[MarkeyD]

I don't understand why this is such a big deal. Why not raise fuel efficiency?

[Dan Cooper]

I don't understand why this is such a big deal. Why not raise fuel efficiency?

Because it is at the expense of safety. People by and large buy SUVs for safety. In order to make them more "fuel efficient" you have to make them lighter. The government shouldn't be messing around with safety to satisfy someone's notion of what is "fuel efficient" or not.

[brewcrew]

Here's why it's such a big deal: You give consumers the choice. The market will decide how fuel efficient it needs to be.

[Smokin' Joe]

Raising fuel economy is one thing, but the light truck, especially what were once known as 4 wheel drives (before the SUV) has been castrated and candy-a$$ed to the point that anything under a 1 ton is pretty much useless.

You cannot continue to lighten frame and body on these vehicles and have anything durable. Smaller engines just mean less ability to pull.

At some point, safety is compromised, as well.

My '75 FJ40 Toyota Landcruiser is a 4 wheel drive, heavy, durable, factory roll bar (twice been tipped over in remote locations, pulled upright, fluids replaced, and driven away in less than 1 hour). Don't try that with a new one.

I have a '41 International pickup. The chassis elements are tremendously overengineered--International did so on purpose, recognizing that their market was to farmers and people who would work the truck for a living, expecting the owners to load as much on the truck as would fit, with regard only for the tires. When they lightened the frame in the '60's a lot of pickups got swaybacked from being loaded like the old ones.

[gcruse]

Why not raise fuel efficiency?

Why not order the cost of medical research down?
In other words, as the USSR discovered, central planning
is a pale substitute for the free market.  In the old days,
a conservative was someone who not only claimed to
believe that, but actually practiced it.

[foghornleghorn]

Why not raise fuel efficiency?

Why not have the government dictate everything related to any and all manufacturing? But let's not call it National Socialism.

[RightWhale]

I don't understand why this is such a big deal. Why not raise fuel efficiency?

No kidding. Half a billion vehicles on the road any given day is eating our national wealth. Our cars are worth more than our houses. We could live like kings, but we live like lemmings.

[Dan from Michigan]

I don't understand why this is such a big deal. Why not raise fuel efficiency?

That should be for the MARKET to decide, not big government.

[Bikers4Bush]

Why do it at gunpoint?