- The Consumer Organization in Germany is suing the country’s transport authority over full-size American trucks.
- DUH demands that KBA provides information about permits issued for pickups such as the Ram 1500 from Ram.
- Large trucks do not comply with EU type approval regulations and must be separately approved by KBA.
The President recently complained that Europe is not buying enough American cars. And now, a German consumer association is working to make it even harder for some American vehicles to hit the roads in their country.
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The environmental and consumer protection organization Deutsche Umwelthilfe (DUH) believes that full-size American trucks are too large, pollute the environment, and pose a hazard, and has filed a lawsuit against the Federal Motor Transport Authority () to compel it to provide information on trucks operating in the country.
Why American Pickups Are Under Suspicion
Large (by European standards) trucks, such as the Ford F-Series, various Ram models, and similar pickups from GM, do not meet European regulatory standards for type approval regarding safety and emissions, unlike smaller American cars, such as the Ford Mustang and .
They emit up to nine times more carbon monoxide particles than regular European cars and are often not equipped with safety systems that are mandatory in the region, claims DUH. And at lengths of up to 6.8 m (266 inches) and widths up to 2.7 m (106 inches), they create problems on some European roads and often do not fit in European parking lots.
Each imported example in Europe must be separately approved, and DUH is concerned that 80 percent of the 4,025 registrations in 27 EU countries during 2023 were made in Germany. Almost 3000 trucks of interest to DUH were , despite Stellantis pickups only ranking third after the Ford F-Series in the new car sales chart in the USA for 2023.
DUH previously asked KBA to provide information on individual approval permits for the XXL , but since it refused to comply with the request, environmental advocates stepped up the pressure and took the transport authority to court to force it to provide the requested data, citing the Environmental Information Act.
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“Large climate damages and an increased risk of serious traffic accidents are tolerated”, reports Jürgen Resch, Federal Director of DUH, by allowing trucks to avoid type approval regulations.
Resch and DUH urge the German government to impose high taxes and parking restrictions to limit the appeal of trucks and reduce their numbers in the country.