Pick-up trucks range in weight from a low of 3700 pounds (empty) to up to 13,000 pounds depending on such things as the manufacturer, year of production and added safety features.
Additionally, their beds provide room to pile on weight that may or may not be secured. Researchers have offered that for the most part today's pick-ups average around 5500 (or five and a half tons) pounds.
On the other hand automobiles are generally of a lighter weight (not including SUVs which will not be considered in this discussion). They weigh in somewhere around 3500 pounds and their weight continues to decline in response to EPA regulations that are requiring greater MPG among other things.
When vehicle manufacturers were challenged to increase the miles per gallon an automobile could get their best response was to decrease the weight of the car. Today's cars have replaced many heavy metal parts with cheaper and lighter plastics.
While this has proved beneficial to increased mileage it is obvious that in a collision between a pick-up truck and an automobile the vehicle with the heavier weight will most likely sustain less damage and offer its driver and passengers more protection.
Of course, all of today's vehicles - both cars and trucks - come equipped with increased and more sophisticated safety systems designed to offer further protection to anyone in an accident - but it is simply pure physics that the object of greater weight will inflict greater damage on an object of smaller weight and size.
Always drive defensively.
Greg Baumgartner is a personal injury lawyer Houston and the founder of the Baumgartner law firm, which is dedicated to helping personal injury victims seek civil justice. If you would like to speak with a Houston semi truck accident lawyer call the Baumgartner firm.
