American cars are huge and unsafe, but automakers don't want the simple solution
1–10 of 114 posts
Re: American cars are huge and unsafe, but automakers don't want the simple solution
#2Not really, it's not the automakers, it's the auto buyers. The American market wants and expects BIG. There's no incentive for anything otherwise, especially when the price of gas is *once again* falling.
This isn't going to be solved until we have "autos on demand", and then pricing will be based on the vehicle size ordered. At that point, there will be no justification for an SUV if there's just a single person needing to get across town or across state.
Re: American cars are huge and unsafe, but automakers don't want the simple solution
#3Not really, it's not the automakers, it's the auto buyers. The American market wants and expects BIG. There's no incentive for anything otherwise, especially when the price of gas is *once again* falling. This isn't going to be solved until we have "autos on demand", and then pricing will be based on the vehicle size ordered. At that point, there will be no justification for an SUV if there's just a single person nee…
Smaller cars are less available. They have longer wait times and higher dealer markup. In the article, the two smaller cars mentioned aren't even sold in the United States.
Re: American cars are huge and unsafe, but automakers don't want the simple solution
#4Not really, it's not the automakers, it's the auto buyers. The American market wants and expects BIG. There's no incentive for anything otherwise, especially when the price of gas is *once again* falling. This isn't going to be solved until we have "autos on demand", and then pricing will be based on the vehicle size ordered. At that point, there will be no justification for an SUV if there's just a single person nee…
Gas prices are still up more than 50% from just a few years ago. No one is out buying SUVs because the average price is $3.22 today vs $3.29 a year ago lol
Re: American cars are huge and unsafe, but automakers don't want the simple solution
#5If there was no demand, there’d be no supply.
Re: American cars are huge and unsafe, but automakers don't want the simple solution
#6You could just make them smaller. There's no rule saying you can't.
There kind of is. Fuel efficiency requirements are stricter for smaller vehicles, creating a perverse incentive to increase size. Here's a 2011 paper that predicted exactly what would happen: https://news.umich.edu/cafe-standards-create-profit-incentiv...
Re: American cars are huge and unsafe, but automakers don't want the simple solution
#7Pretty slanted. Could write a complementary article: large cars are safer for the passengers. Why don't we keep pedestrians separate from traffic more effectively?
Re: American cars are huge and unsafe, but automakers don't want the simple solution
#8IJS what we now call “Full Size” like the Impala, we used to refer to as “Compact” up till the early 90s.
Re: American cars are huge and unsafe, but automakers don't want the simple solution
#9Back when I used to have a car (over 10 years ago now...) I drive a 2001 Subaru Forester. Newer Foresters are much bigger and nigh unrecognizable.
I occasionally rent cars and always ask for a sedan, but half the time I get "upgraded" to a tank that has huge blind spots (how are you supposed to see cyclists?), uses twice as much fuel and is much harder to park in front of my condo building (which requires maneuvering around elevated train pillars). My toddler even calls it a bus.
Re: American cars are huge and unsafe, but automakers don't want the simple solution
#10Not really, it's not the automakers, it's the auto buyers. The American market wants and expects BIG. There's no incentive for anything otherwise, especially when the price of gas is *once again* falling. This isn't going to be solved until we have "autos on demand", and then pricing will be based on the vehicle size ordered. At that point, there will be no justification for an SUV if there's just a single person nee…
If the only vehicles available to buy are big (or the wait times for smaller less produced models are longer) then the customer rarely has a choice.
They need _a_ car _now_ .