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Originally Posted by jamesqf
Would you care to offer some evidence that US safety standards are in fact more effective than European ones? My impression is just the opposite: that once you correct for the higher population density in Europe, and the greater amount of travel on divided highways here, you find that it is in fact safer to be driving a European car than an American one.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by dcb
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I wasn't going to continue participation in this discussion, but due to my unsavory comments earlier, I owe at least an intelligent discussion instead of an angry rant.
First off, I'm not saying that European vehicles are any less safe than ours.
*I'm offended that GM is asking to break the rules instead of engineering their way out of the problem. As we have seen, if you force a car company to advance (read CAFE over the last 30 years), then they will step-up R&D to develop the goal. Otherwise, they stagnate in favor of profit.
*The argument is that Lutz wants a moratorium on all crash testing of small cars for 3-years. Even if this is passed, the
Insurance Institute for Highway Safety will conduct their own tests and report the results (
and adjust premiums accordingly across the board.) That means all of us would be subject to a rate hike.
So what are the differences in safety testing between the U.S. and the European Union?
*Ford's research shows of 43 tests, 11 are similar. Some of it comes down to simple items like amber rear turn signals instead of red. The biggest ones are the non-deformable barrier in frontal collision tests and protecting unbelted passengers with padded dashes and interior components (both U.S. requirements). Others include height differences of the crash test dummy and head restraints designs (EU).
*There is a 10-year goal to harmonize major components of the crash testing.
*The Mini Cooper and Smart Cars both underwent the proper re-designs for the US, but was re-re-designed for pedestrian impact safety for the EU.
The easy answer is to throw out the regs and produce what you want. We live in the United States (at least those of us in this discussion so far), so we have to follow the NHTSA's rules. I propose a push for a panel to harmonize the testing sooner, or temporarily adopt EU standards for certain car classes.
I would love to have these cars available here. I too have little doubt that they are as safe or safer than our regs suggest. Where I do have the problem is to halt crash testing, altogether.
Bottom line: I'm afraid GM would sneak in cost-cutting measures with the US-bound vehicles to skimp on all regs during this moratorium.
Inquiry: Where does Canada fit into the mix? I recall trying to import an Acura CSX (fancy Civic) a few years ago and the red-tape was a nightmare.
RH77