Americans should drive smaller vehicles

Even more so than with houses, American cars have gotten larger over the past several decades. Many online articles have explained and analyzed that trend and we won’t repeat that analysis here. The EPA’s Automotive Trends Data page provides data on vehicle weights since 1975 and shows that two factors have contributed: increasing production of SUVs and trucks as compared with cars and station wagons and increasing average weights of vehicles in all classes. So, Americans are buying more SUVs and trucks and those SUVs and trucks (and other vehicle types) are getting larger. This website allows you to compare the size of many different car models manufactured from 2007 to 2024, showing the growth in particular models over time. This article explains that fuel economy has improved despite the increasing vehicle sizes but emphasizes how much more fuel economy might have improved with smaller vehicles.

While American cars have been getting larger, American families have been getting smaller. This combination of trends means that the average amount of car per person has increased significantly since 1980. In 1980, the mean family size was 3.29 people and the mean production vehicle weight was 3,228 pounds, so the average weight per person was 981 pounds. In 2023, the mean family size had decreased to 3.15 people and the mean production vehicle weight had increased to 4,371 pounds, so the average weight per person was 1,388 pounds. So, there was 41% more car per person by weight in 2023 than in 1980.

Sources: Historical Households Tables, Explore the Automotive Trends Data | US EPA

Larger vehicles are more dangerous for several reasons. Their additional weight makes accidents more severe, especially for pedestrians and people in smaller cars. They have larger blindspots. They are more difficult for other drivers to see around and over. Their headlights blind drivers of smaller vehicles. People who buy large SUVs and trucks often cite increased safety for them and their passengers as a reason and that is generally true for front-seat passengers, although not necessarily for rear-seat passengers. Moreover, the hazards of these large vehicles to others far outweigh the benefits to their occupants. One study estimated that more than a dozen lives are lost in smaller vehicles for every life saved by the heaviest one percent of SUVs and trucks.

In addition to these safety concerns, there are several other concerns associated with larger vehicles. Larger vehicles have worse fuel economy, requiring greater fossil fuel production and contributing more to global carbon emissions and climate change. Larger vehicles require more raw materials to build, which also requires more fossil fuels and emits more carbon. And larger vehicles take up more space on the roads and in parking lots, sometimes to the point where they don’t fit in lanes or parking spaces. A 2024 YouGov poll found that 51% of Americans think large vehicles consume too much fuel, 51% think they are too difficult to park, 26% think they are too dangerous to others, and 20% think they are too difficult to drive.

Public policies have attempted to address some of these harmful effects but have done so inconsistently and have been unsuccessful in reversing the trend toward larger vehicles. Since 1975, the federal government has set fuel efficiency standards known as CAFÉ (Corporate Average Fuel Economy) standards for manufacturers and has imposed penalties on manufacturers for failing to meet those standards. As noted above, those standards have contributed to improved fuel economy but have not reversed the trend toward larger vehicles and they are likely to be even less effective in the future. In the 2025 funding bill formerly known as the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” Congress eliminated the penalties on manufacturers for violating the standards. So, the standards are still in place, but there are no penalties for violating them. And recently, the Trump administration proposed significantly reducing the average fuel economy required by those standards.

The federal government also has set safety standards for motor vehicles since 1968. However, those standards have historically focused almost entirely on safety to people inside the vehicle. And, again, those standards have not prevented the trend toward larger vehicles, despite the fact those vehicles are more dangerous to people in other vehicles, pedestrians, and cyclists. No significant federal or state policies directly address passenger vehicle size; as long as manufacturers meet overall fleet fuel efficiency standards and individual vehicle safety standards, there are no incentives for them to produce smaller vehicles. Indeed, manufacturers and dealers are incentivized to produce and sell more SUVs and trucks because of higher profit margins on those vehicles.

So, how can we encourage Americans to purchase smaller vehicles? It would help if we would stop subsidizing fossil fuels and would increase gasoline taxes so its price were closer to its true societal cost, which some estimates place as high as $15 per gallon. Of course, we would need to plan for the effects of higher gasoline prices on industries like agriculture, construction, and shipping. And higher gasoline prices would not necessarily cause people to drive smaller vehicles; they might just drive hybrid and electric versions of large vehicles.

Recent data suggest that costs may finally be starting to reverse the decades-long trend toward larger U.S. vehicles. An average midsize sedan costs about $33,000, which is less than half the price of an average full-size SUV or pickup. And the sedan is also much less expensive to operate, maintain, and insure.

The government could further incentivize people to buy smaller cars through tax credits similar to the electric vehicle credits that were included in the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, but were eliminated in the 2025 funding bill. The federal government incentivizes many behaviors it considers beneficial to society through the tax code, including getting married, having children, buying a home, owning a business, donating to charity, and saving for retirement. It could similarly incentivize people to purchase smaller, safer, more efficient, more considerate vehicles.

Of course, a small percentage of Americans require large vehicles for their jobs or their unusually large families. But the vast majority of Americans’ transportation needs could easily be met by a mid-size hybrid or electric sedan. Annual surveys of Ford F-150 truck owners from 2012 to 2021 found that only 28 percent frequently used their trucks for hauling and only 7 percent frequently used them for towing. Instead, 87 percent frequently used them for shopping and errands, 70 percent frequently used them for pleasure driving, and 52 percent frequently used them for commuting. They could have easily done their shopping, pleasure driving, and commuting in a Toyota Prius weighing 3,000 pounds with a fuel efficiency of 56 miles per gallon instead of in an F-150 weighing over 4,500 pounds with a fuel efficiency of 18 miles per gallon.