I agree it’s as silly as it is unproductive to claim that Reagan is directly responsible for something like this, as if everything he did was somehow written in stone for 30+ years.

The person you replied to was referencing the CAFE standards, which are far more lenient when it comes to so-called “light trucks”. Thanks to a vague legal definition that was never changed , “the class includes vans, minivans, sport utility vehicles, and pickups” (source). Since inefficient “light trucks” are much more profitable than fuel-efficient cars, that’s where the marketing budget went for the last couple decades.

A couple of important hiccups, though:

1. The CAFE standards were enacted in 1975. Yes, Reagan pushed back during his presidency in the 80s, but how does that make him directly responsible for the state of automobiles in 2023 again?
2. The study cited by this article was conducted in fucking England lol