CAR companies are failing to add safety features that would protect pedestrians because they are more concerned with looks than saving lives, Britain’s chief car safety scientist said yesterday.

Cars have become much safer for their occupants but manufacturers have paid little attention to design changes that could save the lives of pedestrians. In recent tests five popular models achieved the highest score of five stars for occupant safety. But three of the cars, the Toyota Avensis, Peugeot 807 and BMW X5, achieved only one star for pedestrian protection.

Only two of the 17 cars tested by Euro NCAP, a research group supported by several European governments and motoring organisations, achieved more than two stars for pedestrian safety. The VW Touran and MG Roadster TF were awarded three stars.

Adrian Hobbs, the chief vehicle safety scientist at the Transport Research Laboratory, said that pedestrians hit by a car travelling at 25mph were unlikely to suffer any lasting injury if the car had four stars for pedestrian safety. But those hit by a car with only one star would “almost certainly be killed or suffer a disabling injury such as brain damage or permanent ligament failure in knee joints”.

Professor Hobbs, who helped to devise the crash tests, said that car companies were well aware of the possible design changes that would protect the heads and legs of pedestrians in a collision. The bumper could be lowered and made of a softer material more capable of absorbing impact. The bonnet could be raised at least three inches above the engine to provide some “give,” thus protecting a pedestrian’s head from striking an immovable lump of solid metal. The joint between the bonnet and wing could also be weakened.

Professor Hobbs said: “The manufacturers don’t want any constraints that may affect their styling. Pedestrian protection may affect styling and styling is important to them. The companies already compete to provide the best occupant safety but they think that the car-buying public are not going to be interested in a car which protects pedestrians.”

Car manufacturers have successfully lobbied the European Commission against the early introduction of a series of compulsory tests for pedestrian safety. They have instead negotiated a watered-down version of the tests that will come into force for all new cars in 2012.

The full tests may be applied from 2015, but the manufacturers have won the right to substitute the tests for “equivalent measures”.

Robert Gifford, executive director of the Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety, said: “This is a very large loophole as the equivalent measures may not be as rigorous.”

John Dawson, Director of the AA Motoring Trust, which is a member of Euro NCAP, said: “Manufacturers are driven by looks and appeal because that is what motorists want to buy. They are not paying enough attention to pedestrian safety.”

A spokesman for BMW said: “The most pedestrian-friendly car would probably turn out to be a pretty horrible looking thing.” He said that it was “almost impossible” for large cars designed for off-road driving to achieve more than one star for pedestrian protection.

However, the Volvo XC90, a large 4X4, achieved two stars.

A Toyota spokesman said that poor road design was to blame for many pedestrian casualties, adding: “Pedestrian protection is very important to us but we also need to educate pedestrians not to be in the road in the first place.”

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