Talk:Curb weight

Curb Weight of Cars
is the table in the "Curb Weight of Cars" section necessary for this article? i dont think it adds much. unless it was e.g. top 20 cars sold in the US or was a table cited from the European Directive. its also unreferenced. 164.39.215.34 (talk) 13:00, 26 April 2016 (UTC)

Origin of Name
I would have loved to learn about the origin of the name "Curb" or "Kerb". Any ideas on that? Also, the Audi Glossary link now leads to an ordinary advertisement page... --ComradeMicha (talk) 07:21, 3 May 2010 (UTC)

Kerb refers to the edge of the road. A car parked on the street is parked next to the Curb (or Kerb) and so this is considered the car's idle, driver-free mass, free of grocery and other bric-à-brac with the owner nestled snugly in her (or his) comfy chair by a warm fire in her apartment.

--TimeHorse (talk) 12:14, 14 July 2010 (UTC)


 * The 'kerb' is the side of a road. 'Curb' means to stop or cease doing something. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 95.150.18.209 (talk) 08:28, 15 September 2017 (UTC)

What does the MT / AT suffix for Curb Weight mean?
Some sites quote curb weight as Curb Weight AT or Curb Weight MT. What do these suffixes mean? Automatic Transmission/ Manual Transmission

--TimeHorse (talk) 12:15, 14 July 2010 (UTC)
 * Could you please give an example of such a site so that it can be seen in context? — Smjg (talk) 21:34, 19 April 2011 (UTC)
 * Curb Weight AT means the curb weight of the vehicle with an Automatic Transmission installed. Curb Weight MT means the curb weight of the vehicle with a Manual Transmission installed. Nytewing07 (talk) 01:55, 9 October 2012 (UTC)

Weight, or mass?
This article does not have its scope clearly defined; the lead sentence currently reads: "Curb weight ... or unladen mass is the total weight of a vehicle ...", and the word "weight" is wikilinked, not to Weight, but to Mass! This is disingenuous and misleads the reader (against guidelines), and it shows we don't have our topic defined clearly enough. Does the term refer to weight or mass? (I checked the history; the link used to be to Weight, but an anon IP changed it in 2011.)

While the average layperson might not understand the distinction, the terms are not synonymous. Mass is the amount of matter (inertia) of an object, and doesn't vary with gravity, as does weight, which is the force gravity exerts on it. The reason this is significant, is that there has been an automobile driven by humans on the Moon, where the gravity is only one-sixth that of Earth. The Lunar Roving Vehicle's mass without passengers or cargo stays constant at 463 pounds, which is the same as its weight on Earth. But on the Moon, its weight is only 77 pounds! (There are three of them sitting on the Moon right now.) Which of the two numbers represents its "curb weight"? The confusion, and the misleading wikilink, only make the question more impossible to answer. Is there a reliable source to verify which is correct? Is the term defined, legally or otherwise anywhere?

The article is very poorly verified, with only a single source, a European regulation which doesn't even seem to verify what it's cited for. JustinTime55 (talk) 20:56, 7 August 2014 (UTC)
 * It may be called the kerb weight, but it's the mass which is the actual property of the vehicle. For this reason it's usually specified in kg, which is a mass unit, and it's also called the kerb mass. The actual weight can vary slightly even as you drive to different places, so it's not as interesting of a property. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.114.146.117 (talk) 08:40, 29 June 2016 (UTC)

Curb Weight of Cars – the horrendous table
1) It's way too long. It's primary purpose in this article should be to illustrate the range of curb masses, and if the table is too big the reader loses the big picture.

2) It isn't representative. For example, the Fiat 500 was 499 kg and the new model is still lighter than any listed in the table. And what's the mass of a bus or truck?

3) Given Wikipedia's international audience, the masses should be specified in kg. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.114.146.117 (talk) 08:47, 29 June 2016 (UTC)