171–180 of 358 posts
After the cybertruck my working assumption had been that US regulators had just given up on pedestrian safety.
The cybertruck has not been shown to have lower pedestrian safety than other trucks. Ironically, you’re commenting on an article about higher hoods, and the CT has one of the lowest hoods among trucks on the market.
There is another angle here besides the immediate impact (pun intended) of getting hit by a big truck. I'm nearly 60, but I can remember what it was like learning to drive back in 1980. Before SUVs and huge pickup trucks became common, and before tinting windows to near opacity became a thing, it was possible to see road conditions three cars ahead -- you simply looked through the windows of the car or cars in front…
Streets haven't gotten wider since then either. Maybe less of a problem in the US where everything is planned around humongous fire trucks, but in the EU if you had a street that could easily accommodate two moving lanes with parking on either side, that has basically narrowed down to one moving lane. Also reminds me of all the regulation around car lights - you literally specified the beam pattern light intensity co…
I drive a truck and live in a mountainous area. Trust me, it's not just sedans. Nearly everyone drives around with their brights on and it seems they no longer bother to turn them down when approaching traffic (automatic dimming features don't work well up here). Consequently, night time driving is dangerous. I don't know what their advertised beam pattern is, but it's like driving passed spotlights aimed at your eyes while on the road when you're on the outside lane.
FWIW mine are halogens (2014). Plenty bright (and aim-able—for towing), but they're useless when you're temporarily blinded by super bright LEDs.
I got in an argument with the Ford CMO on Twitter about this. He said that the F150 has maintained the overall footprint for years, which is true. However, if you super-impose an image of older F150s and newer ones (which I did) you find that the hood is much more "cubic" leading to a higher edge and much worse viewing angle. I believe this is entirely stylistic.
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I'm commenting on pedestrian safety & regulators absence. Sharp edges and rolled steel instead of crumple zones is absolutely a bad time if you're a pedestrian. High hoods isn't the only possible risk.
1) It seems you are confusing crumple zones (which the ct definitely has lol) with cushioning the impact for a pedestrian. 2) sure, but the only research we have says higher hood = much more deadly. Cybertruck has a lower hood with a better angle. So why single it out when the jury is out on what’s more important for safety
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> It's government regulations that made trucks get this big This is presented incredibly dishonestly in this context. It's well understood that automakers had their grubby little hands all over emissions regulations in the late Bush admin. They spent oodles of cash, tons of lobbyist time, and BEGGED for the exclusions for trucks that made complete sense at the time for TRUCKS, as in, pickup trucks used by laborers th…
With the ubiquity of SUVs at this point I can't imagine that many of them are being sold to men wanting to feel more "Rugged". I would think the vast majority are bought by those who want the additional space and safety of these cars, like families. It's going to be very difficult to convince consumers to drive cars smaller cars they see as less safe without some significant costs imposed on larger cars.
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The Cybetruck's obnoxious hood height[0] and curb weight[1] all but guarantees that it's dangerous for pedestrians. Not that singling out Cybetruck is completely fair, all large EVs are strictly worse for pedestrian safety due to their weight. [0] https://www.forbes.com/sites/petercohan/2023/12/05/with-litt... [1] https://www.autoweek.com/news/a46013576/tesla-cybertruck-spe...
The Cybertruck is lighter than the Rivian and the F-150 Lightning. It's around 3,000lbs lighter than the electric Hummer. It's also lower than all of them. https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a46031051/2024-tesla-cyber...
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Non-trucks attempting a right-turn-on-red next to trucks are also more likely to hit a pedestrian, though if they are driving in a sane manner, it's unlikely to be fatal. I cannot see a pedestrian over the hood of a truck stopped just short of the crosswalk until my bumper is already well into the crosswalk.
Not nearly as bad as hitting someone, but it's also annoying when a person is honking behind me and I'm thinking "Dude, I can't turn right until the light turns green because I can't see oncoming traffic since the truck/SUV in the left lane pulled forward.".
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that offer no actual advantages over a regular car. Most people want to sit high Isn't that the advantage? In a world where SUV's and trucks are more popular than sedans, sitting higher gives a sight advantage (and probably safety advantage in a side collision with one of those high cars). I drive a midsized sedan most of the time, but when I drive the RV (which has a higher seating position than many SUV's), I love…
Seating height doesn't help you see over cars when everybody else is also in a crossover at the same height as you.
I can't control what cars other people buy and drive. I can control what I buy and drive.
the current pavement princess trends have left me doubting that any more regulation of any kind will happen in the US.
Not just the pavement princess stuff - Congress is simply doing less period.[1] Through most of the 20th century, 1000+ laws/year was common. Since 2000, that's dropped to 1 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_federal_...
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Not just the pavement princess stuff - Congress is simply doing less period.[1] Through most of the 20th century, 1000+ laws/year was common. Since 2000, that's dropped to 1 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_federal_...
Pages of laws passed is a better metric as the laws have become more bundled due to partisanship.