Official leaves SUV safety up to industry

By Jocelyn Parker
Knight Ridder News Service

WASHINGTON — The head of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has backed off from earlier comments implying that sport utilities are unsafe vehicles.

Rather than endorsing tougher government oversight of SUV safety, Jeffrey Runge said yesterday he was willing to give the industry a chance to come up with its own improvements.

In testimony before the Senate Commerce Committee on the safety of SUVs, Runge said the industry can move faster than the government in many cases and might be better equipped to take on design changes.

"It takes a long time to do the research and development," Runge said. "We are hoping that the industry can move faster in parallel with us."

Meantime, NHTSA is continuing to study SUV rollover rates and the way cars and light trucks react when they collide, Runge said.

Runge created a stir in January when he came to Dearborn, Mich., and warned that some SUVs are unsafe because of their tendency to roll over. He said that consumers should use caution when purchasing the vehicles and that he wouldn't let his own child drive some of them.

Among the statistics Runge presented last month: SUV occupants are three times more likely to die as a result of a rollover than occupants in a car.

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., organized yesterday's hearing in part to get Runge to expand on his remarks. Runge said he only wanted to warn buyers to make informed choices when selecting vehicles.

Families with young drivers should be especially careful, he said, because SUVs handle differently — and are sometimes more prone to rollover — than cars.

"My answer was never about SUVs generally," Runge said. "It is inappropriate to generalize any vehicle class. There are many SUVs that are safer than cars."

Runge, nevertheless, didn't dismiss the option of mandating changes in safety standards, if necessary. Congress could also impose mandates upon NHTSA, which could force more regulations in the industry.

For Runge, a former emergency-room doctor, addressing SUV safety is a top priority. His agency has set up teams to evaluate issues such as rollover and how damaging it is for a light truck to hit a passenger car. Both problems have become major safety issues as SUV sales have boomed in recent years.

The industry has also been trying to address safety hazards and has said it can implement many safety changes in half the time the government can. Earlier this month, automakers agreed to voluntary standards that would make cars hold up better in collisions with SUVs and other light trucks.

Government regulation can add years to a project, according to the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, a trade group representing several automakers.

But McCain, who said he and his family drive SUVs, expressed skepticism about the automakers' efforts to regulate themselves. Automakers, he said, have testified in the past and said they "couldn't afford seat belts and airbags."

"Clearly, Runge is in favor of voluntary standards," McCain told the Detroit Free Press after the hearing. "But there's a feeling that because of the magnitude of this issue, it doesn't lend itself to voluntary standards."

McCain said he will meet with Runge in about a week to discuss the issues again.

Ultimately, it should be up to the government to mandate safety changes, said safety advocates.

"The American car-buying public has to rely on NHTSA to proactively set out safety standards and that vehicles meet these standards," said David Pittle, senior vice president of technical policy for the Consumers Union.

The automakers said they have already come up with better safety devices for SUVs, such as electronic stability and traction control systems and anti-lock brakes. They're also building more car-based SUVs, which are less prone to rollover because they're lower to the ground.

Ford Motor Co.'s safety chief placed some of the burden on U.S. drivers.

"Too many Americans ignore the most effective safety system in the vehicle: the seat belt," said Susan Cischke, Ford's vice president of environmental and safety.

Government statistics show that if seat-belt use increased to 90 percent, up from 75 percent in 2002, 4,500 lives could be saved each year.