U.S. Stalls $1M Italian Supercar Over Airbags: Are Regulations Too Strict?
SodaHead News
2011/08/11 13:59:44
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Now what are rappers going to drive?
Even as President Obama signed off on a historic pact to raise fuel economy standards for the nation's trucking fleet, federal safety regulators have put the kibosh on the sale of a new $1 million, 700-horsepower Italian supercar called the Huayra.
But according to CNN, carmaker Pagani wasn't bounced because of the vehicle's environmental impact. In fact, the car meets European emission standards and boasts reduced CO2 emissions and fuel consumption that makes it top among V12-powered exotic vehicles.
Believe it or not, the reason is because safety regulators rejected Pagani's application for an exemption from federal auto safety rules requiring child-safe "advanced" airbags. Yeah, child-safe airbags in a 12-cylinder carbon-titanium car built to zero to 60 in about 3.5 seconds.
Pagani said complying with the rules would cause "substantial economic hardship." The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration didn't buy the financial hardship angle and didn't think the company had made a serious effort to comply.
The NHTSA sometimes makes temporary exemptions from some safety rules for automakers who only sell a small number of cars and Pagani was trying to break into the U.S. market with the car, which it figured on selling five of in 2012.
The small independent automaker built and crash-tested the hand-made vehicles to meet safety standards in the U.S. and Europe and it asked for the exemption three years ago, but only got word of the NHTSA decision as it was preparing for the car's official unveiling in Los Angeles last week.
The official sale date for the vehicle in the U.S. has now been pushed to 2013 as engineers work on an advanced airbag system.
Even as President Obama signed off on a historic pact to raise fuel economy standards for the nation's trucking fleet, federal safety regulators have put the kibosh on the sale of a new $1 million, 700-horsepower Italian supercar called the Huayra.
But according to CNN, carmaker Pagani wasn't bounced because of the vehicle's environmental impact. In fact, the car meets European emission standards and boasts reduced CO2 emissions and fuel consumption that makes it top among V12-powered exotic vehicles.
Believe it or not, the reason is because safety regulators rejected Pagani's application for an exemption from federal auto safety rules requiring child-safe "advanced" airbags. Yeah, child-safe airbags in a 12-cylinder carbon-titanium car built to zero to 60 in about 3.5 seconds.
Pagani said complying with the rules would cause "substantial economic hardship." The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration didn't buy the financial hardship angle and didn't think the company had made a serious effort to comply.
The NHTSA sometimes makes temporary exemptions from some safety rules for automakers who only sell a small number of cars and Pagani was trying to break into the U.S. market with the car, which it figured on selling five of in 2012.
The small independent automaker built and crash-tested the hand-made vehicles to meet safety standards in the U.S. and Europe and it asked for the exemption three years ago, but only got word of the NHTSA decision as it was preparing for the car's official unveiling in Los Angeles last week.
The official sale date for the vehicle in the U.S. has now been pushed to 2013 as engineers work on an advanced airbag system.
Top Opinion
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SmithBandit 2011/08/11 16:02:47
Looka dis Obama. Uppa U.S.