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Car Industry "Buried Report Showing US Car Safety Flaws Over Fears For TTIP Deal"

Posted by samzenpus on from the more-good-news dept.

schwit1 writes: The American auto industry has been accused of withholding a report that showed U.S. cars are substantially less safe than their European counterparts. It is alleged that releasing the study would hamper the drive to harmonize safety standards as part of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) deal. The research was commissioned by the car industry to show that EU and US safety standards were similar, but the research actually showed that American models are much less safe when it comes to front-side collisions. András Bálint, Traffic Safety Analyst at Chalmers, told the Independent: “The results of our study indicate that there is currently a risk difference with respect to the risk of injury given a crash between EU specification cars and US models. Therefore, based on these results, immediate recognition of US vehicles in the EU could potentially result in a greater number of fatalities or serious injuries in road traffic. The potential impact is difficult to quantify because it depends on a number of other parameters.”

6 of 181 comments (clear)

  1. Well, that was quick by muecksteiner · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Retaliation for the whole emissions standard thing.

    Not that either is ok: neither should VW have cheated, nor the U.S. automakers ever have been so lax w/r to crash safety.

    1. Re:Well, that was quick by sosume · · Score: 3, Interesting

      The VW cheating resulted in two positive outcomes for the public. First, buyers have to pay far less environmental tax. Second, since the engine runs much more efficient in normal mode, resulting in lower diesel consumption. So they did most of their customers a favor while pissing off the authorities.
      I'd say having a bad crash safety record is a lot worse than that.

    2. Re:Well, that was quick by njnnja · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I wouldn't jump to the conclusion that US automakers are so much more dangerous than European cars. In public crash testing by say IIHS and NHTSA, there are differences but nothing to be alarmed about. But in any particular study, if you run 20 tests, you are bound to find something alarming at the 5% level of statistical significance.

    3. Re:Well, that was quick by Grishnakh · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Actually, you're wrong about cars being lighter. Cars 40 (really more like 45: 40 years ago was just after the OPEC crisis when suddenly Honda Civics became all the rage) years ago were about the same weight as cars now--roughly 3000 pounds. Google it. Cars back then had somewhat heavier body panels and frames, but a lot less other stuff: interior parts, safety equipment, air conditioning, power steering, etc. Cars probably reached a minimum weight in the late 70s and 80s, and have been climbing back up in weight since then, though they've probably gone back down a bit in recent years thanks to higher use of aluminum and high-strength steels.

    4. Re:Well, that was quick by JoeMerchant · · Score: 1, Interesting

      My 1980 Honda Civic (with comfortable seating for 4 6'2" adults) weighed something ridiculous like 1600lbs before the people got in it.

      10 years later, a "super lightweight" Mazda Miata was tipping the scales around 2200lbs.

  2. Good, I hope this sinks TTIP by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Good riddance.