this post was submitted on 09 May 2025
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They arent keeping them from doing shit, the manufacturers are trying to avoid responsibilty and using a loophole in the regulations by making the trucks bigger than they should be.
Regulations are supposed to be designed in such a way that the "loophole" to avoid responsibility is the actual effect the regulator is seeking.
The objective is to increase fuel economy. If you are designing a regulation to increase fuel economy, you would identify the best method the industry has come up with, the worst method the industry has come up with. You'd use a carrot approach on the best method, and a stick approach on the worst.
They didn't do that. They created a perverse regulatory incentive where a small, naturally-economical car has to meet the highest, toughest standard. They are smacking the smallest car with the stick, and the smaller the manufacturer makes that car, the harder they get hit.
If the smallest subcompacts were legally allowed to get 10mpg, every manufacturer would be making subcompacts. They'd be fighting to shrink down their compacts to qualify as subcompacts, and would actually be getting 50+ mpg.
But that's not the regulatory environment we have. The regulations say "This drivetrain you already have will meet next year's standards if you widen the body by an inch. Yes, widening it will decrease the MPG relative to this year's model, but you'll still be under the limits of the next higher bracket."
Eliminate that perverted incentive, and cars will get smaller.
What you want is a fuel/distance tax. You can from there have variations of passenger vehicles, work cans, and pickup trucks each having a maximum fuel to distance ratio.
Potentially, sure. There are a number of ways it could be done. Eliminating specific MPG restrictions on subcompacts below a certain weight is what I'd start with, and slowly lower the weight for that category.
We could impose a large hurdle for vehicles below the 15th percentile economy for their class. If they try to bump a smaller car up a class, they harm the vehicles they actually design for that class.
There are lots and lots and lots of ways a good regulation could be structured.