  We compare new observations on the kinematic characteristics of the damped
Lya systems against results from numerical SPH simulations to test the
predictions of hierarchical galaxy formation. This exercise is particularly
motivated by recent numerical results on the cross-section of damped Lya
systems. Our analysis focuses on the velocity widths of ~50 low-ion absorption
profiles from our sample of z>1.5 damped Lya systems. The results indicate that
current numerical simulations fail to match the damped Lya observations at high
confidence levels (>99.9%). Although we do not believe that our results present
an insurmountable challenge to the paradigm of hierarchical cosmology, the
damped Lya observations suggest that current numerical SPH simulations overlook
an integral aspect of galaxy formation.
