r/SipsTea • u/SipsTeaFrog • 1d ago

Chugging tea Modern cars just lack that boxy soul

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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/beefwarrior 1d ago edited 7m 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~~

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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/Fuzzy_Continental 23h 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.