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Comment by cebert | Hacker News Reader

There are several great examples of factors that contribute to vehicle size bloat in this article. One factor I don’t see mentioned often is the increased rates of obesity in the US. We’re nearing 40% of the population being obese [1]. Perhaps there’s several Americans who are so large they need larger vehicles in order to comfortably fit inside?

[1] https://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/prevalence-maps.html

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Larger cars are predominantly taller and longer, not wider.

Except in extreme cases, obesity is not playing a major factor here.

It's more a question of being tall. I'd love to be able to drive sporty cars, but I generally just don't physically fit. I fit fine in an SUV. A regular sedan I can fit, but because of the length of my legs, I have to slide the seat back if I'm in the front, or ask the person in front to slide their seat forwards if I'm in the back. Obviously it doesn't work if someone else as tall as me is in the seat behind/ahead.

Also sedans are terrible for my posture because I have to slouch so that my head isn't hitting the roof. My lower back and neck hurt so bad after a long drive because of the forced slouching.

Fortunately I use public transportation for 99% of my needs and none of this is an issue usually.

The 1966 Ford Thunderbird was not a narrow car, at 1963 mm (210 mm wider than my Civic). But it's still narrow compared with the 2123 mm wide F-150 Raptor parked on my street, which sticks out so far into the road that makes it almost impossible for Amazon delivery trucks to navigate.

Of course it does that while also being extremely tall, making it impossible for many pedestrians to look past its hood to spot oncoming traffic on the road, or for passing drivers to spot people stepping out behind it.

https://www.carsized.com/en/cars/compare/ford-thunderbird-19...

More true for people above a certain height. There are many countries with a higher obesity rate than the U.S. but none who sell 80% trucks and SUVs.

Edit: if the above hypothesis is true, we would expect average car size to correlate with obesity after controlling for factors like proximity to a dense urban area. Could be true. If you gots data let's go

With US ranking 10th, there really aren’t many https://data.worldobesity.org/rankings/

And all of the ones above the US are seemingly small island nations, with #1 being a US territory :|

Very few and those that do, can they afford larger cars like those in the USA can?

Cars of all sizes are usually much cheaper outside the US, so I don't think it's a price thing. Maybe just because they don't spend as much time in the car or something?

The answer is a resounding no. The rankings speak for themselves.

https://data.worldobesity.org/rankings/

You've got it backwards. The cars caused the obesity by creating suburbs where people drive everywhere.

I think it's entirely possible that car interiors are getting more cramped. High center consoles between the front seats stop me from spreading my legs, deep glovebox stops me from stretching them, even the headrest juts forward now making it that much more difficult to recline. There about a hundred things like this getting in my way, add in a carseat or two and I'm not even comfortable driving.

> add in a carseat or two

Adding in modern car seats absolutely blows up the amount of space you need. With 2 young kids I can barely fit both of the carseats in the back of my Range Rover.

As a kid, 5 of us would pack into one 2-door sedan without shoulder restraints, just waist seat-belts. I'm not proposing we go back to less safe conditions for children, just saying it does clearly makes a difference. (And I've lived in some parts of the world where entire families fit onto one moped, so this American level of safety is not universal)

Observed this, including both size of seat and difficulty in getting in and out of normal-height cars

I’m not obese but I’m a big guy at 6’3” ~290lbs. I daily drive a Land Cruiser and I don’t think I’ll ever drive anything much different. I also have a full size 2500 pick up and even that is a little small for me. Driving my wife’s cars has become a burden. Even the Land Cruiser is a bit tricky to get in and out of without hitting my head on the door.

Edit: I’m not fat guys. I power lift 3 to 5 times per week and wear a size 36 in blue jeans. I’m no Tom Haviland (I can only dream) but I’m not some porky bastard either. Abs are still slightly visible although I don’t lift for aesthetics. I’m simply trying to hit 1750lbs combined on the big 3 before I turn 45.

You are medically obese, with a BMI of 36.2: https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/educational/lose_wt/BMI/bmi...

Perhaps according to that. But my body fat percentage is only 26 according to the latest DEXA scan I took in February.

Fair enough, BMI can be misleading for powerlifters!

You are obese, but you don't want to admit it. Or more likely perhaps you are used to seeing so many other people being far more visibly obese than you that you honestly don't see yourself as obese. Regardless, it's a big problem in America.

Or perhaps I lift weights?

Then congrats you are among the tiny minority for whom BMI is not an accurate measure of obesity. You are simply unlike 99% of the people for whom BMI obesity means they are actually obese.

That however doesn't detract from the argument in this thread that Americans are being more obese and that affects their vehicle choice.

BMI is actually rather inaccurate when measuring obesity in athletic individuals such as myself.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3445161/#:~:tex....

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