Back in the 1970s, the U.S. had a major oil crisis. And the government’s response to this was to roll out policies to encourage carmakers to make more fuel-efficient cars. So, the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) Standards were established to ensure everyday vehicles consumed less fuel and emitted less carbon emissions.
But here’s where things start getting interesting. The law recognizes vehicles in two broad categories. First, there are passenger cars – think sedans and wagons – which get stricter requirements on how much fuel they can use per mileage. Then, there are the light trucks, which, back in the day, meant pickups. These bigger, more industrial vehicles were given a bit more wiggle room on fuel economy because of the heavy-duty tasks they were designed for.
So, automakers got the brilliant idea to simply jazz up pickup trucks into something you’d drive every day, not just for carrying heavy loads. Just like that, the SUV was born.
Now, it doesn’t just end here. The CAFE standards also measure a car by its footprint—which really is the dimension of the car and the space it takes up on the road, marked by its tires. Bigger cars have a bigger footprint, and oddly enough, that means they don’t have to be as fuel-efficient as smaller cars.
So, while the original objective behind these laws was to conserve fuel and protect the environment, they also, inadvertently nudged automakers to think bigger—literally. That’s why today, we’re witnessing formerly compact cars getting larger in size and our roads and lots getting filled with more SUVs than ever.
