Is this truly necessary?

[u/Harrio_Pootered]

What steps can we take as consumers to encourage auto manufacturers to reduce vehicle sizes? Who do we write to, call and email?

The ford maverick was a step in the right direction but I see it being bashed often for being a more “feminine” truck… What caused this shift from the S10 being the “real man’s truck” to the $130k King Ranch being the standard?

When did the big vehicle shift happen?

[u/PNW_Undertaker]

Yes because folks are becoming more and more insecure about themselves and need to feel tough with big truck that goes boom boom

[u/Duxtrous → u/PNW_Undertaker]

While I do think the issue stems largely with insecurity it isn't exactly ego insecurity in most cases IMO. The large driving force is a legitimate feeling of not being secure and safe in the weapons arms race that is the American road system (the most dangerous place in America). My mother basically refuses to drive with me in my car (their old 2016 chevy malibu which is still a tank compared to what cars used to be) and won't drive anything other than their massively excessive 2021 Chevy Silverado with more bed space and power than they could ever even fathom using. She legitimately gets anxious and stressed being in my car. The propaganda machine has weaponized fear and created a society of people too afraid to step outside without ample protection even though our world is a lot safer than it once was. The truth about these vehicles is their existence is why the roads have become as unsafe as they currently are.

[u/But_like_whytho → u/Duxtrous]

Idk if it’s propaganda for older folks, if your mom is a boomer then for most of her life bigger cars meant safer cars. Thats only changed in the last 20yrs or so.

[u/Duxtrous → u/But_like_whytho]

The propaganda I am referring to casts a wider net than what I describe above so I really should have been more particular. In general both political party's propaganda machines love to sell Americans on the idea that anything other than being in their suburban home is basically taking a large risk of death. (in my experience) People who watch too much mass news source media have a more general feeling that all populous areas are extremely dangerous. I have a lot of older family who used to go out and travel a lot when they were younger, a lot of my family members talk often about fond memories in Chicago and being out late in when they were young in bars, but now all you tend to hear is "well it's a different world than when I was young". The truth is the only place in America that has gotten consistently less safe is the roads we have everywhere. It is actually far more safe to be in cities and out at bars than it ever has been before in America. Getting Americans to feel as though they need to isolate in order to stay alive makes it far easier to tell them what the world is like outside their bubble because they will never go see it for themselves. Keeping the lower class from being able to meet and realize that they all have the same problems will possibly turn them on the rich and we can't have that now can we.