February 16, 2003	Sunday	Zul Hijjah 14, 1423

WASHINGTON, Feb 15: Automakers, facing possible new regulation, said on Friday they would work together to reduce fatalities and injuries in crashes involving sport utility vehicles and cars.

Concluding meetings this week convened by the insurance industry, manufacturers acknowledged the potential dangers posed by the weight and size differences of SUVs and cars, especially in side-impact crashes.

The manufacturers said in a letter to the top US auto safety regulator, Dr. Jeffrey Runge, they were prepared to explore measures ranging from improved head protection in the short-term to design changes over time.

There are many details to be sorted out to make all of this happen, but there is a strong commitment to move forward expeditiously, according to the letter to Runge, administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

The letter was signed by Josephine Cooper, president and chief executive of the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers — that industry’s chief lobbying group — and Brian O’Neill, president of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, a non-profit research group funded by insurance companies.

They both pledged to work closely with Runge, an emergency room doctor who last month warned the auto industry to narrow the safety gap in crashes between SUVs and cars or face possible regulatory action.

Runge is reviewing recommendations from safety agency working groups, one of which focused on vehicle weight and size differences. A spokesman said some of those recommendations could wind up as regulations but that Runge is not ready to make that decision.

The recommendations were not made public, but Runge wanted feedback on heavier SUV and pickup frames and their higher center of gravity. SUVs, along with pickup and minivans, are classified together as light trucks.

Runge addressed the insurance and auto industry meeting this week, and one participant said he left the clear impression that he welcomed industry cooperation and wanted action this year.

One safety agency official said Runge understood that focusing on SUVs was not the only approach, that changes could be recommended for passenger vehicles.

It may not be what you do to SUVs but what you do to the cars they run into, the official said.

Gloria Bergquist, a spokeswoman for the auto alliance, said said one long-term change could include strengthening rails that run along the side of vehicles to protect passengers in smaller cars.

In the short term, Bergquist said the industry would look closely at different technologies to expand air-bag systems, including devices to protect the head. So-called head-side air bags are already in some vehicles.

The joint letter said working groups would study front-to-front crashes and front-to-side crashes, as well as ways to change front-end design of both classes of vehicles.

Individual auto makers, like Ford and General Motors have already taken some steps to improve SUV safety. Ford redesigned the 2002 Explorer by lowering its center of gravity and frame, while GM has sought to make its mid-size SUVs more stable.

One consumer watchdog, Ralph Nader’s Public Citizen, was wary of voluntary steps by the industry and urged strong regulatory oversight.

These latest industry promises give consumers no assurance that they will in fact be any safer in the future than they are today, said Joan Claybrook, president of Public Citizen.—Reuters