Engines rev, guitars thrum and a gruff narrator explains why the vehicle occupying the driveway is more than just a machine. “A truck is a tool, but a ram – a ram is life,” he says.
So begins an ad for the Ram 1500, a pickup truck slightly larger than Nazi Germany's Panzer I tanks and almost as heavy. It is growing in popularity in Europe, with the number of rams arriving on the continent in 2023 increasing by 20% over the previous year, according to European Environment Agency registration data. Road safety and environmental campaigners in the UK and Europe have been appalled by the latest, most extreme cases of the North American car blob – giant pickup trucks – across the Atlantic.
“Europe should ban RAM,” said Dudley Curtis from the European Transport Safety Council. “This type of vehicle is so heavy, tall and powerful that it can be dangerous in collisions with normal sized vehicles, pedestrians and cyclists.”
For now, the giant vehicles flout EU environmental rules, but can be imported through a back-door channel called Individual Vehicle Approval (IVA), which makes them subject to less scrutiny. About 5,000 Dodge Rams were brought into Europe last year, and about 60% of IVA approvals in the EU, Norway and Iceland were for the Ram – its manufacturer, Stellandis, did not respond to requests for comment. Larger pickup trucks like the Ford F-150 and Chevrolet Silverado also come in small numbers. On Tuesday, the Guardian revealed one of Europe's first Tesla cybertrucks may have been incorrectly registered on the same track.
This is the latest development in the global saga of car floats. Sales of SUVs have soared over the years as automakers market larger cars and customers pay premiums to get them. Boasting off-road capabilities that allow them to conquer rough terrain, the heavy-duty vehicles have become common sights on the smooth tarmac of supermarket car parks and concrete pavements outside school gates.
“People wear their big SUV like an expensive coat,” says University College London transport planner Robin Hickman. “It's an aspiration for a certain type of lifestyle that people subscribe to.” However, increasingly, pickup trucks are being marketed as versatile vehicles that urban dwellers can use to meet their daily needs.
Brutal physics reveals a dark side to the big car boom. Simply put, a vehicle with more mass hits a person with more force. But a high bonnet makes it harder for a driver to see a child and their vehicle is more likely to hit their head or an adult's vital organs. Unlike victims of typical car accidents, where they are often thrown sideways or into the windshield, victims of pickup trucks are thrown forward and cut down.
Researchers have seen such mechanisms at work in accident data. In August, the Vyas Institute in Belgium found that a pedestrian or cyclist hit by a pickup was 90% more likely to be injured and nearly 200% more likely to be killed than someone hit by a regular car.
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In November last year, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety in the US found that a vehicle with a high bonnet had a 45% higher risk of fatality if it struck a pedestrian than one with a low and sloping one. In January, an American study found 10cm. Height The height of the bonnet causes a 22% risk of death for pedestrians. The increased risk rose to 31% for those over 65 and 81% for children.
But few are aware of the dangers. 40% of British adults agree that SUVs and pickup trucks are dangerous to others. YouGov reported that in February, the number of owners of such vehicles had fallen to 20%.
Some people justify buying larger vehicles because they provide more comfort for families. Others feel safer in larger cars – even if that safety comes at the expense of others.
“People who buy SUVs are very selfish and don't care about anyone else on the street, or, more often than not, they don't think about those issues,” Hickman said. “It can [one day] If their kids leave the soccer field or get run over by an SUV on the cricket field, then they are horrified.
Researchers suggest that a combination of aggressive advertising, status-seeking and poor public awareness makes it easier for carmakers to push ever-larger vehicles. A study by campaign group Badvertising in 2021 found a positive correlation between UK residents' exposure to an SUV ad and willingness to buy one.
Mònica Guillen-Royo, co-author of the report, said: “The industry's efforts to expand sales of large cars are likely to succeed because they align with people's daily lives, which are designed around car dependence. On the other hand, community efforts to reduce pollution from cars will not be supported by messaging alone.
European cities such as Paris, Lyon, Grenoble and Tübingen have imposed weight-based charges, forcing SUV and pickup truck drivers to pay more for parking. Campaigners are calling on the European Commission to tighten safety rules and close an approval loophole that allows large pickups onto European roads.
“It's an old adage that a chain is only as strong as its weakest link,” said James Nix from the Transport and Environment campaign group. “The EU and the UK have developed a legal framework to protect the public from high levels of air pollution, climate emissions and road safety risks from vehicles. But when importers of mass-market pickup trucks recognize them as 'personal' vehicles, they circumvent Europe's carefully constructed safeguards.
However, despite explosive growth, large pickup trucks will still account for less than 1% of new car and van registrations in Europe in 2023. Vehicles pollute more than conventional cars, but those approved through the IVA loophole are not taken into account. European Union naval level CO2 Target 94g/km for cars and 154g/km for vans from 2025.
To meet the targets and offset the emissions from each large pickup truck, a manufacturer would, in theory, need to put three additional electric vehicles on the road, said Peter Mock, executive director of the European branch of the International Clean Transportation Council. . “Instead of complaining about regulation, automakers would do well to rethink their marketing shift to larger SUVs and pickup trucks.”
