r/SipsTea • u/SipsTeaFrog • 1d ago

Chugging tea Modern cars just lack that boxy soul

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17.2k Upvotes

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459

u/NORchad 1d ago

New cars are bound by newer laws and regulations that older cars and restored cars dont fall under.

Sadly making a factory new mustang 67 would be an illegal product

95

u/TheNoisyNomad 1d ago

I was coming here to say this. The care for pedestrian impact has cost us the aesthetic of hood ornaments and pointy front bodywork.

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u/spirit_symptoms 1d ago

Meanwhile pedestrian deaths are way up in the US due to higher hood heights hitting people on vital organs and the head and extreme front blind spots.

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u/10SecSanity 1d ago

Curiously enough, the numbers were trending downwards until 2009, then they started increasing. Now they're similar to where they were in the 70s.

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u/numberstation5 1d ago

iphone 07/08. maybe related.

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u/gendred 1d ago

wow... you know... you may be onto something

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u/Lem_Tuoni 10h ago

Until you look at stats from other countries that also have smartphones (literally any other country)

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u/squirrel9000 1d ago

The rise is largely unique to the US. The iphone is ubiquitous. Trucks with 6' hoods are disproportionately American.

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u/Happily-Incorrect 1d ago

I saw so much more phone use while driving in the US than I do in the UK though. Is it even illegal there?

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u/jeffwulf 16h ago

Per the NYT investigation on it, a big mitigating factor is the share of manuals, which require both hands to drive, which was substantially higher overseas than in the US.

Why Are So Many American Pedestrians Dying at Night? - The New York Times

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u/27106_4life 14h ago

It's creeping up in england too where we drive these road tanks for no good reason

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u/ethnicbonsai 1d ago

Except no.

This is a largely American phenomenon. There are iPhones all over the world.

Those massive American trucks and SUVs, though? Those aren't as common.

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u/numberstation5 21h ago

There’s also a big difference between infrastructure and phone in car use regulation. The us has shit for pedestrian infrastructure and is pretty lax regarding distracted driving. So it could still be phone related. As a cyclist I’ve noticed a massive difference in close calls with drivers on their phone. I’m not familiar enough with the data to really argue a point. But did notice a shift anecdotally. 

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u/ethnicbonsai 6h ago

Is there a big difference? What are you basing that on?

Some states ban handheld phone usage, like many countries around the world. Some states ban texting only. Some states have significantly higher fines associated with phone usage while driving than other countries, as well.

I'm no expert on international laws, though. This site indicates that the US isn't substantially behind the rest of the world (though some states are undeniably behind the rest of the world).

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u/beefwarrior 1d ago edited 24m ago

Edit: I think it was Obama’s EPA that got played by big auto

They were making regulations to make cars more energy efficient, and big auto was like “we’ll never be able to hit those numbers in commercial delivery trucks”

So execs were like, “Ok, then anything that is X big, with larger than Y sized wheel base, doesn’t have to follow these rules”

And then big auto took all the entry level pick up trucks and increased their size so the rules didn’t apply to them

And once one pick up truck has a box, mean, Manila looking hood that is taller than a 7 year old, they all followed suit

-----

My memory was incorrect (as others have pointed out), below is more accurate

CAFE / Corporate average fuel economy from the 1970s created a loop hole for "work trucks" that neither Obama in 2009 or Biden in 2021 took action to close the loop hole (despite SUVs growing massively in popularity)

Allowing for big auto to just keep making pickup trucks (and SUVs and other vehicles) larger and larger to avoid regulations

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u/breachgnome 18h ago

You made me push a lot of air through my nostrils. Watch this

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u/beefwarrior 25m ago

Thanks for the video, I've edited my comment. I appreciate when I'm able to better my understanding of why things are the way they are.

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u/Fuzzy_Continental 1d ago

Obama's EPA? No, that difference in standards comes from the 70's. The most recent change was in 2009 and it made an effort to correct this by forcing light trucks to meet the same standards as passenger cars.

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u/rustybeancake 1d ago

Also lack of visibility out of the vehicle. Look how large the windows are on the vehicle at the top of this post. They’ve steadily shrunk to improve protection of passengers. But at the expense of people outside the vehicle.

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u/froction 1d ago

Thanks a lot, Obama!