Hell on Wheels

The automobile industry is feeling the bite of widespread criticism on car safety. Sales are dropping, plants are shutting down temporarily and executives like Arjay Miller, president of Ford, are muttering about how "harassment" over safety has contributed to the slip in demand.

The attacks range from Ralph Nader's flamboyant denunciation of Rolls Royce door latches to Senator Ribicoff's sober investigation into the recall of 8.7 million automobiles since 1960. Under pressure, the industry has made concessions. Most of the manufacturers have assured a Congressional Committee that they will spare no effort in setting their own safety standards.

In recent years, most cars have been fitted with front and rear seat belts, padded dashes, deep-dish steering wheels, and outside mirrors as standard equipment. Some 1967 models will have collapsible steering columns and dual braking systems. And the recalls themselves--even though they amount to 18.5 percent of all new cars--indicate that the industry is concerned with making sure the cars it sells are safe. All this has been accomplished without federal legislation.

But the significance of Detroit's own safety measures is that they were not taken until public attention was focused on the problem. Car designers has complained that safety would not sell while stiletto tail fins would. Only when the uproar over automobile fatalities reached a crescendo did the industry realize that style would no longer sell without safety.

The trouble with uproars is that they do not last forever. The public will soon tire of listening to Ralph Nader and his indiscriminate attacks on the automobile industry. Demand will rise again and the threat of shrinking sales will recede, simply because automobiles are a necessity to most Americans whether or not safety devices have been installed.

A better solution than the uncertain safeguard of self-regulation would be the bill now before Congress authorizing the Secretary of Commerce to set mandatory minimum safety standards. The customer himself can hardly detect weak door latches or lance-like steering columns whose deadlines might show up only in a crash. But federal inspectors could locate the hidden killers and require manufacturers to eliminate them. Just as significantly, the government could insure continuing progress in automotive safety by demanding that technical innovations such as the collapsible steering column be installed as soon as they are developed. Then foot-dragging on features such as seat belts would not occur again. And with federal regulation, the public will no longer have to depend on showmen such as Mr. Nader to enforce highway safety.