SUV ban in california?

[NSX-R-SSJ20K]

BBC: SUV ban in Cali

Sounds a bit over the top.

[Neutrino]

It is a bit extreme....and i think the best solution would be to encourage people to make more sensible choices.....

one way is to put a tax on big SUV's and trucks that you don't use for a practical purpose.....there is nothing wrong with a contractor that carries stull all day to own a truck...

also i wish manufacturers would consider the rest of us that drive cars when they design them.....don't make your rear glass windows limo dark so we can see a bit.....lower the front bumper so during a head to head colision they don't override all the crumple zones cars have and kill the driver.....mercedes did that on their M-classe.....why is so hard for detroit to be more considerate to the rest of us

[NSX-R-SSJ20K]

yea but people also jack up their trucks so they ride higher and i've heard to many stories about cars being run over and killing the occupants inside by such trucks.

In recent crash tests tho didn't most SUVs and Trucks fail them.

[Neutrino]

yeah lifting truks will ad to the problem.....

[YogsVR4]

Originally posted by Neutrino
It is a bit extreme....and i think the best solution would be to encourage people to make more sensible choices.....

one way is to put a tax on big SUV's and trucks that you don't use for a practical purpose.....there is nothing wrong with a contractor that carries stull all day to own a truck...

also i wish manufacturers would consider the rest of us that drive cars when they design them.....don't make your rear glass windows limo dark so we can see a bit.....lower the front bumper so during a head to head colision they don't override all the crumple zones cars have and kill the driver.....mercedes did that on their M-classe.....why is so hard
for detroit to be more considerate to the rest of us

I wouldn't mind if the manufacturers produced better cars. I do totally disagree with using a tax on items just so people won't buy them. I've not run into a case where I like to see any tax used to modify behavior.

[NSX-R-SSJ20K]

Originally posted by YogsVR4


I wouldn't mind if the manufacturers produced better cars. I do totally disagree with using a tax on items just so people won't buy them. I've not run into a case where I like to see any tax used to modify behavior.

It doesn't work either people just end up paying more spending less and the economy goes kaput.

[2strokebloke]

"SUVs give a higher viewpoint of the road - because I'm short in a traditional car I could never see over the bonnet!

It's very useful, it carries a lot, it has four wheel drive which is handy because here we have very brutal winters.

They also feel much more solid, here when driving with so many big trucks on the interstate where things are so much bigger it is easier with a bigger car. "

Well she's an idiot.
I personally though, don't feel that they should be banned. I'd like to believe that people are smart enough to make good choices. Unfortunately, there's an over abundance of stupid people in the U.S.

How a 4000lbs.+ vehicle with a seperate frame chassis can feel "much more solid" to her is beyond me.

I've gotten through winters that send SUVs skidding off of the roads with my '82 toyota just fine. Hasn't anybody gotten the concept that a heavier vehicle slides farther? (No, the majority of SUV drivers don't understand that four wheel drive only gets them moving, not stopping)

[TexasF355F1]

Thats just all the damn hippy members of the EPA trying to protest something they dont like. Well the so called "freedom of speech" we have gives us the right to buy things that other people dont like. And not all SUVs are 4 wheel drive. How come these environmental activists never take into consideration that the increase in temperatures each year is not necessarily the ozone layer. They need to look at how many huge huge buildings and the large amounts of concrete there are to reflect the sun thus increasing temperatures...duh. I will be simply impossible for them to completely ban SUV's b/c too many people have them. And just b/c people drive SUV's doesnt mean they are bad drivers or want as soooo many people in this forum believe want to "own" the rode and feel "mightier" than everyone else. Everyone I know that owns them like the way they look not b/c their higher up or any of that non-sense. And as for gas guzzling, if someone with an SUV only drives 5 miles to work and someone with a little so called economical car drives 30 miles, how is there a difference? My roomate use to own an Acura Integra and I filled my tank up less times than he did, consistently.

[2strokebloke]

"To hell with safety and efficiency!, it looks cool!"

As to your comparison between the small car going 30 miles and the large car 5, the large car took more metal to build - smelting metal creates alot of pollution. And when the vehicles have reached the end of their useful lives, there's more crap rotting away and polluting from the large vehicle than there is in the small vehicle... something alot of people also seem to forget.

[taranaki]

It's not the most urgent piece of legislation that I could possibly imagine.The trick would be to make them less trendy.


Perhaps if you were to legislate that all suv's were to carry a sign in the back window,'caution,statistically speaking,I may well be a dickhead'.

These vehicles were never designed to be armoured handbag carriers.If you don't feel safe on the roads in a small car,take the bus.If you want to kid yourself that you are safer in a vehicle that is much easier to roll,go ahead.And if you think that a rail chassis will give you better protection in a collision than a crumple zone,feel free to drive into something solid to test your theory.

If you are buying a SUV to tow heavy loads in slippery conditions ona regular basis,good for you.If you are buying one because it looks big and shiny outside Starbucks,you're a f'in' idiot.

[TexasF355F1]

Originally posted by taranaki
If you are buying a SUV to tow heavy loads in slippery conditions ona regular basis,good for you.If you are buying one because it looks big and shiny outside Starbucks,you're a f'in' idiot.

Thats a pretty ignorant statement Naki, I wouldn't expect that from you. Lately you seem to be in a rather more pissed off mood than you use to be.

[2strokebloke]

Ignorant? I'd say it's right on.

[Jay!]

On the emissions front, especially in CA, I was recently told that while they're total facists about automobile emission testing and modification, they make no effort to smog check the thousands of 18-wheeler trucks choking our freeways.

Can anyone confirm this? I can't find anything about it, but it they really don't do it, there may be nothing to find... I wonder if they can't legislate because it wuold interfere with interstate commerce or something...

[DMC12]

Originally posted by jay@af
no effort to smog check the thousands of 18-wheeler trucks

Big rigs are usually diesel-powered. I know that the diesel pasenger cars are exempt from smog checks - probably the same for big rigs. I've heard that diesel emissions are less harmful that gasoline.


Oh, and abou that article... I found this line very amusing:

No one buys a car because of how they feel.

Funny, that is the exact reason I bought my SUV. 280 horses, rear wheel drive and I don't get blown all over the road by other cars passing me. Hmmm... it felt d*mn good to me when I test-drove it.

[TexasF355F1]

Yea if its anything people should be worried about its the damn 18 wheelers. Those guys suck at driving. And 2stroke, just b/c you think its right on doesn't mean your right. Thats your opinion and your welcome to that, but to call someone a "f'in idiot" b/c they drive something that you dont like is ignorance. Just b/c I hate ricers or dont care for Yugo's doesn't mean I think the people that drive them or are into that are "f'in idiots". Its a preconcieved notion that people who drive SUV's buy them to "feel bigger" than everyone and while it may be true for some assholes, its not true for all of us.
Supposedly diesel is not as "harmful" to the environment to as gasoline engines. But I don't see how that is when they pump out huge clouds of black smoke.