Autoline on Autoblog with John McElroy
Ford Transit Connect: Case Study in Overregulation
The Ford Transit Connect is a cool little van unlike anything else on the American market. In fact, I think it has the capability of becoming something of a cult car. But it's also a shining example of why the auto industry faces too much regulation.
Even though the Transit Connect is already sold in 55 countries around the world it had to undergo numerous modifications before it could be sold in the American market. And while it's not at all unusual to modifiy imported vehicles up to our standards, it's hard to see how some of these changes will help the health or safety of American citizens.
Some of these changes are so ridiculous and inconsequential that it's actually funny to see what they are. Funny, that is, until you realize all they're doing is driving up the price of the product.
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John McElroy is host of the TV program "Autoline Detroit" and daily web video "Autoline Daily". Every week he brings his unique insights as an auto industry insider to Autoblog readers.
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The government also forced Ford to put reflectors on the sides of the front and rear bumpers. This, even though the Transit Connect has tail lamps that wrap around the side of the vehicle, and a "repeater" lamp on the front fenders. Believe me, this van is plenty visible even without those reflectors.
My favorite example has to do with the windshield wipers. No, they did not have to change the wipers. Ford had to change the path the wipers go through as they sweep back-and-forth across the windshield. Ford had to change the arms and the pivot points so that the sweep matched something that American regulators found acceptable.
And then we come to the engine. In almost every other country in the world the Transit Connect is powered by a diesel. But trying to get that diesel to meet US emissions standards would've added thousands of dollars of cost to the vehicle, yet it would've also added nearly ten more miles to the gallon to the Connect's fuel economy label, and cut CO2 emissions by 25%.
I fully understand the need to establish safety and emission regulations. I'm not against that. But I'm also pretty sure that if this vehicle had been brought in the same way it's sold in 55 other countries it would not have resulted in one more accident, one more fatality, or in one more health problem.
To me, these are perfect examples that we've reached the saturation point when it comes to automotive regulations. Isn't it time that we take the effort and money that goes into policing Picayune regulations like these, and put it into something that's more productive for society?
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The Ford Transit Connect is a cool little van unlike anything else on the American market. In fact, I think it has the capability of becoming something of a cult car. But it's also a shining example of why the auto industry faces too much regulation.Even though the Transit Connect is already sold in 55 countries around the world it had to undergo numerous modifications before it could be sold in the American market. And while it's not at all unusual to modifiy imported vehicles up to our standards, it's hard to see how some of these changes will help the health or safety of American citizens.
Some of these changes are so ridiculous and inconsequential that it's actually funny to see what they are. Funny, that is, until you realize all they're doing is driving up the price of the product.
____________________________________________________________________________________
John McElroy is host of the TV program "Autoline Detroit" and daily web video "Autoline Daily". Every week he brings his unique insights as an auto industry insider to Autoblog readers.
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We've reached the saturation point when it comes to automotive regulations.
A good example is the center high mounted stop light (CHMSL). The Transit Connect was designed with the CHMSL built in to the top of the left-side, rear cargo door. But that wasn't acceptable to American regulators, no sir. They forced Ford to put a new CHMSL on top of the vehicle, a few inches away from where the original one was supposed to go. Whew, am I glad that didn't slip by the sharp eyes of the people who are out there to protect us!The government also forced Ford to put reflectors on the sides of the front and rear bumpers. This, even though the Transit Connect has tail lamps that wrap around the side of the vehicle, and a "repeater" lamp on the front fenders. Believe me, this van is plenty visible even without those reflectors.
My favorite example has to do with the windshield wipers. No, they did not have to change the wipers. Ford had to change the path the wipers go through as they sweep back-and-forth across the windshield. Ford had to change the arms and the pivot points so that the sweep matched something that American regulators found acceptable.
And then we come to the engine. In almost every other country in the world the Transit Connect is powered by a diesel. But trying to get that diesel to meet US emissions standards would've added thousands of dollars of cost to the vehicle, yet it would've also added nearly ten more miles to the gallon to the Connect's fuel economy label, and cut CO2 emissions by 25%.
I fully understand the need to establish safety and emission regulations.
I fully understand the need to establish safety and emission regulations. I'm not against that. But I'm also pretty sure that if this vehicle had been brought in the same way it's sold in 55 other countries it would not have resulted in one more accident, one more fatality, or in one more health problem.
To me, these are perfect examples that we've reached the saturation point when it comes to automotive regulations. Isn't it time that we take the effort and money that goes into policing Picayune regulations like these, and put it into something that's more productive for society?
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Airs every Sunday at 10:30AM on Detroit Public Television.
Autoline Detroit Podcast
Click here to subscribe in iTunes
Follow Autoline on Twitter for ongoing updates every day!
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
andre lavoie 5:08PM (6/26/2009)
I think that the regulations should be less strict and more generalized in order to rectify this situation (ex. instead of making them move the CHMSL they should just make sure its visible).
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Steven Levin 5:16PM (6/26/2009)
Here's a better question...given that the US is the single largest market for cars, and we've had our regulations longer than anyone else... How is it that European and Asian countries managed to come up with different regulations?
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Dude 5:18PM (6/26/2009)
Because each government thinks it's the best, smartest and most capable. And, it's a good way to employ zillions of people to re-do what's been done before. Keeps the masses at bay.
Jared 5:29PM (6/26/2009)
Steven: we're not the largest single market for cars. That would be China.
adam1drift 7:09PM (6/26/2009)
Because other governments know that over regulating the auto companies leads to overpriced crap produced vehicles…
info 12:28PM (6/27/2009)
The US may be the single largest market, but it is also smaller than the rest of the markets for most European and Asian car manufacturers. So why follow the US? Besides, the highly touted US regulations are so full of absurdities, one has to wonder. As long as mini vans and SUV's, which are clearly people moovers, are categorized as trucks, the sanity of the US regulators definitely must be put into question. Add to that the examples in the above article, and the whole thing becomes little more than a farce.
Dane 2:50PM (6/27/2009)
Headlights???? I took America about 30 years to catch up with the Europeans... If 'we' didn't change with the times, 'we' would have the old sealed beam lights still.... We still are way behind in safety regulations in headlights...
Besides... they (Europeans) are better in design, safety and engineering.... Sorry Mate...
US should conform to the rest of the world....
Sorry-rambling... Have a good day...
StanleyVanBuren 5:15PM (6/26/2009)
Clearly we need to get to ONE standard.
As I've said before, if the government really wants to help automakers, they'll equalize our standards with the rest of the world. It would save tons of money on all the development costs, etc. Silly not to.
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Hot_Carl 5:17PM (6/26/2009)
What is the complaint here? That the van must meet the standards? All of these, outside of the emissions/engine regulation are just simple safety regulations that exist here in the US. If the NTSB wants these standards, then Ford has to meet them. What is the alternative? Allow exceptions for every rule because a car is close to being in conformity with the rule? The rule is the rule.
As far as the engine goes, the issue would seem to be that the rule itself is written incorrectly. And to that, the obvious answer would be, yes, the rules need to be altered to allow for high MPG diesels. But the idea that cars have reached some sort of regulation-saturation doesn't hold weight as the regulations you've spoke of have been apparent for years, and are simple to implement, especially if the vehicle had been designed for the US-market first, rather than the other way around.
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Rob 5:42PM (6/26/2009)
I'm not sure. Moving the windshield wipers makes sense.. imagine driving from the passenger side of your current car. Half of what you were looking at would be covered in rain droplets. So that's a DUH.
Same with the reflectors. So what if it has wrap around lights? America requires REFLECTORS. The moving the third brake light is a bit dumb, but the rest of this stuff makes sense.
merlot066 12:05PM (7/13/2009)
It isn't "meeting regulations", it's nit-picking. Do you think the original windshield wiper path didn't clear the windshield enough? Do you think the original wrap around tailights weren't enough to make the truck visible? Don't you think they could make an exception for the Deisel engine? A 35mpg cargo hauler like that is unheard of, and all the big businesses like UPS and other companies that drive millions of miles a year would be getting 2 to 3 times more MPG. What will they find next? The fuel cap is too high, it might be unsafe for short people to put gas in their car.
skabone 5:22PM (6/26/2009)
you want to government to do something logical? LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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blurryeye64 5:24PM (6/26/2009)
Quit your whining. I don't hear Ford (or any other automaker) complaining. Since all automakers have to comply, this puts no one at a competitive disadvantage.
Sure, it would be nice if various countries could agree on uniform regulations, but that's basically a pipe dream.
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Mikhail V 5:43PM (6/26/2009)
No, you quit your whining. Automakers having to remake cars to different markets affects the most important category of people: customers. We have to pay more because of these useless exercises. You are advocating a variant of broken window economics, and no one here wins.
Jimbo 7:21PM (6/26/2009)
blurry, what are you talking about? Automakers are constantly complaining about these types of regulations.
UH2L 5:24PM (6/26/2009)
John makes some great examples of seemingly inconsequential changes that needed to be made, but the only issue with the current laws is when is close close enough?
Keep in mind that some of the regulation differences come out of necessity due to different weather, road, or traffic conditions in each market. But I'm sure the world's transportation regulators could commonize upwards of 60% of the important safety standards.
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Jimbo 7:18PM (6/26/2009)
You'd think an international, non-biased third party society like the SAE could develop standardized global safety regulations. They've already developed a lot of standards like those used for fuel nozzles and the new charging plugs for electric and plug-in hybids. Why not take it a step further?
jim 8:25AM (6/27/2009)
Jimbo, for at least 10 years there has been an ongoing UN project to come up with a common set of vehicle standards throughout the world. Alas it has been mired in the politics of localism both on the part of the governments and of the manufacturers who are seeking to protect their markets.
When special interests are in play, common sense goes out the window.
Kumar 5:28PM (6/26/2009)
The shocking part about watching the big 3 CEOs groveling for bailout cash was that none of them asked for help normalizing the regulations between the US, Canada, Mexico and Europe. Emissions, crash testing, reflector placement, whatever. It all adds to the cost and makes it more difficult to shift product to where the demand is in this global economy.
If would be better for everyone, not to mention much less expensive, if a plant in Indiana could crank out Subarus that could be shipped to any number of countries, including down the street in the US, just by putting loading it on a different truck/train/boat.
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adam1drift 7:12PM (6/26/2009)
thank you!