• 0 Posts
  • 10 Comments
Joined 5 months ago
cake
Cake day: June 26th, 2025

help-circle



  • There’s no one thing. I’m sure everyone is trying to game regulations.

    But, I’d wager a Honda Civic is not getting a truck exceptions. Yet a 2025 Honda Civic is 20% wider and 25% longer than a 1978. The weight has gone from 800 kilos to over 1400.

    Crumple zones need space to crumple into. Side curtain airbags require bulkier pillars. Impact beams need space making bodies wider. Instead of a sheet metal box on a chassis we have a frame reinforcing the entire cabin. We need room for crushable hood braces and plastic engine shrouds for when we hit pedestrians. It’s all good stuff, but you have to buy an inch or two for this, an inch or two for that…

    Eventually a 2025 Honda Civic is both longer and wider than a 1990 Toyota Hilux pickup.


  • American safety standards have led to an insane game of cat an mouse wherein I need my car to be bigger to keep me safe. But my bigger car is more dangerous to you. So you need a bigger car to protect yourself from my dangerously large car. But now I need a bigger car to protect me from your giant car.

    And 30 years later everyone is driving around a 60 thousand dollar crumple zone so tall it can’t see pedestrians over the hood and needs a 6 liter engine just to move.

    Same for child seats. Planning on having 3 kids under 10? Better plan on a truck or van with a 3rd row, because somehow, you can’t fit seats 3 small children in the back seat of a family sedan or crossover.