Unpacking Car Bloat: The Rise of SUVs and Pickups

SUVs and pickup trucks make up more than four out of every five new cars sold in the U.S., and in Canada, they represented 86 per cent of all vehicles sold in May of last year. 

Lots of these vehicles bill themselves as “safe,” but safe for who? The drivers and passengers? Or everyone else?

David Zipper, a senior fellow at the MIT Mobility Initiative and a contributing writer at Vox and Bloomberg CityLab, has coined the term “car bloat” to describe the ever-expanding size of the average automobile. 

He joins the show to talk about the enormous problems these cars are causing, how they got to be so huge, and whether the trend will continue.

For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts