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
BLESS YOU
I have a Civic which I drive on the road which has no airbags or A/C...
This is a perfect example of meddling where they do not belong.
It never has; it never will. It gives people power, and power corrupts. It is an inevitable, unchangeable truth.
It *may* be a necessary evil. But never doubt that it *is* evil. It should be starved, chained up, hidden in the basement, and beaten regularly.
No person has any moral authority to initiate the use of force on any other. Nor do any two people. Or a dozen, a thousand, or 300 million.
You have the right to defend yourself, the people around you, and your property. You have absolutely no right to tell anyone else what to do, as long as it does not endanger you or yours.
That is the cold, harsh truth of reality. Yes it *is* anarchy. Most people aren't grown-up enough to deal with these facts. That's why they pretend "government" is real, to protect them from themselves and each other. Even though it inevitably winds up hanging chains like the ones in this article around their necks.
Their purposes are to keep the States from going to war with each other, preserve our freedom, and provide a unified front to the rest of the world.
I can almost see supporting an Amendment that would allow them to do what they already are with the EPA--try to protect everything from a giant tragedy of the commons. But they're already mishandling that so badly that it seems like a horrible idea.
If the NHTSA has been known to wave the child safety rules for other cars that are expected to only sell a few, then the only reason I can see them turning Pagani down would be if Ferrari and/or Lamborghini paid the department off to deny the waiver because they don't want the competition in the US