OT? EPA Says 55 mpg by 2026

Here is an idea. Let the market dictate what folks purchase.

Oh and where is the discussion of the lives rolling beer cans / golf carts cost us when they get is traffic accidents

Good point. Why don't you get the discussion started. Start by posting some facts and figures to validate your concern.

Accident rate Injury rate Cost of repairs

What else should be in the discussion? What facts do you have so far?

Here is a good start:

Study Shows How Death Rates for Drivers Vary by Car Size

Unsurprising if you understand the basic physics.

But the death rate is much lower in any sized cars than it used to be.

That has been know for a while. What does it have to do with new regulations? The real test is one size vs another size. As all cars become the same the difference will diminish over time. It is just simple physics and mass calculations.

Do you have anything showing hos big or small cars will be in the time frame for the new regulations?

They will never replace trucks with econoboxes and that is where the biggest difference lies. If you are in a "Smart" car and get hit by an F350, you are probably going to the hospital or the morgue. EPA granting the exemption at a ton (capacity) only encourages people to buy bigger vehicles than they need. I am reminded of the tax loophole that had housewives in H1 Hummers.

The Smart has the same crash test rating as a Chevy Malibu. Are smart cars safe in a crash?

The answer is a definitive, YES. SMART cars are safe, and here's why. SMART cars have a Tridion safety cell - a structure that surrounds the vehicles' occupants and acts as a strong protective cage, preventing any distortions and keeping those inside intact in the event of an accident.

The OP made the assumption we will all be driving small cheap Econo-Boxes to get the mpg but that is not true. As more EVs are sold you can still sell a percentage of full sized cars and the EV does not have to be small to get a good rating.

Perhaps he is involved the auto industry and has information we are not privy too and can elaborate with some facts and figures.

So they will just cook the books with enough EVs to offset the SUVs. OK Cool. I forgot this was the average sold, not necessarily the miles driven.

Oh I see where you are coming from. If all cars were beer cans, then the death in aiunjury rate would fall.

I do not wee that at ghig speed: seat belts, air bags, whatever a "Tridion safety cell" is are all great ideas and are helpful. But they can not overcome Energy = (1/2) * Mass * Velocity Squared. The only was to increase fuel efficacy past the theoretical limit for energy conversion of fuels is to decrease air resistance and to decrease mass.

Air resistance, high efficiency engines have pretty much reached their limits. So mass it is. And decreasing mass, makes beer cans more of a death trap. It is that Velocity Squared that gives new meaning to a flattened beer can.

I can only see making all cars beer cans killing everyone is both cars instead of just the one.

I have not seen any math on it yet. It is politically incorrect, so it would have to be T4e some third party doing the study.

Just let the consumer pick what he wants. The government needs to BUTT OUT of our lives.

"The State educates the citizens to civism, makes them aware of their mission, urges them to unity; its justice harmonizes their divergent interests"

-- Giovanni Gentile, The Doctrine of Fascism

Ya, lets slowly slip down that slope. Worked really well too.

Why are you limiting yourself. EV, fuel cells, who knows what else changes the limits.

I can see that to a point but without regulation, would we have the safety devices that all cars now have? Do away with crash testing?

Which car do you want to load your family into?

My family loaded me into a '51 Chevy and drove from NY to Seattle and back in '52. I'm alive. The Chevy had a painted steel dashboard with two little hand prints worn down to the primer because I liked to stand up and lean on it to see where we were going.

It is absolutely necessary to have some regulation.

There is also a such thing as going way, way overboard and it is time for the authoritarians butt out out of our lives.

EV's (rolling fire bombs) do not have a reasonable range. And charging them is a pain in the ass.

I love the idea of H2 fuel cells, except the fuel is 11 times more expensive that gasoline for the miles traveled not to mention hard to find.

Gasoline engines are here to stay for a very long time. Well at least until H2 comes way, way down in price.

That isn't the case with this pandemic.

Wrong with this pandemic.

Most H2 is a byproduct of natural gas

Are you a one trick pony that can shift a discussion about automotive regulations to the medical field? Or, as our beloved but addled leader would say, 'one horse pony'.

With a major byproduct of carbon monoxide.

The best solution I can find see is hydrolysis from these new design small constant running nuclear power plants that can't melt down.

The H2 tanks in car are very difficult to catch fire in an accident and if they do the fire ball float up and away from the accident very quickly.

Fix the H2 source and supply and cost problem and I LOVE to have a H2 car. Well, as soon as Subaru makes one. But I do not think I will live long enough to see that. Love my Forester.

Nukes can produce H2 directly not via hydrolysis.

The problem with hydrogen is the pressure the tank has to withstand.