Vehicles are getting way too big on average, I mean the F150 is North America’s best selling vehicle (*edit: I have since learned as of 2024 that spot actually belongs to the RAV4) since forever. It’s a problem of misaligned incentives.
There’s an exception carved out for large vehicles in the EPA guidelines that hold them to less stringent emissions standards which incentivizes building larger vehicles 1
Large cars are also incentivized by our crash safety rating system which only takes into account the mortality rate of those inside the car as apposed to average related fatalities. This means it will prioritize safety of those in the vehicle, which has led to our average fatalities increasing. 2
As an unintended side effect this also damages roads much faster because vehicle weight per axle determines the magnitude of the damage a vehicle does to the road. 3 anecdotally this makes me concerned for the additional weight that electric cars add.
Also as vehicles increase in weight the amount of microplastics put into the air as a by product of tire wear increase. 4
As cars increase in size (and therefore weight) the downsides are exponential.
Thank you for putting these links together! I’m about to be in the market for a truck and have been researching current models, and noticed the trend of larger and larger vehicles for a few years now, and wondered why. It couldn’t just be because of lifted truck culture. I’m about to just go to a junk yard and try to restore an old one.
Honestly, I would love a lil Japanese kei truck in addition to my daily driver vehicle. They seem like the perfect lil truck for dump runs and transporting materials from Home Depot or what have you.
All that plus everyone is going 10 over on their phones. If operating a motor vehicle is so disinteresting to you, that you need to look at your phone every 10 seconds, DON’T DRIVE.
Driving is simultaneously the most boring and most dangerous thing people do day-to-day. They want the driving to stop as soon as possible, so they speed. They don’t want to be stuck with their own thoughts for even a single second, so they text.
And there’s no choice. It’s not like they can get anywhere without a car in this shithole country.
Vehicles are getting way too big on average, I mean the F150 is North America’s best selling vehicle (*edit: I have since learned as of 2024 that spot actually belongs to the RAV4) since forever. It’s a problem of misaligned incentives.
There’s an exception carved out for large vehicles in the EPA guidelines that hold them to less stringent emissions standards which incentivizes building larger vehicles 1
Large cars are also incentivized by our crash safety rating system which only takes into account the mortality rate of those inside the car as apposed to average related fatalities. This means it will prioritize safety of those in the vehicle, which has led to our average fatalities increasing. 2
As an unintended side effect this also damages roads much faster because vehicle weight per axle determines the magnitude of the damage a vehicle does to the road. 3 anecdotally this makes me concerned for the additional weight that electric cars add.
Also as vehicles increase in weight the amount of microplastics put into the air as a by product of tire wear increase. 4
As cars increase in size (and therefore weight) the downsides are exponential.
Thank you for putting these links together! I’m about to be in the market for a truck and have been researching current models, and noticed the trend of larger and larger vehicles for a few years now, and wondered why. It couldn’t just be because of lifted truck culture. I’m about to just go to a junk yard and try to restore an old one.
Honestly, I would love a lil Japanese kei truck in addition to my daily driver vehicle. They seem like the perfect lil truck for dump runs and transporting materials from Home Depot or what have you.
It sucks too because the old trucks with a low bed were so much better for actualy doing work if you care about your back at all.
We should try to use AI to manipulate culture into making low trucks popular again.
/not sure if serious
All that plus everyone is going 10 over on their phones. If operating a motor vehicle is so disinteresting to you, that you need to look at your phone every 10 seconds, DON’T DRIVE.
Driving is simultaneously the most boring and most dangerous thing people do day-to-day. They want the driving to stop as soon as possible, so they speed. They don’t want to be stuck with their own thoughts for even a single second, so they text.
And there’s no choice. It’s not like they can get anywhere without a car in this shithole country.