One reason I always thought might have had to do with the allowance was the fact that as a former body man, I know one of the more difficult tasks of repairing a front end collision was getting the hood latch to line up and work correctly. Many times if it isn't just perfect it doesn't work very well. I figured a lot of guys said f___ it and installed pins instead. The sheet metal on your average race car doesn't always line up perfect.
The saftey workers being able to open the hood easily with out having to fish around inside of the car also sounds pretty valid.
Andy Rowe