WASHINGTON, Dec 7: The first significant mandatory improvements in fuel efficiency for light trucks in a decade are likely to come in the 2005 model year, a top federal highway regulator told a congressional hearing on Thursday.
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) chief Jeffrey Runge said there was little time left for considering big changes to model year 2004 vehicles that would hit showrooms in late 2003.
Runge said NHTSA was weighing recent studies on new fuel-saving technologies. However, we are not prepared at this time to recommend specific changes to the fuel economy law, he told the Senate Commerce Committee.
Some automakers warned lawmakers that new fuel economy standards could result in expensive vehicles that consumers might not buy. They also cautioned that lightening vehicles to make them more fuel-efficient could compromise safety.
The current Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards, first adopted by Congress in 1975 after the Arab oil embargo, require passenger cars to average 27.5 miles per gallon and light trucks to get 20.7 mpg.
At the time, light trucks were allowed to get lower mileage because they were used mostly by farmers and small businesses. Now, sport utility vehicles and other light trucks account for half of US vehicle sales.
The auto industry has said it does not oppose improved fuel efficiency but prefers to let innovation and technology do the job.
For instance, Detroit’s Big Three have all committed to selling limited numbers of hybrid-powered pickups or SUVs by 2003. But all have also said the extra cost of hybrid system would limit consumer demand.
A General Motors Corp. executive said there were 50 models on the market getting over 35 miles per gallon but they accounted for less than 1 per cent of all sales.
CAFE is determined primarily by what people choose to buy, that choice reflects consumer needs and the abundance of gasoline, Tom Davis, vice president for product development, said in prepared testimony.
Susan Cischke, Ford Motor Co. vice president of environmental and safety engineering, said Ford was making headway on alternative fuel technology.
She told the panel there was no set number for a CAFE increase, but said NHTSA was “appropriately positioned” to set standards at feasible levels as required by law.
Some have said the automakers, if they have to swallow government-imposed standards, would rather cast their lot with auto regulators than face new congressional action.
Sen. John Kerry, the Massachusetts Democrat who chaired the hearing, warned the industry that Senate action on boosting efficiency may be on the way.
He questioned industry arguments that raising CAFE standards would hurt business, cost jobs and reduce consumer choice.
Senate Democrats are considering setting CAFE limits as part of a broad energy bill, and Kerry promised quick action to formulate Commerce Committee recommendations.
Congress should show some leadership and try and set a standard. There will be some effort to deal with it, Kerry predicted.
One proposal by Sens Olympia Snowe, a Maine Republican, and Diane Feinstein, a California Democrat, would boost fuel efficiency for light trucks, including sport utility vehicles, by 33 percent by 2007.
The Big Three have pledged to voluntarily increase efficiency by 25 percent by 2005.
A National Academy of Sciences study earlier this year said it was possible to increase fuel efficiency by 40 per cent in light trucks over a 10- to 15-year period without sacrificing vehicle performance.
With new vehicles traditionally introduced Oct. 1, the first model year that could reflect any change in fuel standards would be 2004, which will be in showrooms in October 2003.
The government would have to notify automakers of that change by April 2002.—Reuters