Report Warns Trucks Are Getting Bigger, Becoming Dangerous
A new report details how today’s pickup trucks pose a danger to pedestrians and small vehicles as trucks have grown in size and weight.
www.motor1.com
Today’s full-size pickup trucks are larger and heavier than ever, towering over the other vehicles on the road. The big brutes may draw in customers looking for safety and utility, but the expansive sheet metal, tall hoods and ride heights, and scale-crushing curb weights pose a danger to others, according to a new Consumer Reports story.
The styling of the new Tundra, if the speculative renderings are correct, certainly matches the current styling trend of super-high hood lines.
There are a number of new (light-duty) pickup trucks in my neighbourhood. They are huge and definitely larger than older models. Sitting in front of some of the smaller houses, they almost seem to be larger than those houses.
Consumer Reports also discovered that several pickups fail to offer technology like automatic emergency braking with pedestrian detection as standard equipment, which has been shown to help prevent frontover collisions and reduce injuries. The Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon don’t offer such technology, while Ford makes AEB with pedestrian detection as standard equipment across the F-150’s lineup. Only Ford, Honda, Nissan, and Toyota offer the tech as standard. General Motors and Stellantis told the publication that their trucks would have at least automatic emergency braking by 2022.
One thing not mentioned is that the larger and boxier styling has a negative effect on fuel economy. Any improvement in fuel economy from the latest ICE technology is going to be negated by the larger size and greater weight.