Autoline on Autoblog with John McElroy

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Will They Ever Stop Writing Regulations?

Every single year, for almost 40 years, politicians and regulators have written piles of laws and regulations to control the automobile. And yet, there’s no end in sight. Right now they’re working on regulations that will take us out to 2025 and beyond. Will it ever end?

Worst of all there is no coordination between government agencies, so we get regulations that work against each other. NHTSA mandates safety equipment which makes cars heavier which makes them burn more fuel. The EPA mandates more stringent emission standards that make it harder to meet CAFE. And CAFE forces us into smaller cars which are not as safe. Around and around and around it goes.

There is roughly ,000 in government-mandated hardware on every car today, based on information from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. And this doesn’t capture the cost of engineering all this stuff in the first place. Nor does it come close to capturing the cost of the armies of people that automakers have to hire to monitor all these regulations and fill out all the paperwork.

Cars are definitely safer, cleaner, and more efficient today. And yes, some of that is thanks to these regulations, but more of it is due to competition in the marketplace.

So when I look at the reams of new regulations that are coming down the pike, I have to ask: Do we really need so much more regulation? Or have we hit the point where the regulators are simply trying to make sure they keep their jobs?

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Autoline on Autoblog with John McElroy originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 26 Apr 2010 16:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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