Complain about a product or service

Nader Scolds U.S. Auto Industry

February 27, 2006

• Nader Scolds U.S. Auto Industry • Nader Blasts U.S. Automakers for Inattention to Safety • Nader Demands Stronger Standards for Vehicle Roofs • Nader Demands NHTSA Warn Ford Truck Owners • Report Alleges Massive Fraud in Auto Sales • Political Interference Charged In Tobacco Case • Nader Wants Bill of Rights For Credit Card Consumers --- • More about Auto Safety

Consumer advocate Ralph Nader has issued a stinging indictment of the domestic auto industry, accusing it of failure to stimulate innovation.

Nader's report, "Innovation and Stagnation in Automotive Safety and Fuel Efficiency," details what he sees as glaring oversights by the auto industry, identifying specific missed opportunities in the areas of safety and fuel economy, and provides a blueprint to jolt the domestic industry out of its downward slide.

Nader, a longtime auto safety critic, said he is issuing the report now to call on automakers to reverse decades-long trends of putting marketing hype before engineering quality-ignoring advanced product designs and stifling innovation from parts suppliers.

"General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler have always preferred to squeeze their suppliers on price rather than seek technological improvements. It's a short-term, bully's approach to a business relationship that should be collaborative, cooperative, and dynamic," Nader charged.

"Even as some Japanese and European manufacturers prove that advanced technology sells -- especially in safety and fuel efficiency -- the market-shrinking domestic auto industry thinks that the only path to profitability is penny pinching on parts."

The report also underscores the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's (NHTSA's) foot-dragging on new safety and fuel economy technologies.

"NHTSA schedules the standardization of safety technology that's already commercially available -- it doesn't challenge manufacturers to deliver innovative solutions," Nader said.

The report identifies what he sees as major barriers to innovation in safety and fuel efficiency, including:

• A technology-stifling relationship between manufacturers and suppliers

• Options bundling that dissuades consumers from buying safety technology

• NHTSA's poor attention to innovators and entrepreneurs

• A reluctance by the General Services Administration to purchase innovations in fleet vehicles

• Insurers who refuse to offer incentives for safety innovations

The report presents several recommendations, including:

(1) a return to NHTSA-contracted advanced vehicle programs like the 1970's Research Safety Vehicle;
(2) a new collaboration between NHTSA and parts suppliers;
(3) CAFE increases to at least 46 mpg for cars and 40 mpg for light trucks by 2014; and
(4) NHTSA-sponsored contests for super-efficient and extra-safe vehicle designs.

Report Your Experience
If you've had a bad experience -- or a good one -- with a consumer product or service, we'd like to hear about it. All complaints are reviewed by class action attorneys and are considered for publication on our site. Knowledge is power! Help spread the word. File your consumer report now.

Back to the top |