Regulation Policy

Fuel Economy Standards Kill, Not Sports Vehicles

The federal Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards -- mandated to reduce gasoline usage -- have resulted in lighter cars. They have also resulted in less safe cars and between 2,000 and 4,000 additional traffic fatalities a year, experts report.

But the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration continues to defend the CAFE standards, repeatedly claiming they have no safety effect. Several years ago, a panel of federal appeals judges blasted NHTSA's position as "fudged analysis," "statistical legerdemain," and "bureaucratic mumbo- jumbo."

Since CAFE standards for light trucks are considerably more lenient than those for ordinary passenger cars, consumers have flocked to sports utility vehicles (SUVs) -- which are considered light trucks and are heavier and safer. But critics are out to get SUVs, according to auto industry observers.

  • The current CAFE standard for passenger cars is 27.5 miles per gallon -- while the standard for light trucks is 20.7 mpg.

  • CAFE-induced downsizing -- which has reduced the weight of the average car by about 500 pounds -- has increased car occupant fatalities by between 14 percent and 27 percent, according to a 1989 study from Harvard University and the Brookings Institution.

  • Although SUV critics contend those heavier vehicles pose a threat to the lives of motorists in typical passenger cars, a study issued last month by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety reported that collisions between cars and SUVs account for only 4 percent of car occupant fatalities.

  • Paradoxically, a NHTSA report last year found that a 100 pound increase in passenger car weight would save 500 lives a year -- while a 100 pound decrease in SUV weight might prevent 40 fatalities a year, which the report called not statistically significant.

Environmentalists and the Clinton administration are adamantly opposed to lowering CAFE standards. So the fatalities continue.

Source: Sam Kazman (Competitive Enterprise Institute), "Large Vehicles are the Solution, Not the Problem," Wall Street Journal, March 12, 1998.

Home | Support Us | All Issues | Social Security | Debate Central | Contact Us

Dallas Headquarters: 12770 Coit Rd., Suite 800 - Dallas, TX 75251-1339 - 972/386-6272 - Fax 972/386-0924
Washington Office: 601 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Suite 900 South Building - Washington, DC 20004 - 202/220-3082 - Fax 202/220-3096
© 2001 NCPA