Obama Administration Unveils New Fuel Efficiency Standards

The Obama administration introduced a new federal rule Thursday requiring cars and light trucks manufactured after 2016 to meet a fuel efficiency standard of 35.5 miles per gallon.

"The Clean Cars Program marks the first official action to control green house gas emissions from vehicles," Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lisa Jackson said during a conference call with reporters. "We expect to reduce green house emissions by the equivalent of 42 million cars over the life of the program."

A press release from Jackson's agency states that the standard will conserve nearly 2 billion barrels of oil throughout the life of the covered vehicles and will lower carbon monoxide emissions by 960 million tons.

Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood highlighted the economic benefits of the requirement.

“These historic new standards ...[will] encourage new and emerging technologies,” said LaHood in a statement. "We will be helping American motorists save money at the pump."

While the rule takes full effect in 2016, auto-manufacturers will be required under the program to reduce green house emissions by approximately 5 percent annually starting in 2012.

Toyota's Business Model Is Broken, Says Transportation Secretary

By Chingyu Wang-Talk Radio News Service

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said Tuesday that Toyota's business model is broken.

“The Toyota recall situation is very serious and we are treating it seriously," LaHood said during an appearance before the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee. “Toyota’s business model is broken,"

Committee Chairman John Rockefeller (D-WV) echoed LaHood in his criticism of the auto-manufacturer.

“Toyota has not been responsive to their increase [of recalls] and doesn’t seem to take consumer protection as a mission for NHTSA seriously,” said Rockefeller, who added that Toyota would not give adequate responses until approached by U.S. officials either via phone call or through an in person visit to Japan.

LaHood agreed with suggestions from lawmakers that Toyota would benefit from emulating a system used by Nissan to determine when to issue recalls, wherein a three-person group, including one U.S. based safety executive, makes the final decision.

LaHood also agreed that a brake override system would help drivers to control their vehicle during a sudden acceleration episode.

LaHood was joined by National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) administrator David Strickland, who received criticism from Sen. Olympia Snowe for not paying enough attention at the beginning of the recall issue, pointing out that 6 deaths in ’04 and 7 deaths in ’07 were attributed to unintended acceleration.

“I don’t see that NHTSA did any of the work necessary to have satisfied an independent analysis,” said Snowe.

Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-HI) noted that Toyota's troubles were part of a larger trend, and cited data from the NHTSA showing that more than 18 million vehicles were recalled in 2000-2001 alone, including cars from General Motors, Chrysler, Ford, Mitsubishi, Toyota, and Hyungdai.

“It is not a Toyota problem, it’s a industry problem,” said Inouye. “We should hear from the industry, not just from Toyota.”

Dept. Of Transportation Urged To Investigate Cash For Clunkers Scams

By Laura Woodhead

Consumer protection groups urged the Department of Transportation (DOT) Thursday to investigate scams stemming from the Car Allowance Rebate System, commonly called Cash For Clunkers, in a letter sent to Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood.

According to the groups, some dealers are making customers sign liability waivers that will result in the consumer being held liable if the dealer is not given a rebate by the government, despite being accepted by the dealer as meeting all "Cash for Clunkers" standards. According to these contracts, the consumer would have to pay up the loss or risk losing their new car, even if their old car had already been crushed, said Joe Ridout, spokesman for Consumer Action during a conference call with reporters.

"We are troubled by this disturbing new trend," said Ridout. "Frankly, we feel that dealers should be bending over backwards in gratitude to car buyers, who in their role as tax payers, provided this financial lifeline to dealerships."

"The DOT should send a clear message that car buyers should in no way be liable," he added. "Dealers have reaped the benefits of the program and should be made to play by its rules."

The letter also called for an investigation into so called "double dipping," in which dealers deliberately mislead the consumer into paying the "Cash for Clunkers" payment upfront under the promise they will receive the check for $4500 later, only to have the dealer take the money and later tell them that their car did not qualify.

"Some are taking advantage of consumers who are still confused about the program," Ridout said. This puts consumers "at risk of being charged twice, once as a taxpayer footing the bill for this subsidy to assist car dealerships and the second time as a customer of a dealer known to double dip."

Rosemary Shahan, President of Consumers for Auto Reliability and Safety, said that she understood the anxiety that was behind the contingency contracts, when many dealers were unsure of how long the program would last or if they would recieve a check. However, it should be them, not the consumer that carried the liability, Shahan said.

"A lot of them have gone out on a limb and entered into a lot of contracts on the promise the money is forthcoming and they are still waiting for the deals to be processed," Shahan said. "The question is: should consumers take the risk when dealers know what they are getting into?"

"If the dealers decides, given all the unknowns, that they want to go ahead and offer these [Cash for Clunkers] contracts they should be assuming the risks and argue it out with the government,” she said.

In response to the letter, the DOT has placed a warning on the Cash for Clunkers website (www.cars.gov) telling customers that "consumers are not required to sign contingency agreements to pay back the dealer should the cars credit be rejected."

Cash For Clunkers Program Goes Into Drive

By Courtney Costello- Talk Radio News Service

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood kicked off the CARS (Car Allowance Rebate System) program Monday at the Department of Transportation in Washington.

CARS is essentially an incentive buyers program for fuel efficient vehicles.

According to LaHood, the program, also known as “Cash for Clunkers,” will help struggling consumers buy cost efficient and energy efficient cars. It will also help dealerships overcome the bad economy and it will help lower green house admissions.

LaHood explained that any car purchased through the program must be more fuel efficient than the car being traded in.

“This experiment has worked very, very well in other countries, including Germany where new car sales in June were up 40% from the previous June...We have experience in other countries that proves that it works,” added Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.)

Rep. Betty Sutton (D-Ohio) said, “We have an exciting road ahead of us here in this nation, with this CARS program we’re going to shore up and strengthen our manufacturing...We’re not only going to make it possible for our auto and related industries to compete, of course, were going to make sure and make it possible for them to succeed."

As of today, 16,000 dealers have submitted applications to participate and 1.5 million Americans have visited the program's website (cars.gov), said LaHood.

The program will run until November 1st, 2009, or until funding for the program runs out. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration expects that 250,000 “clunkers” will be taken off the road as a result of the program.

Also present for the announcement were Reps. Sander Levin (D-Mich.) and John Dingell (D-Mich.)

Dodd Proposes Partnership To Promote Green Initiatives

By Courtney Costello- Talk Radio News Service

Senator Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.) held a hearing Tuesday to propose the Sustainable Communities Partnership. This partnership includes Secretary of Transportation (DOT), Ray LaHood, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Shaun Donovan, and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lisa Jackson.

The objective of the new alliance will be to publicize efforts to improve affordable housing, promote efficient and low cost transportation options, and to protect the environment during these changes. A $150 million dollar sustainable communities initiative will help fund the partnership.

“As the Chairman said, we need to synchronize climate change, energy, community development, housing and transportation policy in the most comprehensive way possible,” said Secretary Donovan. “Creating an office of sustainable housing and communities inside HUD to serve as a single point of contact with other federal agencies is the best way we can achieve that goal.”

The committee also stated that the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act will provide momentum with the $1.5 billion discretionary Tiger Grant program. This program will fund the Transportation Act that will promote sustainability and provide better transportation in rural and urban communities around the country.

The proposed program details six principles that will serve as the base for the agencies to work together. These include producing supplementary transportation options, advancing sustainable and affordable housing, increasing economic opportunities, revitalizing current communities, organizing funding and policies and enriching all communities.