The reckless policies that helped fill our streets with large cars

EVs, Emissions, and Particulates

• Several comments argue EVs are not “zero emission” on the road because tire wear generates microplastics and particulates, which scale strongly with vehicle weight (citing the fourth-power law for axle load and road wear).
• Others counter that “zero emission” is conventionally about greenhouse gases, not local particulates, and claim tire-pollution concerns are overstated and mostly raised by EV skeptics.

Vehicle Weight, Road Damage, and Taxation

• Multiple participants advocate weight-based or axle-load-based taxes (often explicitly proportional to the fourth power of axle weight) to reflect road damage and discourage heavy vehicles.
• Critics say this would just cluster all cars at a weight threshold (e.g., 3,999 lbs), punish legitimate small-business trucks, and effectively ban many long-range EVs. They prefer directly regulating particulate emissions or fuel use instead of indirect proxies like weight.

Why Big Vehicles Dominate

• Cultural and marketing factors: SUVs/CUVs have replaced station wagons and hatchbacks, in part because those body styles lost status in US culture; luxury features migrated into large utility vehicles.
• Regulatory and market distortions: references to fuel-economy loopholes, tariffs (e.g., blocking cheap small Chinese EVs), and policy-driven segment definitions that make SUVs/pickups more profitable than small cars.
• Some note similar SUV growth in Europe and the UK, suggesting rising wealth, changing expectations (comfort, power, features), and “cargo-culting” of US trends.

Safety and the Arms Race

• Many describe a “tragedy of the commons” / prisoner’s dilemma: large vehicles are safer for their occupants in mixed fleets, encouraging everyone to size up and worsening outcomes overall, especially for smaller cars and pedestrians.
• Others challenge simplistic “bigger is safer” inversions, noting heavy-vehicle–heavy-vehicle crashes are still severe and that visibility and collision frequency also matter.

Comfort, Obesity, and Everyday Use

• Discussion about whether rising obesity contributes to larger cars; some say tall or large-bodied people and bulky child seats push them toward SUVs.
• Others argue interiors are getting more cramped despite bigger exteriors, and that many use cases could be met by smaller vehicles, wagons, minivans, or even bikes/trailers.

Policy Directions and Disagreements

• Proposed levers include: weight-based fuel/road taxes, stricter parking policy, better transit and dense housing, higher license tiers for heavy vehicles, and relaxing import barriers.
• There is tension between “let people drive what they want” and highlighting large cars’ externalities: road deaths, pollution, road wear, land use, and climate impacts.