It's wild to me to see photos of these new pick ups with children in front of them that aren't even close to being taller than the hood or visible to the driver at all.
Regulators need to step in imo.
Regulators did step in. The Federal MPG standard (CAFE) was reformulated in 2007 so that the targets are based on the footprint of the car (wheel track * wheel base). As a result, small trucks either got bigger or disappeared from the market.
Have a look at the current standards; I don't see how you're going to make a small truck that does the things people want their truck to do and fits in the mileage requirements.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporate_average_fuel_economy...
https://www.caranddriver.com/features/a15118822/taking-the-h...