cybertruck can’t be sold there — and the U.S. is now following in its footsteps.

RELATED: NHTSA proposal could fundamentally change car, truck design

NHTSA said pedestrian fatalities increased 57% between 2013 and 2022, with about 7,500 fatalities per year, mostly involving large trucks and SUVs, which account for the majority of vehicle sales. A study by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) found that vehicles with a hood height over 40 inches (1,020 mm) and a blunt front end were 44 percent more likely to be killed if they struck a pedestrian.

Proposals aimed at reducing head injuries from collisions include having new cars pass head-to-bonnet crash tests with adult and child dummies. The Biden administration believes this move could save 67 lives per year.

Are you a fan of the boxy SUV design trend? Or does it just make them all look the same and make the roads less safe? Check out the before and after photos below and let us know if the attack on curves and obsession with flat fascia and a high hood was successful.

BMW X3

Chevrolet Traverse

Ford Escape/Escape

Hyundai Nexo

Hyundai Santa Fe

Subaru Forester