> Write your representative and tell them to thank the EPA and NHTSA for doing their jobs.
It seems like those regulations aren't working they way they ought to if the result is to encourage people to drive bigger cars than they need and to have more cars on the road that minimize the safety risk to the occupants while maximizing risk to everyone else...
> The death of the small pickup is squarely the fault of the confluence of fuel economy and crash safety regulations.
...and the chicken tax.
Re:2022 Ford F-150 Lightning
by throwaway0a5e on Friday May 21, 2021 @02:09PM
(#27237684)
Thanking them for doing their jobs was sarcasm. The chicken tax existed for decades and small pickups were fine though I'm no fan of it in principal.
>>>It seems like those regulations aren't working they way they ought to
Regulations rarely end up with the outcomes the people pushing for the regulations publicly claim the desired outcome is.
I'm not following - how would a smaller (and presumably lighter weight) truck have worse fuel economy than the giants we see today?
Re:2022 Ford F-150 Lightning
by throwaway0a5e on Friday May 21, 2021 @01:07PM
(#27236791)
Fuel economy regulations are based on vehicle footprint and weight. Small trucks are small and (were, still would be if we still had them) fairly heavy for their size making them bad for compliance. A small vehicle is also going to have harder lines (less physical space for clean curves) so will have worse aerodynamics.
On the other hand, all these arguments completely go away for electric cars, so there would be space for smaller e-trucks.
You think the government won't set energy efficiency requirements for electric vehicles similar to mpg?
They put energy requirements on dishwashers, they're not going to give EVs a pass.
That is interesting. I wonder if that is why Ford got rid of their small pickup (The Ford Ranger) for several years from 2012 until 2020.
It did come back last year, probably after meeting new regulation requirements.
Re:2022 Ford F-150 Lightning
by throwaway0a5e on Friday May 21, 2021 @01:29PM
(#27237107)
That's exactly it. IIRC they even said so at the time. They were already producing the "new ranger" elsewhere at the time so they could have just imported it but looking at the MSRP difference between it and a based f150 vs the size of the market they decided it wasn't worth it.
Write your representative and tell them to thank the EPA and NHTSA for doing their jobs. The death of the small pickup is squarely the fault of the confluence of fuel economy and crash safety regulations.