Pedestrian impact design has been a thing in the European market for a while. One example: the pop-up hood that detects a pedestrian impact, it's a pyrotechnic device that makes the hood pop up to give more of a cushion for the pedestrian to land on. Also I think pedestrian safety is one reason modern BMWs and Audis have the timing chains (very annoyingly for maintenance) fitted at the back of the engine, to give more space for pedestrian impact. Stuff like that. Also the automated emergency braking systems, more recently.
https://www.euroncap.com/en/car-safety/the-ratings-explained...