By Jake Blumgart. Posted on July 1, 2011.
I recently came across a 1986 Ralph Nader op-ed extolling the virtues of automobile safety and reminding us why government action, in this instance, was so necessary.
The occasion for Nader’s opining was the 20th anniversary of the publication of Unsafe At Any Speed (1965), a searing depiction of an auto industry with little concern for the safety of their product. LBJ signed The National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act into law a year after Nader’s book hit the shelves and a nw federal agency was created to address the myriad oversights of the American auto industry: The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).
The Big Three—General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler—were horrified by this unprecedented incursion into their domain. “Many of the temporary standards are unreasonable, arbitrary and technically unfeasible,” Henry Ford II whined. “If we can’t meet them when they are published we’ll have to close down.” The Big Three, of course, did not shut down. Instead, after much kicking and screaming, “arbitrary” features like seatbelts, headrests, and turning signals became standard issue.
