This is going to be a really, really weird rant. Sorry. Not really aimed at you.
This is just so frustrating because it’s an unintended consequence of people trying to do good.
That truck is ugly. I mean… darn, that truck is ugly. Compare that truck’s ugly mug with say, a 1999 Dodge Ram 1500. Or a 1979 Ford F150. Or a Chevy Square Body truck.
The tires are big, because everyone wants big tires. 33" tires are the new standard, where tires used to be like under 30" standard. Part of that is because the roads suck so much, and because having big tires and big wheels makes fuel economy easier with the final ratios. So you have a work truck rolling on 20’s now.
That pushes the axels up, which pushes the engine up, which pushes the hood up.
But this means the bumper needs to extend down, below the axles, way down, so it hits other vehicles on their bumpers.
And safety standards says that the hood needs to have crush space on top of the engine - about 3-4". of the largest engine. Which is already pushed up because of the axles. So you have to have the entire V8 engine on top of the axles. And another 3-4" on top of that.
Which gives you that ugly vertical wall that’s like 4’-5’ tall and looks like complete arse. So let’s fill it with sparkly lights, nonfunctional doodads to distract you from it, and a large grill that is mostly fake.
Of course, the hood needs to be high to protect pedestrians, and no one ever considered that the pedestrians might be safer if people could actually see them…
And yet, the streets are filled with these ugly, ugly trucks. Why? ROAL COAL BOYS!!!
No. Wait. Not really. I mean, country assholes going to be country assholes, but they’ve always been country assholes. They would have had stupid trucks since the invention of stupid trucks, at least if they could have afforded them. They are loud and vocal and annoying… but they aren’t really why there are so many more trucks on the road.
It’s really more of a problem with environmental standards and safety standards. Cars and SUVs have gotten more and more specialized to carrying humans. Which is what humans use them for, 90%+ of the time. Cars and SUVs are optimized for carrying humans, trucks are optimized for carrying stuff. The problem is, as the optimizations for cars for efficiently carrying humans around safely and fuel efficiently have improved, their ability to haul stuff has decreased.
Cars used to be capable of towing stuff. Now, most cars can’t. SUVs used to be capable of hauling stuff and towing stuff. Now, not so much. (There are some that can, but most SUVs are now cars that are really, really tall.)
And this is where things get really, really frustrating.
If you own a trailer or need to haul something more than about 2 times a year, your kind of stuck owning a truck so you can haul it. Owning a truck costs a little bit more than owning a car. Owning a car and a truck costs a lot more than owning a truck.
And yes, “Just rent a truck when you need one”. Have you tried renting a truck to pull a trailer that will seat four people? Go ahead and go check the national rental agency’s web sites. Hint: most of them will not let you tow with their trucks, even if they rent them. There’s always uHaul who will rent you a truck that you can tow with - it’s a 15’ box truck that costs $19.95 a day plus mileage, your soul, and dignity.
So, this all combines to mean that a lot of people who would prefer to be driving a nice car instead need to drive a nice truck. Which means a lot more trucks on the road. Which makes the roads more dangerous for everyone, because of that guy who you hate for driving the 350 truck into the office every day when he could easily be driving a small, reasonable car who would love to be driving a small, reasonable car but can’t because he owns a trailer that he likes to use to go camping with his family six times a year and he can afford the F350 but he can’t afford the F350 and the small car.
Except it’s really because of those increased safety standards and efficiency standards which make vehicles less suited for some tasks and push people into the vehicles suited for their needs which people then blame them for. (Most people are not, in fact, absolute idiots; they tend to optimize for their situations.)
Which is a very long-winded way of saying- perhaps we need to reevaluate the pedestrian safety standards when it comes to consumer trucks because we seem to have made a wrong turn somewhere along the way and figure out some way of encouraging automakers to build non-truck vehicles which have more tow capacity.
If we can convince people that 20" wheels on trucks look stupid, that might help too.
