NHTSA to Reform Fuel Economy Regulations

The National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration (NHTSA) has announced that they will issue an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) on CAFE Reform later this year. For more information, visit FuelEconomyIn.US (http://thecre.com/fuel/economy.htm)'s Fuel Forum (http://thecre.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?forumid=6)

We are here to serve as your voice before NHTSA.

What will these proposed rules change?

The government is looking to change the way the regulate fuel economy. NHTSA recognizes that that their current regulatory regime can have a significant impact on safety, the economic well-being of the automotive industry and the nation's energy security.

O.K. - uh in which way are they looking to change the way they regulate economy? (are they finally going to get rid of the CAFE standards?)

NHTSA hasn't decided how they are going to "reform" CAFE, although scrapping it is not likely to be on the table. The purpose of the Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking is to obtain comments from the public on just how they should change the system. That's where we come in. We want to work with automotive enthusiasts to ensure that our interests are represented before NHTSA. More importantly, we want to make sure that, when NHTSA changes their regulatory regime, they do not make the situation worse.

Raise the fleet mpg for SUVs. Or rather than having a fleet "average" why not just set a limit to how inefficient a vehicle can be?

How about changing the CAFE format from Car and Light Truck averages to ONE "Light-Vehicle" average? This way a manufacturer can make cars for those of us who like them to balance out the lower gas mileage trucks that the manufacturers find so profitable. Instead of dealing with vehicles that "blur the lines" of car and truck (like the PT Cruiser), everything under 8500lbs GVWR would fall under ONE category.

In this plan, instead of having a car CAFE of 27.5 and a truck CAFE of 20.7, you could have one CAFE of about 24...since the car/truck sales split is almost 50/50 currently.

Just an idea....I thought it was obvious, but apparently it's not.

A lot of ideas, including very good ones, are necessarily obvious to anyone else at first. That's why we will be asking our Grassroots Network for their ideas and bringing them to NHTSA. Please join, its free and we're not selling anything. More importantly, we and NHTSA could use your help. http://thecre.com/fuel/economy_register.htm