EPA regulations might be making trucks bigger and less efficient.

Added: 2026-05-17

[00:00:00]How come trucks went from to One factor, safety. Modern vehicles have multiple airbags. Add this with some crumple zones which help absorb crashes.

[00:00:09]Cuz in an accident, the bigger car is usually safer. But this creates a feedback loop where drivers are buying bigger trucks in order to not get bulldozed by the other drivers who are driving bigger trucks in order to not As your vehicle gets bigger, it gets more dangerous for everyone who's not you.

[00:00:23]Taller cars and trucks are more dangerous for pedestrian whose fatalities recently hit their highest level in 40 years. Another factor inflating vehicle emissions. Decades of scientific advancement has been faced more CO2 now than ever in the atmosphere. These engine bays were Oh, they they got worse. But regulations used to just be about hitting a certain mile per gallon. Pretty simple way to make vehicles more efficient is to make them smaller and lighter. But those cars are less safe. So in 2012, the standard changed to be easier on vehicles with a larger footprint. A VP from Volkswagen warned this proposal encourages manufacturers and customers to shift towards larger, less efficient vehicles.

[00:00:56]Since then, light-duty trucks went from 52% of all new vehicles sold to 80%.

[00:01:01]Bigger trucks are allowed to be less efficient, they have higher profit margins. But maybe the biggest factor why these trucks are getting bigger is people really, really, really like them.

[00:01:09]How much they like big trucks because of the auto industry's advertising choices, ah who's to say?