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American cars are huge and unsafe, but automakers don't want the simple solution

jalopnik.com

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Re: American cars are huge and unsafe, but automakers don't want the simple solution

#81

Post by chrisco255 »

cozzyd wrote: post #57
chrisco255 wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pedestrians aren't getting killed more often because cars are bigger. They're not being seen due to low visibility from A pillar designs. SUVs used to be quite boxy and large in the 90s and early 00s (think 90s Ford Explorer, Chevy Suburban, etc), but began to take on a more streamlined, car-like look in the late 00s / early 10s. As a result of this design shift to crossovers, the A column gets slanted and blocks a w…

I think cars getting taller also doesn't help (pop over the hood vs. trampled underneath), but I'm not sure...

That "pop over the hood" theory is incorrect. If a car is moving at deadly speed you will not simply roll over a cars hood unharmed. You're still taking a 3000+ pound hit at 30 or more miles per hour, and you will most likely be embedded into the forward crush zone and subsequently flung forwards after the driver brakes in response.

At any rate, it's largely left-turning, night driving vehicles that are causing the increase in deaths in North America. These pedestrians are being struck at an angle rather than head on.

Re: American cars are huge and unsafe, but automakers don't want the simple solution

#82

Post by chrisco255 »

Scoundreller wrote: post #25
resoluteteeth wrote: post #11

Earlier 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…

This is almost entirely suspension based. I currently have an F350 but drove an off-road edition Tacoma for a long time. The Tacoma is half the weight and significantly smaller than the F350, and it would take speed bumps like they were nothing because of the offroad tuning, whereas the F350 is quite difficult to drive at fast speeds and takes bumps pretty harshly due to its weight and stiffer suspension designed for hauling.

Re: American cars are huge and unsafe, but automakers don't want the simple solution

#83

Post by chiefalchemist »

unnamed76ri wrote: post #4
chiefalchemist wrote: post #2

Not 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

Gas prices blipped up for a hot second. On the other hand, compare the USA gas prices to Europe and US gas is severely lower.

Think about it...Uncle Sam is offering tax credits and such in order to encourage the purchase of EVs. And that same Uncle Sam is doing all he can to keep gas prices down (for a number of different reasons) which discourages and disincentizes EVs. Make sense, right?

Re: American cars are huge and unsafe, but automakers don't want the simple solution

#84

Post by frumper »

readthenotes1 wrote: post #68
danielmarkbruce wrote: post #41

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.

It is also far safer to have a big car since there are so many other big cars on the road.

It would also be safer to have a big car if other people didn't have big cars on the road.

Re: American cars are huge and unsafe, but automakers don't want the simple solution

#85

Post by cozzyd »

chrisco255 wrote: post #81
cozzyd wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think cars getting taller also doesn't help (pop over the hood vs. trampled underneath), but I'm not sure...

That "pop over the hood" theory is incorrect. If a car is moving at deadly speed you will not simply roll over a cars hood unharmed. You're still taking a 3000+ pound hit at 30 or more miles per hour, and you will most likely be embedded into the forward crush zone and subsequently flung forwards after the driver brakes in response. At any rate, it's largely left-turning, night driving vehicles that are causing the i…

Probably a Hollywood-induced myth

Re: American cars are huge and unsafe, but automakers don't want the simple solution

#86

Post by dv_dt »

tharne wrote: post #26
dv_dt wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Large cars are less agile, making it more difficult to avoid accidents. SUVs in particular are also much more likely to rollover than passenger cars. This makes larger vehicles less safe for their passengers.

It really depends on the vehicle. Minivans are quite large and are some of the safest vehicles on the road.

Minivans are still more likely to rollover than passenger cars, but suvs and pickups at the time of this article rollover in one in four accidents - which is shockingly high.

https://www.autosafety.org/formula-predicts-rollover-risk/

Re: American cars are huge and unsafe, but automakers don't want the simple solution

#87

Post by ericmay »

drewcoo wrote: post #76
ericmay wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks for sharing this here, it really does appear to be the primary culprit. If anything the larger the vehicle the more fuel efficient it should be, not the opposite. But that is just one part of the puzzle. The other is of course just normal marketing, advertising, etc. convincing people that they do lots of things outdoors that they don't actually do. Ford, GM, Toyota, Dodge, etc. are not the only ones guilty of…

> The other is of course just normal marketing, advertising, etc. convincing people that they do lots of things outdoors that they don't actually do. > but people who tend to want trucks want them because of what they think they enable Those two of statements, sandwiching a paragraph, are completely contradictory. If the marketing works (and I would claim it does) then people who want FOO want it because of marketing…

Those two statements are not contradictory.

I am also quite confused about your follow up comment as well since I haven’t written anything to the contrary here in my previous post.

Re: American cars are huge and unsafe, but automakers don't want the simple solution

#88

Post by cozzyd »

Scoundreller wrote: post #62
kemayo wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Large cars let me ignore speed humps" sounds exactly like prioritizing the occupants of the car over the safety of others...

My main beef is that the speed humps should be navigable at the speed limit of the road they’re installed on. And they are, but only for larger vehicles on my ass for slowing down to go over them in my sedan.

That is certainly not the intent

Re: American cars are huge and unsafe, but automakers don't want the simple solution

#90

Post by Scoundreller »

cozzyd wrote: post #88
Scoundreller wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My main beef is that the speed humps should be navigable at the speed limit of the road they’re installed on. And they are, but only for larger vehicles on my ass for slowing down to go over them in my sedan.

That is certainly not the intent

But it is the outcome. And yet another driver in the adoption of ever larger vehicles.
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