Electronic Stability Program became mandatory in the US in 2012 and the EU in 2014. I’ve driven a '05 Grand Cherokee that didn’t have it (or even traction control if I remember correctly), though German cars mostly started getting it in late 90s or early 00s. ESP can be an absolute godsend in the winter because unlike your right foot, it can control each wheel’s brakes individually to prevent skids.
It’s not just trucks, all vehicles have gotten safer and more efficient over time because of regulations that have forced manufacturers to adopt new technologies. I’ve never heard anyone question this before, as it’s so widely known.
Efficiency has improved over the decades despite the trucks getting larger: https://carbuzz.com/ford-improved-f-150-fuel-economy-five-decades/ you’ll also see how the old inefficient engines had less power than the new more efficient ones.
Electronic Stability Program became mandatory in the US in 2012 and the EU in 2014. I’ve driven a '05 Grand Cherokee that didn’t have it (or even traction control if I remember correctly), though German cars mostly started getting it in late 90s or early 00s. ESP can be an absolute godsend in the winter because unlike your right foot, it can control each wheel’s brakes individually to prevent skids.
It’s not just trucks, all vehicles have gotten safer and more efficient over time because of regulations that have forced manufacturers to adopt new technologies. I’ve never heard anyone question this before, as it’s so widely known.
You have my thanks, for I did not have the energy for that!
Oh, I probably could have been more clear, I wasn’t asking if newer vehicles were safer or more efficient, just how much more.
But do they have to be huge and tall?
Oh they most definitely do not, they’d be more efficient if they weren’t. And perhaps not safer for the people inside, but safer for everyone else.