[Bror Jace]

"America has historically had counterproductive safety and efficiency standards. Our safety standards cause our automobiles to be heavy and inefficient. When faced with a choice between safety and efficiency our legislature always lets efficiency standards slip in favor of safety.

I was at a symposium of automobile designers and one of them stated that the American 5mph impact with no damage standard "costs" 500 lbs and 20% fuel mileage. He stated that a 20% gain in fuel efficiency was well worth telling Americans to stop bumping in to things in parking lots!"

That's interesting ... and a little amusing ... but it's even more complicated than that. As costs for fixing the slightest parking lot bumps goes up from $0 to hundreds of dollars ... we'll all be paying hundreds more per year in car insurance ... which would go a long way to wipe out the dollar value of those efficiencies.

But then again, I find the 500lbs/20% figures a bit hard to swallow on their face. We can make a very plain, but very aerodynamic front end with the same weight and strength as current cars ... but with gas $3 or less, the companies (foreign and domestic) figure Americans would prefer more distinctive-looking vehicles instead.

I think that's about to change.