Wikipedia Sucks!

> Motor vehicles are supposed to be designed so that their victims are
> not swept under the vehicle. Trucks are exempt of course. So
> manufactures design what are essentially, family cars with some
> utility but can be classed as a truck. The Ford Banger is a classic
> example. Where the exact same chassis (If you can call it that) can be
> bought as a pretend family four wheel drive. -You know the ones that
> look like 4WD but actually aren't- "It'll be safer for my family."
> And of course, because these things aren't technically ordinary cars,
> they not only pass design rules but are actually slightly cheaper to
> buy and own because they're technically work vehicles.


You nailed it. In the US, all the automakers have been taking advantage of the "truck-SUV" special exemptions in federal auto safety rules, which were always badly written. The EU and other countries have been slavishly copying the US regulations, after all, it's a "global industry" and they "might as well" standardize. (Thanks to decades of political manipulation by the big US automakers, there are loads of "exemptions" for their benefit, as well as things they can use as trade barriers for imported cars. Detroit loves car safety rules but only if they can abuse the rules for their own benefit.)

This is why pickup trucks are still made with the same crude 1930s body-on-ladder-frame design and the same cheap rust-prone steel. Trucks are exempt from a long list of rules. The Ford F150 has been the biggest selling vehicle in America since about 1980. And very fucking few of them are actually used to carry loads. They have literally grown in weight, size and height almost 30% since 1980, because "I WANNA BIG BIG BIG TRUCK it's a penis extension".

The idiot feds also have exemptions for "vehicles intended for off-road use", so we have the SUV. Which has requirements for approach and overpass angles so it will go over rough terrain without hanging up, plus usually four wheel drive. None of which is used by the fuckheads who buy them. They buy the crap because "OMGOMG look at all those giant commercial trucks, I don't feel SAFE, I need a big fat high-roof blobmobile and it has to look SCARY".

Watch this video. Not only does it display the clever ergonomics and design elements of the Canoo electric van. It also features Sandy Munro, who spent decades working for Ford and GM as an engineering cost analyst, bitching about all the times he was told "DON'T DO THAT" whenever he suggested changes to their vehicles to improve usability and reduce costs. Detroit can't stop catering to morons and repeating itself.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b3Sj2jJmug8

Munro ended up quitting Ford and starting a consulting firm. Which buys and disassembles passenger vehicles, and sells expensive detailed reports about the design. To anyone with the cash--including the automaker's competition. They really hate Munro, but they all do business with him. And now he's a "YouTube star". Lol.

Of course, you and I won't be able to buy a Canoo. They're being aimed at the commercial fleet market. Going to be rather expensive anyway. It's also hilarious that EV "skateboard" designs are forcing a return to body-on-frame.


> I have this little thought experiment which requires some brief
> background. When I was a teenager, we use to have this lovingly
> restored Voxhall Velox. Something like this.
> https://www.justcars.com.au/cars-for-sa ... JCM5088993
> These things were built in the days before synchro-mesh gear boxes.
> Which meant you had to practice the art of double De-Clutch-ing.


Ha ha. So much damn chrome. Aussies are suckers for the same useless crap as Americans.

Manual transmissions have almost disappeared. "Crashbox" shifters like your old Vauxhall are only really visible in museums today. They were very simple and cheap to build, and lasted a very long time IF you used them properly. Sports car nerds have been complaining about the disappearance of the clutch pedal, but then THEY are part of the problem.

People are stupid and lazy and they want the car to be easy to operate, AT ALL TIMES. Also why it is literally almost impossible to get a car (or truck) with manual steering and non power brakes. The moron market and the increasing amounts of safety equipment and requirements are making cars bigger and heavier and more complex, which means no choice with regards to power assist. Further increasing weight and cost.

Did you know that current cars often have TWELVE airbags? And TEN microprocessors are not unusual, with even more in "luxury" vehicles.

But in many ways it still pushes the boundaries of absurdity. The vehicle weighs more than 4.5 tons, a bulk closer to that of a small bulldozer than the sort of cars typically seen on American streets a decade or so ago. The huge Ultium battery that powers the vehicle is nearly 3,000lb, about the same as two grand pianos. The wheels look like they could traverse Mars.

The big display panel in the chunky interior of the Hummer does, indeed, show a graphic of the car on Mars when you put it in its off-road mode. Most trips are on roads, of course – almost half of car journeys in US cities are three miles or less – meaning Hummer drivers will be piloting a metal behemoth weighing the same as a young blue whale when popping out to get some milk. “The Hummer is a niche statement of excess,” according to Daniel Sperling, director of the Institute of Transportation Studies at the University of California, Davis.