Higher Fuel Economy or better safety?

Annabell Bevier: To your first paragraph, yes. It will be a sacrifice of safety.However, the cars of today are mostly safer AND more efficient than cars of 10 years ago, or 20.20 years ago, a minor accident didn't damage the car, but the occupants were more likely to be injured than they are today. I see customers all the time with cars that were totalled, and they walk away without a scratch....Show more

Victor Macallister: This is an excellent question. Every automobile is something of an engineering compromise between safety, looks, and the technology that consumers desire for their cars. In this case, safety and gas milage may very well be a compromise. Perhaps the real answer is creating a better mass transit system...

Raymundo Kyser: Cars are meant to crumple now. The action of the car becoming smashed takes all the energy from the impact and disperses it before it can reach the passenger compartment. When an older car was hit, the car would sustain l! ess damage, but the force delivered to the passenger compartment was greater because the impact was not softened by the collapsible materials.Think of it like this: take a small pillow or towel and strap it to your hand and smack a wall with it. now take a book of the same thickness as the pillow or towel and hit the wall. Which one hurts more?...Show more

Daria Verfaillie: We can get both, it takes time though. Think, if any car manufacturer was capable of making a full size car, truck or suv get 35mpg we'd already have it and it's be the #1 selling vehicle? The problem is, too many people are incapable of waiting more than 30 seconds for a Starbucks latte much less waiting for technology to develop.Not to mention I get a kick of people like Da Boogie Man who owns an SUV but thinks certain others shouldn't. The Prius showed that the Hybrid car is marketable. Too bad for Chrysler, because they were experimenting with the concept almost a decade before but abandoned i! t. And now it looks like the Chevy Volt is the car to trump th! e Prius in a few years. Basically the Bill is to increase to fleet average of Auto manufacturers not that all cars and trucks have to get 40mpg. Toyota will still have their Prius or whatever street legal golf cart and still make the Premium fuel sucking Tundra and other SUVs....Show more

Antone Bual: We can do both. There are other fuels, better materials, and greater technology. Think of cars 20 years ago - the ones built today are much more advanced and safe, there's just more of them on the roads today to get into accidents.

Star Gollnick: Care to substantiate your higher injury and death rates claim? The number of motor vehicle deaths has actually declined slightly over the past 25 years despite a growing population, more miles driven per year per capita, and the lifting of the 55 maximum limit.The main safety problem with lighter cars are collisions with less light cars. Making them ligher is not the only way to make them ore efficient though. Over the p! ast decade car makers have focused on making engines more powerful for the same displacement rather than more fuel efficient. If everyone were willing to settle for an I4 with 140 hp rather than a V6, overall fuel economy would increase a great bit....Show more

Dwight Siniard: I rebuilt a mustang when i was a kid, turns out that cars having poor gas mileage is a scamthere are many much more efficient ways to build cars and last 3 to 5 times longer.... why they are refusing and playing dumb is up to speculation

Tomi Vauters: Getting drivers out of their SUV's will be a step toward safety. I have one, but many people on the road are little old ladies and small women that can't see over the steering wheel.By the time the fuel stardards are fully enacted the world will be out of oil so it doesn't matter.