Comment on xkcd #3167: Car Size

• taco_daemon@lemmy.zip ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  not USanian but afaik cars got so big over there because trucks (being work vehicles) have less (environmental, safety, …) regulations than cars, that’s why SUVs got so popular, manufacturers pushed them onto public. as long as the base for the vehicle is that of a truck they are legally exempt from many limits.

  source: probably “Not Just Bikes” on y*utube idk

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  • TubularTittyFrog@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    cars are way bigger than they were 10-20 years ago. My 2017 civic is larger than my 1995 Camry.

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    • argarath@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Smaller modern cars still have the same safety features, marketing has found the best way to make consumers want new and more expensive cars through the idea of big car=safe, which only becomes true if the other car involved in a crash is also big, but just like the comic shows, it becomes an arms race where it only increases the danger, as a bigger car also has bigger inertia, so a crash at the same speed has drastic different energy transference.

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      • TubularTittyFrog@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        people like bigger cars for many other reasons.

        they are more comfortable. they are safer, they fit more stuff. they have more features than smaller cars.

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• carpelbridgesyndrome@sh.itjust.works ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  We regulated the safety of the driver with little regard for pedestrians. The solution is regulating what your car does to others in a crash

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• theolodis@feddit.org ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  I think Europe might prove you wrong

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  • boonhet@sopuli.xyz ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Will it? Modern small cars are huge compared to old small cars in Europe too. Because of crumple zones and safety equipment. You used to be able to get a VW Golf that was 3.7 meters long and weighed like 800 kilos. Same car now starts at nearly 4.3 meters and over 1.2 tons.

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    • theolodis@feddit.org ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      But still, the biggest SUV in europe is merely average by US standards

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      • boonhet@sopuli.xyz ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        Sure, but my point was that Europe doesn’t prove the “cars got bigger and heavier because of safety regulations” statement wrong. Obviously cars in the US got even more bigger and heavier than needed for safety, but safety regulations in the EU have also made EU cars bigger and heavier.

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  • TubularTittyFrog@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    the cars they have in europe/asian are illegal here.

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• kevinhippert@c.im ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  @TubularTittyFrog @Benchamoneh How do you explain the existence of the Honda Fit and Toyota Corolla on American roads (curb weights: 2,381lbs and 2800lbs)?

  We like big cars and we can not lie
  You other libertarians can't deny
  That when a car pulls up with a itty-bitty MPG
  and a 4 ton weight in your face, we get sprung.

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  • TubularTittyFrog@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    those cars are large

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