Autobesity


Autobesity, also known as car bloat, truck bloat and carspreading, is the trend, beginning in about the 1990s, of cars increasing in average size and weight. The average weight of cars sold in Europe increased by 21% between 2001 and 2022. In the United States, SUVs and pickup trucks comprised more than 75% of new sales in 2024 compared to 38% in 2009.

Negative consequences

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.
  • 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. Additionally, larger vehicles are more likely to hit pedestrians when turning due to poorer visibility. Vehicles with higher front ends and blunt profiles are 45% more likely to cause fatalities in crashes with pedestrians than smaller cars and trucks. In the United States, pedestrian fatalities increased by 57% between 2013 and 2022.
  • Parking issues for other vehicles, as they don't fit in typical parking spaces, often occupying multiple spaces.
  • Increased consumption of public space, promoting more sprawling cities and further exacerbating energy and automobile dependency.
  • Heavier vehicles increase road wear.

    Explanations

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, creating a vicious circle. A US National Safety Council expert described autobesity as an "arms race".
Even though this is a decisive factor that some buyers do take into account, even the ones that don't actively search for larger vehicles are affected due to the increase in the number of safety features: from airbags to crumple zones. These require much more space in the vehicle, even adding areas of apparently empty space just so that the bodywork has a larger crumple zone in case of a collision.

Government actions