Comment by quadrifoliate | Hacker News Reader

Comment by quadrifoliate | Hacker News Reader

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Building upon this, the light truck loophole [1] means that there is currently a sort of arms race ongoing if you are concerned about car safety.

Car manufacturers are happy to build the majority of their consumer-facing vehicles as "light trucks" so they can ignore environmental standards, and those of us that want smaller, lighter, and more fuel efficient vehicle need to compromise on safety.

SUVs need to be heavily penalized, and need to have far stricter licensing requirements. This will bring down emissions much more than some blanket move to EVs, and be beneficial for safety as well.

On the surface, weight penalties seem to be an effective way to accomplish this; I am curious if there are any examples or case studies about this that you can cite, 'bryanmgreen.

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[1] https://jalopnik.com/every-car-looks-like-this-thanks-to-a-g...

Regarding safety related weight, there's a very interesting and thorough study from Berkley, I'd recommend reading, if you want to be nerdy.

[1] https://are.berkeley.edu/~mlanderson/pdf/anderson_auffhammer...

The International Energy Agency has done some good research specific to the subject of SUV emissions.

[2] https://www.iea.org/commentaries/global-suv-sales-set-anothe...

[3] https://www.iea.org/commentaries/as-their-sales-continue-to-...

And specific to weight, it's topic that is not ignored by federal or state regulating bodies. Heck, even 10 years ago the EPA stated if reduce the weight of your vehicle by 100lbs you can achieve 1-2% fuel improvements. And weight removal is the opposite of diminishing returns, so every pound reduction yields better results.

[4] https://afdc.energy.gov/files/u/publication/10_G00888_saving...

The regulations need to be changed, it makes no sense that you can’t buy small pickups in the us like the Toyota hilux.

The current generations of Hilux and Tacoma are extremely comparable. Its not like the Hilux is really that much smaller. A couple inches here, a couple inches there, and roughly the same weight.

Well, I wish they sold a smaller one like the ford maverick or classic import hiluxes.

I’d really love a hybrid maverick, but they are impossible to get. People are still waiting on their 2021 Maverick orders.

I do think the popularity of the truck has sparked something in the auto industry. I believe Toyota is working on a competitor, but we likely won’t see that for another year out two.

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