Autobesity

The SEAT 600, at about 600 kg and three meters in length, was the best-selling car in Spain in the 1950s and 1960s.

The SUV Hyundai Tucson was the best-selling vehicle in Spain in 2022. It can weigh over 1800 kg and measure over 4 and a half meters in length.

The size and weight of automobiles have increased over the past few decades.

Trucks' share of US vehicles produced, has tripled since 1975. Though vehicle fuel efficiency has increased within each category, the overall trend toward less efficient types of vehicles has offset some of the benefits of greater fuel economy and reduction in carbon dioxide emissions.^[1] Without the shift towards SUVs, energy use per unit distance could have fallen 30% more than it did from 2010 to 2022.^[2]

Autobesity, also known as car bloat and truck bloat, is the trend, beginning in about the 1990s,^[3] of cars increasing in average size and weight.^[4][5] The average weight of cars sold in Europe increased by 21% between 2001 and 2022.^[6] In the U.S., SUVs and pickup trucks comprised more than 75% of new sales in 2024 compared to 38% in 2009.^[7]

Among the consequences of increased car weight and size are:

• Poorer air quality, even with electric vehicles, because heavier vehicles have higher energy consumption and release more tyre and brake particles (non-tailpipe emissions).^[3][8]
• Reduced road safety, as heavier vehicles have greater kinetic energy, and taller vehicles are more likely to strike pedestrians in the head and torso, or even not be able to see small children who are below the driver's line of sight.^[9][10] Additionally, larger vehicles are more likely to hit pedestrians when turning due to poorer visibility.^[11][12] Vehicles with higher front ends and blunt profiles are 45% more likely to cause fatalities in crashes with pedestrians than smaller cars and trucks.^[7] Pedestrian fatalities increased by 57% between 2013 and 2022.^[13]
• Parking issues for other vehicles, as they don't fit in typical parking spaces, often occupying multiple spaces.^[14]
• Increased consumption of public space, promoting more sprawling cities and further exacerbating energy and automobile dependency.^[15]

An individual driver may choose a large car for personal safety, though it threatens other road users. This in turn pushes others to choose large cars, a vicious circle. A US National Safety Council expert described autobesity as an "arms race".^[16]

• France, Norway, and Washington, D.C. tax vehicles by weight.^[17][18]
• A 2023 European Parliament report proposes introducing a new "category B+" driving licence for cars heavier than 1,800 kg (4,000 lb).^[19]
• From 2024 Paris will charge greater parking fees for SUVs.^[20]
• In September 2024, the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration proposed a rule mandating manufacturers to test their vehicles using pedestrian crash test dummies, with an estimate of saving 67 pedestrian lives per year.^[13]

• What is Autobesity? About Words - Cambridge Dictionary blog - New words – 21 August 2023