Steven Knudsen, Morgantown
I have been feeling nostalgic recently. In the good old days, our family would take vacations in the land of baseball, Chevy and apple pie, albeit driving a Ford. Gas at the Esso station was 30 cents a gallon
Then came the bad days of the oil embargo, lines at the gas station and fear of America’s decline. Japanese companies intensified the fears by making small, light, boxy cars like the Datsun with more efficient engines that Americans snapped up, leading to the cry of “Buy American.”
But, slowly, the Big Three learned how to make more efficient cars, the Ford Taurus changed the idea of what a beautiful car looked like with its sweeping, fuel efficient contours, and the Japanese started making their cars in Tennessee.
Oil markets and fuel efficiency conspired to lower oil prices, encouraging concerned parents to upsize their vehicle purchases. Fuel efficiency declined partly through bigger cars, but also through a loophole of lower standards for vehicles with truck chassis, which enabled the SUV boom. Recently, Americans have come to their senses, and crossovers have mitigated the effects of truck-sized cars while having a higher clearance to help with access.
With this perspective, one can begin to address the desire to modify the corporate fuel economy standards (CAFE), which are under fire by the auto industry.
With all the safety enhancements in cars these days, it’s hard to remember how the auto industry fought air bags. So, it’s reasonable to suggest that the industry is just “full of hot air” about the increased CAFE standards.
However, if one looks at history, engine efficiency and air resistance have already been addressed. To increase fuel efficiency of fleets, cars and trucks must become lighter. Americans have voted with their wallets that they don’t want smaller cars, so that leaves using more composite materials as the only option.
This will increase the cost of cars further and have maintenance and safety impacts that will take decades to work out, although improved engineering will help the transition. So, while I root for more fuel efficiency and lower emissions, I’m not holding my breath on CAFE.
It will take sacrifice and effort to ensure a happy and environmentally sustainable future. In the end, nostalgia is best left for the movies.
