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Table 1-25: Median Age of Automobiles and Trucks in Operation in the United States

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Year Automobiles Light trucksa All trucksb
1990 6.5 N 6.5
1991 6.7 N 6.8
1992 7.0 N 7.2
1993 7.3 7.1 7.5
1994 7.5 7.2 7.5
1995 7.7 7.4 7.6
1996 7.9 7.5 7.7
1997 8.1 7.3 7.8
1998 8.3 7.1 7.6
1999 8.3 6.9 7.2
2000 8.3 6.7 6.9
2001 8.3 6.1 6.8
2002 8.4 6.6 6.8
2003 8.6 6.5 6.7
2004 8.9 6.4 6.6
2005 9.0 6.6 6.8
2006 9.2 6.8 6.9

KEY: N = data do not exist.

a Gross vehicle weight 1-3.

b Gross vehicle weight 1-8.

NOTE

The National Household Travel Survey (formerly the Nationwide Personal Transportation Survey), conducted by the U.S. Department of Transportation, estimates the mean age of household vehicles for several years:

  1969 1977 1983 1990 1995 2001
Automobile 5.1 5.5 7.2 7.6 8.2 8.5
Van N 6.4 8.5 5.9 6.7 7.0
Sport utility N N N N 6.6 6.1
Pickup N 7.3 8.5 8.4 9.7 9.4
Other truck N 11.6 12.4 14.5 14.9 16.8
RV/motor home N 4.5 10.7 10.4 13.2 12.5

KEY: N = data do not exist.

The 1969, 1977, 1983, and 1990 surveys do not include a separate category for sports utility vehicles (SUV), while the 1995 and 2001 surveys do. In the 1990, most SUVs were classified as automobiles. SOURCE: U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration, 1995 Nationwide Personal Transportation Survey: Summary of Travel Trends (Washington, DC: 1999); U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration, Bureau of Transportation Statistics, 2001 National Household Travel Survey (NHTS) data, available at Internet site http://nhts.ornl.gov/2001/index.shtml as of Aug. 21, 2003.

Data are as of July 1 of each year.

SOURCE

The R.L. Polk Co., Internet site http://www.polk.com as of Mar. 26, 2007.