Delays in introducing new European car safety measures are costing 2,000 lives a year in the EU, according to the European Commission.
Road safety campaigners told transport commissioner Mr Erkki Liikanen they wanted new laws as soon as possible to cut the number of deaths and injuries to pedestrians caused by car design.
Four new crash tests for car fronts, aimed specifically at cutting injuries from protruding bonnet edges and bumpers, have been due for a number of years.
The measures were first promised by the previous EU Commission and were re-identified by the current Commissioners last year as a priority.
But Mr Liikanen has disappointed road safety organisations by backing away from legislation and seeking a voluntary code within the motor industry.
Today he held talks with road safety groups on his plans to introduce a voluntary accord on new "type approval" measures as preferred by car-makers.
The European Transport Safety Council has accused him of bowing to powerful car industry lobbying and taking plans for tougher car impact standards off the priority list.
The organisation says the necessary changes to car design if the four tests become mandatory could cut the current 9,300 pedestrian and cyclist deaths each year by 2,000 - a reduction of more than 20 per cent of all pedestrian and cyclist deaths in the 15 EU countries.
PA