Editorial Board
EPA’s Outdated Tests Leave American Cars Guzzling Gas: View
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The U.S. automobile industry has come a long way since the 1970s. Today’s vehicles are safer, more fuel-efficient and more comfortable. Yet public policy toward cars is marred by standards set in 1978 that are as obsolete as a rusted Chevy Nova.
At issue is how federal regulators calculate each automaker’s Corporate Average Fuel Economy. Obscure as these CAFE ratings may be, their public policy impact is vast. Whenever the U.S. government tells automakers to boost their CAFE scores -- as it did this summer -- it transforms the next generation of cars Americans drive.