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Comment by erikig | Hacker News Reader

That’s so true, trucks and SUVs like the Mercedes G Wagon, the Ford Raptor (the F150’s rowdy cousin) and maybe even the Range Rover HSE are typical Veblen Goods. They do really well in urban areas specifically because they are over-engineered and are overkill for the purpose they are used for and are not afraid to show it off. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Cybertruck does well for the exact same reason.

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"overkill" may be an unfortunate word choice, if you're the pedestrian who has a close encounter with one of these.

A pedestrian encounter with any vehicle is likely to have the same result.

The design of the vehicle has a significant impact [sorry!] on the pedestrian's chances. All those sharp edges can't be good.

Yeah but the glass breaks really easily so it should help disperse the impact.

Somehow I think the mass and speed is far more significant than a pointy bumper.

Mass probably is only significant because it makes the stopping distance longer.

Mass also adds to the force of the impact

The overall height, especially of the hood is also really important for the pedestrian's chances. if a sedan hits you, ideally you can roll over the top. if a truck or suv with enough size hits you, you go under it.

No SUV's and trucks are wildly more dangerous to pedestrians.

Not that it's a guarantee but at least tesla's emergency breaking detects pedestrians already. We're still a couple years from release. I'd like to think the long-term solution is to just stop hitting pedestrians with cars.

Should be safer with self-driving versus human-driven pedestrian crushers (SUVs)

TIL what a Veblen Good is. Thanks

To save others the googling

> Veblen goods are types of luxury goods for which the quantity demanded increases as the price increases, an apparent contradiction of the law of demand, resulting in an upward-sloping demand curve.

TIL what TIL means (also Veblen Good). So today I learned 2 things.

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