Lutz calls for crash test break so small cars can be brought to U.S.
With this year's rise in gas prices, sales of small fuel efficient cars have gone through the roof and companies like Ford and Honda are selling every single Civic, Fit and Focus they can produce. Over in other parts of the world, automakers have long sold many vastly more efficient cars that aren't available on American roads. American drivers aware of this are of course clamoring for these cars to be offered here, but since those vehicles aren't designed for the American market, automakers just can't bring them over as is. Automakers are planning to bring the next generation of many of these smaller cars to the U.S. market with cars like the new Ford Fiesta, but most aren't due for a makeover for a few more years. To address this problem, last week at a 2009 model preview in Illinois, GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz called for a three-year moratorium on some crash test requirements. The idea is that companies like GM would be able to use that time to temporarily bring in some existing models from overseas to cover the gap until cars designed to meet U.S. standards are ready. That would potentially allow us to get cars like the Opel Corsa and Chevy Beat onto American roads. Many of you expressed interest in sacrificing safety to get better efficiency, so how do you feel about this proposal?
[Source: Wards Auto World]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Christian Edstrom 2:54PM (9/03/2008)
Sounds like a reasonable option to me. The cars already pass Euro NCAP standards, so it's not like they're unsafe. The variances between US and NCAP standards hardly seem like a reason to keep the cars out. Ideally, it would be made permanent, allowing cars that pass either NCAP or US standards to be sold in the US, lowering the barriers of entry to other European manufacturers. Oh wait, that's probably not what Lutz wants.
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Fuzzball 2:57PM (9/03/2008)
Sounds good to me. IMHO the less Darwin Award Winners on the road, the better; the gene pool could use a little cleansing.
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AZEqualizer 3:00PM (9/03/2008)
I guess US standards are only convenient when you are keeping out the competition.
Actually isn't it time to have a common standard between the US, the rest of North America and Europe? IMO they should just have a crash test rating system for vehicles that show from 1-5 stars the impact sustainability of vehicles. And let Darwin take some credit when the consumer makes the choice.
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GoodCheer 3:03PM (9/03/2008)
You need to have either one of two things:
1. Cars that are built to handle crashes of all kinds.
2. The ability to lose you driver's license.
I would support trading (1) for (2). I think it would be good for the country as a whole, but with the quality of drivers that are allowed on the roads in this country, stupidly safe cars are pretty necessary.
I mean seriously... what would you have to do to lose your license? There are people on the road who have killed cyclists, pedestrians, other drivers on several occasions and get a 1 week suspension. It's pretty ridiculous.
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aquariumwarehouse 3:02PM (9/04/2008)
Its about time. I suggested this 1.5 years ago here: that congress pass emergency moratoriums on emissions and safety requirements of tiney imported cars. Yes I agree with many of you, European cars are no doubt as safe as American cars, as are European emissions requirements "comparable" to ours. It could even be "profit making" to the big 3 (at least) to sell say 5,000 or 10,000 tiney "gray market" cars this year. Until our designs and society catch up.
Likewise, WHO CARES THAT A TDI Jetta and the likes are 50 state compliant?....sell those that are 49 state compliant and screw California and a couple other states with extremely rigid emissions laws. Even if good drivers in 40 states had high MPG cars, that's a good start for Energy Indepandance and America.
Rick 7:01PM (9/03/2008)
Sounds reasonable to me as well. Small cars are only 'unsafe' when a towering gas hog SUV slams into it. In 3 more years, I would hope the number of SUVs on the road to decrease while the number of small cars to increase. Therefore the streets would be safer :)
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woodenbee 12:37PM (9/05/2008)
makes perfect sense, and any notion that European cars are any less safe than American cars is just a bureaucratic snafu.
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Brandon 3:41PM (9/03/2008)
This is the first intelligent thing I have heard come out of Lutz's mouth. Coming from Lutz I almost want to change my mind and be against this, because everything he has said in the last several years has been idiotic. This would be great and should be a no-brainer. This is supposedly a FREE country and I am FREE to buy a motorcycle and ride it on the freeway with no helmet, but I am not FREE to buy a VW Polo or Chevy Beat because its "unsafe"? Whats wrong with this picture. If this ever came to pass it would have to be accompanied by a moratorium on our stupid emissions standards as well so we could get all the real fuel efficient lean-burn gasoline and diesel engines that CARB and the oil company controlled EPA have made illegal.
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Relocalize 3:54PM (9/03/2008)
Impose the three year moratorium and impose rough kinetic energy based speed limits based on vehicle size classifications. Only draw back, trying to explain kinetic energy to Joe/Jane Public.
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dhofmann 4:15PM (9/03/2008)
Just install speed limiters. A car that can't go over 55 mph doesn't need as much crash protection as one that can.
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Nick 4:21PM (9/03/2008)
Sounds good to me. Go for it !
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Andy 4:21PM (9/03/2008)
You mean the Smart, Yaris and Fit aren't small enough?
Is this just a "here we go again" with American car makers whining about how hard life is while the rest of the industry kicks their butts?
Or am I just a troll?
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Bill 10:11AM (9/04/2008)
You're just a troll. This would apply to all automakers, not just the domestics.
Actually, this sounds like a "here we go again" with some American car buyers whining about the American manufacturers, even though they're just trying to make a break from past mistakes, adjust to a major market shift, and weather a recession all at the same time.
Glenn 12:17PM (9/04/2008)
Smart, Yaris and Fit aren't GM products.
Tim 4:25PM (9/03/2008)
How safe is "safe enough"?
How much "federal regulation" is enough?
How much "big brother" do we NEED?
The NeoCon-Fascists and Democrat-Socialists ALWAYS answer... MORE!
Too bad they shut out any REAL alternatives.
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Mike!!ekiM 6:20PM (9/03/2008)
With 50,000 highway fatalities every year, yeah, I'll still be asking why they can't be safer.
But, some top speed control computer program would be helpful. At least an 80 mph stop speed to start, that would save a lot of fuel and a lot of teenager lives.
Whopper 4:31PM (9/03/2008)
For years the FAA has accepted the airworthiness decisions from other countries as being acceptable. There is no reason why this cannot apply to automobiles as well.
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Rich 4:36PM (9/03/2008)
If they can bring in European cars than I want to bring them in also. What's good for GM should apply to the little guy too!
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Jimbo 4:47PM (9/03/2008)
I agree with the idea but I can just see the insurance industry use this as an excuse to jack their rates on these "non-qualified" vehicles.
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Student Driver 4:48PM (9/03/2008)
Actually, the Fit isn't "small enough" as it had to be lengthened to support US-approved bumpers.
As for me, I'm not only fine with this, but also what others have mentioned and some sort of consistency between US and Euro/UK rules regarding safety. It seems like it would be a lot cheaper and easier to build to one "set" (they wouldn't be exactly the same, but at least a lot closer) of standards.
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