No the regulations did not cause people to buy trucks/suvs. It exempted them from fuel efficiency requirements. People want to drive tanks but if we make tanks expensive they won’t. I’m not sure though if it’ll work since the average truck/suv is 50k with many close to 80k.
What they need to do is increase visibility requirements and make the trucks safer for pedestrians.
Whether the regulation gives +1 to category A or -1 to category B the net result is the same. The reduced relative compliance burden on category A makes the end result have more bang for its buck than category B.
You can see this in all sorts of corners of the economy where goods subject to different levels of regulation compete.
What they need to do is increase visibility requirements and make the trucks safer for pedestrians.