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Path: utzoo!linus!decvax!ittvax!dcdwest!sdcsvax!sdcrdcf!hplabs!hao!cires!nbires!opus!rcd
From: rcd@opus.UUCP (Dick Dunn)
Newsgroups: net.flame
Subject: Re: Detroit's dying dinosaurs.
Message-ID: <869@opus.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 3-Oct-84 14:45:15 EDT
Article-I.D.: opus.869
Posted: Wed Oct  3 14:45:15 1984
Date-Received: Fri, 5-Oct-84 20:20:40 EDT
References: <209@gargoyle.UUCP> <352@edison.UUCP>
Organization: NBI,Inc, Boulder CO
Lines: 33

> 	one reason that US autos get bad milage is the way that they
> are constructed, (to save your life, when you wreck) domestic cars
> have to answer to all kinds of regulations and consumer groups.
> (foreign cars do not have this problem).

Fella, the UAW loves you.  But you've missed the truth by a pretty wide
margin...

	"Consumer groups" don't set regulations.

	All autos sold in the US have to meet the same regulations for
	their type (passenger car, light truck, etc.)  In fact, you'll find
	that even if you buy a car overseas, it will have to meet US regs
	before you can bring it in.  Foreign manufacturers have the same
	problems as US manufacturers; however, fuel has been more expensive
	for them for longer, so they've had more time to work on fuel
	efficient cars.  They also saw the small car market and tried to
	sell into it instead of trying to bolster the sagging large-car
	market artificially with high-powered marketing (hand in hand with
	mediocre technology).

	Collision protection is a red herring.  In a collision, the larger
	car wins.  So what?  If your car weighs 3000 lb., I can protect
	myself by getting one that weighs 4000.  You retaliate by getting
	one that weighs 5000, and so on.  It's a no-win game--particularly
	if you meet up with a loaded semi.

	Speaking of collision protection, US manufacturers were the ones
	who pushed the hardest to get rid of 5-mph safe bumpers, and they
	jumped the fastest once that regulation was out.
-- 
Dick Dunn	{hao,ucbvax,allegra}!nbires!rcd		(303)444-5710 x3086
   ...Relax...don't worry...have a homebrew.