Smaller cars use less sturdy components and tires
A pothole or even snow can take them out.
American cars are huge and unsafe, but automakers don't want the simple solution
31–40 of 114 posts
Re: American cars are huge and unsafe, but automakers don't want the simple solution
#32Re: American cars are huge and unsafe, but automakers don't want the simple solution
#33Earlier quoted context omitted.
> source? A bunch of us were alive in the 90's and driving cars.
Sorry that's not a source, and is seemingly contradicted by sources like [1], which say >The highest-selling full-size car nameplate is the Chevrolet Impala, sold as a full-size car from 1958 to 1986, 1994 to 1996, and then from 2000 until 2020. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Full-size_car
I love that we've come to an era where supposedly educated people are in the habit of telling others that the use of their senses and mind to understand the world are invalid because someone didn't put the conclusions on a website.
Re: American cars are huge and unsafe, but automakers don't want the simple solution
#34doesn't make a lot of sense to put this on manufacturers. The safety aspect is a collective action problem. When only one person buys a smaller car they're not safer, so you need to get everyone to change. Next big factor is regulation and protectionism. Read a depressing blog about the effort a guy had to go through to get a mini truck from China to the US and he couldn't even drive it on some roads. Importing the thing cost almost as much as the truck. Also the US still has no carbon market, putting a higher price on fossil fuels creates an actual incentive to buy more efficient cars.
These are structural issues, asking manufacturers to just make different cars won't magically create demand for them.
Re: American cars are huge and unsafe, but automakers don't want the simple solution
#35Earlier quoted context omitted.
Large cars aren't inherently safer for passengers. They are only safer in collisions with other cars that are smaller, at the expense of the safety of the people in the smaller cars. Having an arms race where people buy bigger and bigger cars to be safer in collisions with other cars is really not ideal, because it doesn't improve overall automobile safety on a national level even just for drivers, and it hurts safet…
It’s also a matter of comfort. Cities including mine are drunk on putting speed humps everywhere. But obviously they’re not “tuned” for each vehicle size. A coupe/sedan needs to slow down to half the speed limit to go over, while a larger vehicle with a suspension and tire sizes to match can take them at speed. Same story for potholes, which of course are worsened by heavier vehicles while small vehicles pay the pric…
"Large cars let me ignore speed humps" sounds exactly like prioritizing the occupants of the car over the safety of others...
Re: American cars are huge and unsafe, but automakers don't want the simple solution
#36You 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...
But then you have things like the newest Civic being considerably larger than my 10+ year old Accord. There's a size arms race for sure and it seems maybe it was caused by those requirements initially but at the end of 2023, I think it's only one factor at play.
Re: American cars are huge and unsafe, but automakers don't want the simple solution
#37Not 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.
It’s not like car makers haven’t tried to go smaller at various points, including imports from over seas. Longer wait times and higher markups are by product of low demand. Americans like bigger cars. That’s just a fact, and it’s not up to the supply side to dictate to the demand side what demand is. It’s just not how these things work. “Educating consumers” was a topic in the article, and it’s about as absurd an idea as I’ve ever heard. People want long range not because they’re idiots, but because they occasionally do longer day trips and don’t want to be isolated based on the car they bought. You won’t “educate” people out of the idea of not being tethered to their urban core no matter how much automakers market small short range vehicles.
Re: American cars are huge and unsafe, but automakers don't want the simple solution
#38Smaller cars use less sturdy components and tires A pothole or even snow can take them out.
What a bunch of bull. It's a complete opposite, a heavier vehicle chews through tires faster.
Re: American cars are huge and unsafe, but automakers don't want the simple solution
#39Smaller cars use less sturdy components and tires A pothole or even snow can take them out.
Is that true in the States? In Europe a Polo with winter tyres is going to be more than adequate in snow and any paved roads.
Re: American cars are huge and unsafe, but automakers don't want the simple solution
#40Smaller cars use less sturdy components and tires A pothole or even snow can take them out.
Is this propaganda? Asia and Europe use much smaller cars with no problems at all.