There are hundreds of regulations that Congress and agencies have imposed on the auto industry, driving up their costs unnecessarily. As an illustration, these are the new rules from the DOT identified by Wayne Crews in the 2008 edition of Ten Thousand Commandments:
– Reform of the automobile fuel economy standards program.
– Light-truck Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards (2012 model years and beyond).
– Upgrade of head restraints in vehicles.
– Rear center lap and shoulder belt requirement.
– Monitoring systems for improved tire safety and tire pressure.
– Automotive regulations for car lighting, door retention, brake hoses, daytime running-light glare, and side impact protection.
Plus these from the EPA:
– Rulemaking to address greenhouse gas emissions from motor vehicles.
– Clean air visibility, mercury, and ozone implementation rules.
– Review of National Ambient Air Quality Standards for lead, ozone, sulfur dioxide, particulate matter, and nitrogen dioxide.
– National emission standards for hazardous air pollutants from … auto paints.
These rules and all those from previous years need to be reanalyzed in the light of the industry’s troubles to see whether they should be repealed, suspended or weakened. In particular, attention should be paid to their aggregate effect on the industry. A deregulatory bailout would save the industry billions, and also save thousands of lives.
Loading ...
It seems like an analysis could show how some regulations could be consolidated and simplified. Clearly safety is a key issue, but I bet many of the regulations contradict each other.
The sad thing is that unelected people are trying to validate there jobs under the guise of public safety.
While you are all waiting for another brilliant post here at the wings, why don't you take a detour overInstead of saving the big three, maybe it is time to look at the pros and cons of switching to an electric car economy; some thought on it href=http://acreofindependence.com/2008/12/13/electric-cars-in-america-can-we-do-it/>here ; I understand that the idea of a major infrastructure investment may make some readers here cringe, it is almost a sunk cost at this point, and I would rather see the government try to implement something like this than the big dig on a national scale.
Cheers, and good night.
I am sorry, cut and paste error on that last comment, my mistake. I am not a robot, I am not a robot!
This level of detail is mindboggling. I have this much detail at work to enhance some computer programs for one department. And these are rules from the Federal government to auto companies? In effect, the DOT is the user and writes the requirements automobile engineers to implement.
Our car industry started dying the day it lost it's vision and couldn't come up with a better one.
Fingers can be pointed at all parties. This mess in the auto industry is 40 years in the making. Contracts agreed to that cannot be supported. Government regulations that like many other things the politicians do makes little or no sense and end up costing millions of dollars. A Trade policy that is out of balance in favor of every other country. The lack of an energy policy and the unwillingness to drill and explore in our own country. A global warming scam read tax scam that is beyond comprehension. We now find ourselves backed into the final corner. Get ready Social Security, medicare and medicaid are just around the corner.