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US carmakers say proposed EU rules could block large pickup trucks from Europe (www.reuters.com)
submitted 7 months ago by to c/fuckcars@lemmy.world
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[–] 39 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (4 children)

Great! Now can we have this in the US too, please? Like, semis and other class-8 commercial trucks at least have a valid excuse to be massive (and even then, Europe manages to make their semis smaller than in the US while still having equivalent GVWRs by way of cabovers still being common over there, while cabovers are all but extinct in the US outside of trash trucks and fire trucks, basically); they're typically carrying payloads as heavy as 100k+ lbs in some cases, and need specialized licensing to operate on top of that (CDL requirements kick in at class-7, or GVWRs above 26k lbs in the US, class-8 is 33k+ lbs, and semis are typically 80k lb GVWRs), but pick-ups really don't need to be as big as they are, they have no excuse.

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  • [–] -1 points 7 months ago (2 children)

    Plenty of people use their large pick up trucks for towing large trailers. Just today driving home from my farm I passed a dually truck towing a massive load of hay bales. A little Ford Maverick or Toyota Tacoma couldn't handle that, and a semi would be overkill.

    They're just extremely impractical to drive in the city. I don't know why so many people buy massive trucks and mostly drive down small streets and cramped parking lots, not to mention they never hook up a trailer even once in their life.

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  • [–] 11 points 7 months ago (1 child)

    I still remember when my state required large pickups to have commercial licenses and have commercial insurance. Adding a few extra hoops to jump through could be similar to abolishing pickups while still allowing reasonable exceptions, maybe requiring extra drivers training

    I know it could be personal bias but a lot of pickup drivers don’t seem capable of staying in their lane, taking a turn, maneuver in a parking lot. We need to recognize these are huge vehicles and require a little extra skill to drive.

    And they should lose that license if they leave the trailer hitch in while they’re parking over a sidewalk

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  • [–] 5 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

    Pick-ups didn't used to be huge though, see the S10/S15 for instance, a modern-day Colorado/Canyon dwarfs an S10/S15 from the final year they were sold in the US.

    Adding a few extra hoops to jump through could be similar to abolishing pickups while still allowing reasonable exceptions, maybe requiring extra drivers training

    • At the same time though, if someone needed to pull large trailers for whatever reason, but didn't need a full-on class-7 or class-8 rig and the CDL requirements that go with that, they could just use a class-5 or class-6 chassis-cab rig for that purpose and then use a van for various field work or picking up small amounts of cargo. That van for field work would even be preferable both because of having the ability to lock one's tools up and also having a sheltered workspace to do things in so they don't have to get rained on and the like, and can work under A/C or heat during a particularly hot or cold day.
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