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>you can't really get small pickups that size anymore Write your representative and tell them to thank the EPA and NHTSA for doing their jobs. The death of th

>you can't really get small pickups that size anymore 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.

nexuist 5y ago
I'm not following - how would a smaller (and presumably lighter weight) truck have worse fuel economy than the giants we see today?
- throwaway0a5e 5y ago
  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.
  - jacurtis 5y ago
    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.
    - throwaway0a5e 5y ago
      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.
  - PeterisP 5y ago
    On the other hand, all these arguments completely go away for electric cars, so there would be space for smaller e-trucks.
    - beerandt 5y ago
      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.
elihu 5y ago
> 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. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicken_tax https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicken_tax
- throwaway0a5e 5y ago
  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.
- syshum 5y ago
  >>>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.
gilbetron 5y ago
Ahhh. So that's why it happened, makes sense now. These are the types of regulations I want to see disappear (or, rather, modified to align better with desired incentives).

nexuist 5y ago

I'm not following - how would a smaller (and presumably lighter weight) truck have worse fuel economy than the giants we see today?

throwaway0a5e 5y ago
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.
- jacurtis 5y ago
  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.
  - throwaway0a5e 5y ago
    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.
- PeterisP 5y ago
  On the other hand, all these arguments completely go away for electric cars, so there would be space for smaller e-trucks.
  - beerandt 5y ago
    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.

elihu 5y ago

> 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. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicken_tax https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicken_tax

throwaway0a5e 5y ago
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.
syshum 5y ago
>>>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.

gilbetron 5y ago

Ahhh. So that's why it happened, makes sense now. These are the types of regulations I want to see disappear (or, rather, modified to align better with desired incentives).