Curb weights have climbed relentlessly for thirty years, and the reasons are mostly defensible in isolation but ruinous in aggregate. We walk the safety-regulation mass that crash structures and airbags add, the battery penalty that pushes EV pickups past three tonnes, the comfort and footprint creep, and the unintended costs: tire particulate, road wear that scales with the fourth power of axle load, longer stopping distances, and a lethal danger asymmetry to everyone in a lighter vehicle or on foot.
Lightweighting
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Why Modern Cars Are So Heavy