Pick-ups are getting too big and dangerous
Friday, 11 June 2021
This might not come as much of a surprise, but Consumer Reports in the USA has come forward and said the ever-increasing size and weight of full-size pick-up trucks there are posing more and more of a danger to other road users.
According to the study, bonnet heights in pick-ups have grown by 11 per cent since 2000 while overall weight has increased by 24 per cent on average between 2000 and 2018.
On some heavy-duty trucks (the truly huge ones we generally don’t see here in New Zealand) such as the Ford F-250, the front edge of the hood is now a remarkable 1397mm or more off the ground – as tall as the roof of some sedans.
In addition, frontal blind spots are 3.3 metres longer than some sedans and 2.1 metres longer than “many popular SUVs” on average, which puts children and the elderly in particular danger.
**READ MORE:
* American SUVs and pickups are outgrowing garages and parking spaces
* Consumer Reports: the 10 most (and least) reliable cars of 2020
* Two-thirds of New Zealand-new vehicles are SUVs or utes
**
Some pick-ups currently on the North American market, like the Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon, don’t offer automatic emergency braking with pedestrian detection as standard. Ford, Honda, Nissan and Toyota all offer the tech as standard, while General Motors and Stellantis told Consumer Reports they will give their trucks AEB by 2022.
On top of this, trucks aren’t as good at avoiding crashes. “Pickups and other large vehicles routinely do worse in our emergency handling and braking tests,” says Jake Fisher, CR’s senior director of auto testing. And when a truck and car collide, the car’s driver is 1.59 times more likely to die than in two-vehicle crashes without a pickup involved, according to the IIHS.
By comparison, modern SUVs are no longer as deadly as trucks in crashes with cars. That’s because SUVs have become lighter and more carlike as a class over the past 20 years–just as trucks started adding weight, partly from popular features such as larger cabs.
When asked why trucks had become so tall, a spokesperson from Ford said it was a result of customers wanting “more purposeful looks”. A GM spokesperson said buyers want more ground clearance for off-roading, greater towing capability, and more cargo space. (Those changes add weight and volume.) GM and Ford said their big trucks needed larger grilles to support engine cooling when towing trailers.
“Trucks could look less tough, but you don’t want to be the one to make your truck look soft,” Tyson Jominy, vice president for data and analytics at J.D. Power, told Consumer Reports.
He estimates that an automaker might make four to five times more money on a pickup than a sedan, partly because manufacturing a truck is simpler and because buyers will pay more for a pick-up. “You can charge a lot for the capability, for the image.”
And, considering how well full-size trucks sell, it’s understandable the manufacturers are giving the people what they want. Ford’s F-150 has been the highest-selling vehicle in the world since 1981 and the F-Series as a whole, the Chevy Silverado and Ram Pick-up are the top three vehicles in the U.S.
While we only get relatively few of the large American pick-ups here in New Zealand (the ‘remanufactured’ Chevrolet Silverado and Ram 1500/2500 are the only factory-backed new offerings), our own smaller versions are just as popular, with the Ford Ranger and Toyota Hilux currently duking it out for our top sales slot and they are also increasing in size with each new generation
While most come fully-equipped with the latest safety features, their ever-increasing size – as well as their high CO2-emitting nature – is increasingly becoming an issue on our roads.