Re:Accepting US car standards would risk European lives
by VBprogrammer on Wednesday December 03, 2025 @11:06AM
(#46136104)
I not really talking about general styling, I'm talking about the specific models being available. A lot of this might better be described as the world becoming globalised rather than the US cars becoming more European. But the end result is the same, many of the best selling US cars must meet or exceed European safety standards.
At a rough count a list of the best selling 25 cars in the US, 16 of them are available to buy in the UK that I know of (including cars like the Jeep Wrangler which are obviously American classics).
Most of the different is Trucks and full-size SUVs. And a couple of Chevy's which gave up on the UK market a few years ago. So either pedestrian fatalities are concentrated in those areas or there are other factors at play (road design, driver training, enforcement of rules etc).
Fuel economy tends all vehicles to the same aerodynamic shape (similar to how all big planes look quite similar), and safety is requiring airbags (which protected unbuckled passengers) in the side pillars and elsewhere, making them larger and larger.