If the EU cars aren't "safe enough" for the US then sure. Some of it is political silly buggers and protectionism but at the end of the day countries (or unions of countries) can set their own rules.

If the US wants to sell cars to the EU, they can. Plenty of countries export cars to the EU just fine. It's not the EU's fault that American car manufacturers make dangerous vehicles. It's also not American car manufacturer's fault that European cities and roads are often smaller and Europeans have less appetite for road deaths. But it is their fault if they want to export to that market without making any effort to design suitable cars for it. American exporters aren't granted a God-given right to inflict American standards in the rest of the world.

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ExoticPearTree an hour ago | parent [-]

How are US made vehicles dangerous?

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georgefrowny an hour ago | parent [-]

If they don't meet EU safety standards, they are, by definition, legally unsafe for sale in the EU.

Front sightlines are a common example given for larger pickups and SUVs. Pedestrian outcomes in collisions are also given more weight in the EU standards (which is why you can't buy a Cybertruck).

American semi trucks are also generally considered unsafe for that reason plus overall length - nearly all EU and UK HGVs are cabover models.

There's no rule againt US-made vehicles. It's just that many vehicle models that happen to be made and sold in the US don't meet safety requirements in other places.

You can well argue that EU vehicle standards are excessively strict (many EU residents may agree or disagree on various aspects), but coming at it from "very unfair trade, it's a huge deficit, sad!" angle seems more like simping for car manufacturers then reasonable public safety policy tuning.

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ExoticPearTree 42 minutes ago | parent [-]

> nearly all EU and UK HGVs are cabover models

and

> There's no rule against US-made vehicles.

It feels very much an anti-US rule to me.

	▲	Tor3 7 minutes ago \| parent \| next [-]
		"It feels very much an anti-US rule to me." It isn't. Quite the opposite. It's about a level playing field. There are standards for allowing products to market, some of them are more costly to implement. US car makers want to sell at lower standards than competitors, that's not a level playing field.
	▲	georgefrowny 22 minutes ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		It feels very much like a self-inflicted problem that manufacturers made by lobbying for domestic rules that they knew to be incompatible with foreign markets, followed by inability to innovate sufficiently to supply both markets economically. I have no sympathy with this plight. They should take responsibility for their past choices. It's not even that you can't see big pickups in the EU, there are plenty of Hiluxen and even Chinese brands like Maxus (SAIC) could figure out how make an EU-compliant vehicle (much as I think even such models are undesirable to share roads with). It's also not there are no US imports - there are, when the models comply with local regulation.