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Automakers work on ways to slim down as gas price tops $3 a gallon. (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14187951/)

Roland Jones - MSNBC.com - Aug 14, 2006

http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/501/Toyota_Sequoia2.jpg

Ballet dancers and professional jockeys are not the only ones who worry about weight. U.S. carmakers worry about it too, and with good reason: Even as the price of gasoline has crept higher in recent years, their cars are piling on the pounds.

The average weight of a U.S.-made vehicle has increased by 500 pounds over the last 10 years to 4,142 pounds, according to the latest data from the Environmental Protection Agency. The average weight of current vehicles is now the heaviest since the EPA began measuring weight in 1975.

“This is a huge issue,” Kevin Reale, an automotive analyst at Boston-based AMR Research. “One of the biggest things driving this weight increase is everyone wanting bigger engines and more horsepower. And then on top of that we are seeing people want all of the new components like DVD players and other entertainment devices in their vehicles. All these things are starting to add up.”

News of the increased weight comes at the worst possible time for drivers. Increasing the weight and horsepower of a vehicle decreases its fuel efficiency, and with gasoline recently soaring to a record high above $3 a gallon, the cost of fatter cars is likely to hit motorists hard.
Carmakers are constantly working on ways to reduce weight, notes Reale. At Chrysler, for example, engineers look for parts they can make out of lighter-weight aluminum instead of steel, said Reale, although they then have to do a cost-benefit exercise to ensure changees are not too expensive and do not compromise safety.

“This is the constant tradeoff in (the) vehicle development process,” Reale said. “You have to balance cost, weight, the government’s fuel-efficiency standards and crash test results. After all, anyone can build an all-aluminum vehicle which will weigh next to nothing when compared with its steel counterpart, but you would jeopardize safety standards and likely push up the cost of the vehicle. So this is a balancing process.”

Increasingly, automakers are asking their suppliers to reduce the weight of parts. Magna International, for example, used alternative materials for moldings on the Lucerne for a net weight loss of 5 percent, according to trade publication Automotive News.
While automakers have worked to develop fuel-saving technologies, improved aerodynamics and more lightweight materials, the changes have not been enough to offset the weight gain notes Paul Newton, an automotive analyst at consultancy Global Insight.

“Size and weight are two factors often mistakenly believed to increase safety by the consumer, adding to the difficulties automakers have in overcoming inertia in the market place and developing lighter vehicles,” Newton wrote in a research note, adding that part of the vehicle weight increase is due to America’s love affair with bulky sports-utility vehicles.
But the much-maligned SUV is not entirely to blame for the increase in vehicle weight. Newton notes that the size of all vehicles in the various model groups has grown over the past decade. The Honda Civic subcompact, for example, has grown from 3.7 meters in 1975 to 4.2 meters in 2005 and has more than doubled in weight from 1,494 pounds to 2,976 pounds.

Given the likelihood of higher energy prices in coming years, Reale thinks automakers should be looking further down the road when it comes to improving the fuel-efficiency of their vehicles. With terrorism, unrest in the Middle East and pipeline problems in Alaska driving up the cost of gasoline, the cost of operating a car isn’t likely to decline in the near future, he notes.

“The days of designing vehicles for today have gone,” said Reale. “I think the challenge a lot of automakers have today is designing vehicles for when gasoline is at $4.50 a gallon — they need to think about fuel costs a few years out.”
Consumers are going to demand these changes, Reale added. Smaller cars — like the Honda Fit, the Toyota Yaris, the Kia Rio, the Chevy Aveo and the Mini — have outsold trucks in the last four out of seven months, he said.

“Small cars racked up about 30,000 sales in July alone,” Reale said. “The reason people are moving into small cars is high gas prices, and as prices go higher sales in this segment can only grow.”

the population weighs more. maybe they need the cars to carry 'em all.....

Generally speaking increases in horsepower do decrease efficiency because horspower is usually increased by increasing displacement, which decreases efficiency during normal operation by increasing pumping losses. Otoh, as long as the hosepower increase doesn't come from an increase in engine displacement, but via gains in efficiency, forced induction, increased pm, or additional motors, then pumping losses won't increase.
Regarding safety, a confounding factor is cost. Small cars are usually small because they are cheap, and as such the focus isn't on safety, it's on cost. With larger sedans safety is looked at a bit more because the individuals buying these cars are more concerned about safety. If a manufacturer were to build a compact that had the same cost as a full size sedan, with the extra cash all going to safety, it'd probably be one of the safest cars out there. But they don't for the same reasons they don't minimize drag or build EVs that cost a fraction to operate with equivalent range and power, the money isn't there for them if they do.

I'm sort of he relief pitcher on posting articles.

Yes, I skimmed the article as work was hectic Monday.

The basic points seem on target - heavier, faster vehicles, lower fuel economy. Will have to produce the goods later, but I've quoted the average vehicle 0-60mph time from 1980 to today has gone from fifteen to ten seconds, and vehicles average 1,000 pounds heavier.

I'll leave this to another discussion, but the power electronic appliances such as car stereos may have more of an impact than their weight.

I think their point is that the little things add up. So what if my head unit weights 5 lb? Nothing. But let's add a 15lb amp, six 4lb speakers, a fair bit of sound deadening material in the doors, floor, firewall, and possibly the trunk area. Then there's the weight of standard power windows, power mirrors, power locks, power seats at a few more pounds a piece for all of the motors, solenoids, control circuitry, receiver, etc. Hmm...not that it's there anymore, but that factory wing probably weighed 5-6lb. Most vehicles have four airbags, many have 6, 8, maybe even 10. So no, that doesn't make a 2500lb car into a 4,000lb car. But it "nickel and dimes" you up the scale.

For a much simpler, clearer argument that weight is increasing just look at how the same model of car gets bigger and heavier each time it is re-designed. Again, you're talking about a few hundred pounds per vehicle but that has a pretty large effect on the overall average.

This article may be weak on some of the details but they're right about the overall trend. We do drive heavier vehicles.

i have to agree with parts of this. i bought my first honda in 1985, a 4 door accord. it was about the size of the civic today, and just as affordable. a few years later the accord became the larger car, and the civic took up the slack as their small car.

If a manufacturer were to build a compact that had the same cost as a full size sedan, with the extra cash all going to safety, it'd probably be one of the safest cars out there. That's exactly what VW does. The Jetta and Golf (at least the 2000 and 2001 versions that I own) are subcompacts (89cf of passenger space) but cost as much as many midsize cars. They're also appointed like your typical midsize car in terms of standard equipment, fit and finishing. And they have multiple airbags (even my '01 Jetta has 6 airbags, something unheard-of in small cars 7 years ago), and whaddaya know ... they are best in their class in crash tests.

Unfortunately my Jetta/Golf are also pushing 3000 pounds, as much as most midsized cars weighed until recently.

But Honda has proved with the Fit that you can make a very nicely appointed small car with efficient packaging and great safety ... and it will sell.