Lots of people want big cars, and they vote with their checkbook. I have a big car. I have children. They have stuff, and friends and we go on long drives sometimes. It's nice to have a big car.
American cars are huge and unsafe, but automakers don't want the simple solution
41–50 of 114 posts
Re: American cars are huge and unsafe, but automakers don't want the simple solution
#42Re: American cars are huge and unsafe, but automakers don't want the simple solution
#43Back 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…
Similar, I'm always getting an "upgrade" when I travel. Inevitably to a Suburban or most recently a Expedition MAX which was one of the biggest pieces of absolute crap I've ever driven. The hoods are so long, tall and square you could hide an entire classroom behind them. They drive like absolute trash, slow to stop, body roll for days, turn the wheel 4 times to make a tight turn, etc... I know there is some demented…
I've always driven small cars. One time when I had to get a rental vehicle they only had F150s available. The visibility was so bad that I ended up backing into a shopping cart in a grocery store parking lot. I hate that everyone is running around in multi-ton death machines nowadays.
Re: American cars are huge and unsafe, but automakers don't want the simple solution
#44Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
I realize you don’t think so but this really is a good thing. Memory is faulty, and the parent poster was simply incorrect.
Re: American cars are huge and unsafe, but automakers don't want the simple solution
#45Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
"full-size" is an objective, standardized designation for automobiles [1] so it really doesn't MATTER what someone's "senses and mind" are in that specific statement.
Re: American cars are huge and unsafe, but automakers don't want the simple solution
#46You 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.
This footprint based fuel economy is (one of the reasons) WHY the civic is so much larger
Re: American cars are huge and unsafe, but automakers don't want the simple solution
#47Not 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…
> The American market wants and expects BIG. I guess the question is, why. It is because marketing works? Or a sense of safety? Bigger is associated with wealth, power? etc.
Drive a big car. It's really nice to have a large cabin. It seems like everyone wondering about big cars is missing the most obvious reason.
Re: American cars are huge and unsafe, but automakers don't want the simple solution
#48Lots of people want big cars, and they vote with their checkbook. I have a big car. I have children. They have stuff, and friends and we go on long drives sometimes. It's nice to have a big car.
I grew up before SUV existed. I had siblings. Somehow we survived.
Many countries around the world don't have an SUV epidemic. Somehow families there make it work with smaller cars, even today.
Many people around the world have large families and zero cars. Somehow they
make it work.
People are MADE to want big cars by advertisements.
Other than the emissions standards mentioned by other commenters, the real solution is to ban car advertisements. We should ban gambling and alcohol advertisements as well. It worked for tobacco.
Re: American cars are huge and unsafe, but automakers don't want the simple solution
#49Smaller cars use less sturdy components and tires A pothole or even snow can take them out.
You can make a small car manage potholes well and you can put big wheels and tiny sidewalls on a larger car. It's a matter of design and aesthetics. Sometimes aesthetics win and sometimes mechanical design wins.
Re: American cars are huge and unsafe, but automakers don't want the simple solution
#50Pretty slanted. Could write a complementary article: large cars are safer for the passengers. Why don't we keep pedestrians separate from traffic more effectively?
I agree. We really need to stop bringing roads through cities.