USA Today: Safety Could Suffer if Cars Get Smaller

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Washington DC May 22, 2009; The AIADA newsletter reported that the Obama administration's sweeping fuel-economy and emissions initiative announced Tuesday reopens a fierce debate over tradeoffs between fuel economy and auto safety.

According to USA Today, some safety experts say the sale of more small cars, which are more dangerous in crashes than larger ones, will endanger drivers.

The National Academy of Sciences, Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, Congressional Budget Office, and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration have separately concluded in multiple studies dating back about 20 years that fuel-economy standards force automakers to build more small cars, which has led to thousands more deaths in crashes annually.

Even though the standards were updated in recent years to reduce the incentive for automakers to sell more small cars by allowing different fuel-economy targets for different vehicles, the fastest way to make cars more fuel-efficient has been to make them smaller.

The fatality rate in car crashes reached its lowest ever in 2007 and is projected to drop even lower for 200—to 1.28 deaths per 100 million miles traveled.

Although the Obama administration maintains the new fuel standards can be met without forcing more small cars into the market, many say automakers will resort to smaller and lighter vehicles instead of improved technology in order to meet the fuel efficiency deadline.

To read USA Today's full research on Obama's new fuel standards and the auto industry's safety standards, click here.