The Hill News

In 1972, a vice president of General Motors said that requiring catalytic converters in cars would result in a "complete stoppage of production." Of course, that didn't happen. In 1966, Henry Ford II predicted that his company would "have to close down" over seat belt and safety glass standards. In 2008, the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers said proposed new fuel economy standards went "beyond what is technologically feasible and economically practicable." Two years later, they stood side by side with the president, endorsing those same standards, and pledging to average fuel economy of 35.5 miles per gallon by 2016.

Now the government is considering the next generation of fuel efficiency standards. And guess what? The automakers are at it again, predicting doom. But as an automotive technology expert, former auto company engineer and longtime observer of how efficiency and safety improvements get done, I can tell you this: Once again, they are crying wolf.

Take one of the main carmakers' talking points: They keep telling people that stringent standards require smaller, unsafe cars. There used to be some truth in that standards were easier to meet with smaller vehicles. But that's simply not true now -- and the carmakers know it.

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