EU cave in on vehicle trade rules will cost European lives as US pick-up trucks flood into Europe

According to the EU-US trade pact published on 21 Aug, the EU and US “intend to accept and provide mutual recognition to each other’s standards” for cars.

“To allow more US SUVs and pick-ups to be sold with far lower safety and air pollution standards would be a betrayal of all EU citizens. The EU’s planned capitulation on vehicle trade rules is set to cost lives on European roads. To implement this disastrous pact would mean scrapping European laws that mandate emergency braking, seat belt reminders, and ban razor sharp edges on vehicles. These are laws Member States and MEPs would have to 'unmake'. It will be over to MEPs and Member States to see if they are actually going to undo 20 years of road safety improvements", said James Nix, Vehicles Policy Manager at T&E.

Even before this trade pact, 7,000 monster American SUVs – the vast majority being RAM pick-ups – were sold in the EU during 2024 according to sales data analysed by T&E. These large US pick-up trucks were imported and registered in the EU without meeting European safety, air pollution or climate standards under a loophole known as Individual Vehicle Approval (IVA). In more detail:

• Of the 7,000 American pick-ups sold in the EU last year through the IVA loophole, nearly 5,200 of these were RAM pick-up trucks.

• CO₂ emissions from RAMs average 347g per kilometre, over three times the average for newly-sold cars (106 g/km), and almost double the emissions of average new vans (185 g/km)

• Pedestrian road deaths in the US are now three times higher than in Europe (after having been roughly the same in 2009), with the rapid rise in monster SUVs heavily implicated in the sharp increase in pedestrians killed on US roads (see graph below).

• The EU-US trade deal lowers the sales price of RAM pick-ups by an average of €6,000 in Europe.

RAM pick-up truck captured by T&E in Brussels, image free to use.

Sales of RAMs in the EU rose 6% last year to around 5,200, bringing the total number of RAM pick-ups on European roads to around 25,000. Pre-2019 import data points to very few RAMs on Europe’s roads just six years ago. The bonnet height of RAM pick-ups trucks is around 130 cm, nearly twice as high as mid-sized family cars such as the VW Golf (approx 75 cm). RAM bonnets are so high that children aged up to nine years old standing directly in front cannot be seen by the average driver.

RAM pick ups are not type-approved to be sold on the EU market, but are imported under IVA, ostensibly to be sold on a one-off or ‘individual’ basis. Already, the IVA rule, intended for niche uses, is being roundly abused by German and Dutch Type Approval entities, which approve 69% and 30% of RAMs respectively, said T&E. Imports of three other pick-up trucks – the Ford F-150, the Chevrolet Silverado and the GMC Sierra 1500 – have skyrocketed from 157 in 2019 to approx 1,700 in 2024 [1].

The EU Commission’s proposals to close the IVA loophole tabled in early July are now at risk from an EU-US trade pact which states that the EU and US “intend to accept and provide mutual recognition to each other’s standards” for cars.

CO₂ emissions from RAMs average 347g per kilometre, over three times the average for newly-sold cars (106.8 g/km), and nearly double the emissions of average new vans (185.4 g/km). Safety features mandatory for all newly sold cars and vans from July 2024 are not required in RAM pick-ups and other IVA-imported vehicles. In a collision, a pick-up truck is almost three times more likely to kill a pedestrian or cyclist than a normal car, previous studies have shown [3].

“The sad reality, as shown by US crash data, is that oversized US pick-up trucks kill more pedestrians and are a particular threat to the safety of children. We need urgent action to keep non-compliant US pick-ups out - not let more in”, said Nix.

The EU pledge to recognise US automotive standards will cost European lives. EU road safety standards protect citizens, according to road fatality data analysed by T&E. Pedestrian road deaths in the US are now three times higher than in Europe, having been roughly the same in 2009. Sky-rocketing sales of pick-ups in the US are heavily implicated in its elevated pedestrian death rate.

EU rules also include pedestrian protection on vehicle fronts which have been further strengthened since 2009 in Europe, but are not mandatory in the US. In contrast to the US, the EU also requires automatic emergency braking (AEB) on newly-sold cars and vans, and seat belt reminders for all seats.

The new EU-US trade deal also makes it cheaper to sell US vehicles in the EU. A RAM pick-up will be €6,000 cheaper as a result of the lower tariff, T&E estimates [4].

ENDS

Notes to editor

[1] IVA imports of Ford F-150 pick-ups have gone from 126 in 2019 to 850 in 2024, and over the same period, Chevy Silverados went from 17 to 695, while GMC Sierra 1500s have increased from 14 to 151.

[2] In early July, the EU Commission published a draft Delegated Act which would:

• Count the CO₂ emissions of IVA vehicles in the fleet average emissions of vehicle makers towards their EU emissions targets (e.g. RAM pick-ups would be counted under Stellantis);

• Require IVA vehicles to comply with EU on-road air pollution limits (i.e. real-world tests)

• Require IVA vehicles to increasingly meet more recent EU safety rules (with rules phased in over the late 2020s and early 2030s);

The Commission is currently taking feedback and is expected to put a proposal before member states for formal approval by the end of the year.

[3] Link to VIAS Institute study.

[4] Price difference calculated using the average suggested retail price (net) for RAM 1500 models provided by official importer AEC Europe (€73,770), with an assumed VAT rate of 20%. The average price has been recalculated to reflect a reduced import tariff of 2.5% instead of the original 10%, in order to estimate the impact on final retail prices after lowering the tariffs.