$8.4 Million to Save 7 Unbelted Occupants a Year

According to Autoblog the NHTSA will be requiring all sliding doors to have two latches instead of one. This is to protect unbelted rear seat occupants. The latch alone will come at a cost of approximately $7 per vehicle, however, manufactures have stated that there will need to be significant costly changes made to the B pillar to accommodate the additional latch.

Just taking into account the $7 per vehicle this requirement will cost minivan manufactures $8.4 million. This is entirely too much money to spend in order to save an estimated 7 unbelted occupants a year. The money would be much better spent on a technology, advertising or enforcement that would increase seat belt usage. This would not only save lives in the event of a rollover but also protect the occupants in all other types of accidents.

How to Find a New Car

For all you Bill O'Reiley lovers out there, you will be happy to know that he is in the market for a new car and wants to save the environment by driving a car that gets over 30mpg. On top of that he wants to save the American car industry by buying a domestic model but unfortunately, Bill is unable to find an American car that gets over 30mpg. Yes thats correct, Bill is unable to find an American car that gets over 30mpg. Millions of Ford Focus, Chevy Malibu, Mercury Milan and Chrysler Sebring drivers have found an American car that gets over 30mpg but Bill can't. In this first post by David Kiley he goes into more depth on this issue.

This second post is an update describing David Kiley's and even Ford's attempt to enlighten Bill on the many American models that get over 30mpg.

CAFE Standards

In David Kelly's article on auto beat, he writes about the Presidents March 26th meeting with Ford, GM and Chrysler's CEOs. In this meeting fuel economy and alternative fuels were discussed. This meeting side skirted the issue of raising CAFE standards which I feel was a good thing. I am an advocate of higher fuel economy but I feel that government mandated economy standards, while good and necessary, are not the best solution to Americas fuel efficiency problems.

The Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards are just that, an average of all models sold by a manufacturer. Some models are lower than the average and a penalty is assessed and others are higher where credits may be earned. If the auto manufactures are forced to increase their average fuel economy, they will be forced to produce cars that get more miles per gallon. But that does not mean that the public will necessarily want to buy those models. If the public wants the less fuel efficient vehicles, the modest penalty of $55 per mpg under the CAFE standard of 27.5 mpg will just be tacked on to the cost of the car. The reason why I agree with David Kelly on this issue is that he advocates a demand side way of fixing the fuel economy problem, if the price of gas is more expensive, the public will buy more efficient vehicles. In this scenario an income tax credit will be given to help offset the increased cost to lower income families.

Welcome

I am a political science student at Ramapo College of NJ. This blog was created as part of a project for a class on politics and the media. I will use this blog to discuss the common ties found between Washington politics and the Automotive industry.

Hope you enjoy reading.