End of the Horsepower Wars

Anyone who lived through the Muscle Car Era saw this coming long ago. We knew it was just a matter of time before the Insurance industry and the Safety Nazis decide enough was enough.

It seems Jeffrey Runge and the NHTSA aren't happy about 400 hp Cadillacs and 500+ hp BMWs and Mercedes. You just can't thumb your nose at these guys and get away with it for long. I wonder how long it will be before Cadillac drops their current hp ads and issues a public apology.


Here's an article on the subject from The Car Connection:

http://www.thecarconnection.com/index.asp?article=8294&sid=173&n=156

 

Why drop the horsepower? Just raise the speed limits... or get rid of them.

 

speed doesnt cause accidents, its bad driving and stupidity!!!! someone who is a good performance drivng in a sports car is a much safer driving than some nim -rod going 20mph below the speed limit and making idiotic moves!!!this is an other example of a bureaucrat with nothing better to do trying to make himself feel important....

 

This was mentioned on Autoextremist this morning, too:

http://www.autoextremist.com/page6.shtml#table

End of an Era? We've commented many times recently that our readers should soak up the current times we live in, which we view as the true "Golden Era" of high-performance automobiles, because the pendulum is about to swing back, and when it does, enthusiasts won't know what hit them. NHTSA administrator Dr. Jeffrey Runge announced that the U.S. government plans on cracking down on speeding on a nationwide basis. The government is already beginning to "cherry pick" studies that show that excess speed causes an increase in fatalities, even though there are plenty of heavily documented studies that would dispute that conclusion. Runge wants more radar devices, more speed cameras and more money redirected to cracking down on speeding. He told The Wall Street Journal yesterday that "It's really not a state highway patrol interstate problem. The problem is on local roads." The automobile manufacturers are extremely vulnerable on this issue right now. And it isn't just a Detroit problem this time either. We've warned automakers repeatedly to tone down their performance advertising, because as long as the cars are still available, we can do without the aggressive commercials. We would also counsel the manufacturers to tone down their horsepower ratings. We didn't say decrease horsepower, but rather "adjust" the ratings downward so that some of the lesser lights in Congress don't decide to mount some grandstanding hearings about the "horrors" of speed and horsepower this summer to generate publicity for their next campaigns.

 

I think all of us know about the "Speed Kills" hoax. However, if worse comes to worst, we'll have to buy used cars. I am just glad for all the performance cars that will be hitting the used market.

 

I don't know guys, the idea that speed kills would likely hold true on the ****ty ass american roads.

 

I remember an article (in C&D maybe) that discussed speed and accidents. Apparently, when any acccident report is filled out by an officer of the law, a cause is supposed to be given. From the folks that were interviewed, the easiest thing to list is excessive speed in many types of accidents. This greatly skews the statistics. That, and the fact that accidents that occur at higher speeds have more kinetic energy to bring to the party, leeds to this anti-speed crusade.

Though I think I understand why it exists, my biggest beef is the connection between tickets and auto insurance premiums. I dream of a system where you get one moving violation a year, free of insurance reporting.

 

What these politicians forget is that during the gas crisis that traffic accidents weren't curbed at all. True that emissions standards went through the roof, but why fault a manufacturer that can produce a 500 HP car that is capable of getting 26 mpg?

This is the crap that politicians live for.

Brad

 

If they only make advertising it illegal it will probably just look somewhat like the gentlemans agreement from the 90's in Japan. The lastest Ferrari, Porsche, Lambo, Skyline, Corvette etc will all come out with a claimed output of 100hp and we will just have to wait for the mags to test the demo cars and tell the truth

 

Uh,...very true. I work in a TV station. Just last week, one of our photographers was sent out to an accident where two punks in a late model Mustang convertible were flying down a rural 2 lane highway over 100 mph. They lost control, went flying through the air for a few hundred feet, then plowed their way through some pine trees and scrub brush. One dead that I remember. Don't know if the other one survived or not. Mustang trashed. About 15 years ago, 2 people in a newer Corvette were speeding down the interstate and just lost control, flew off the side of a bridge and smashed into the ground. Two dead. A few years later, 2 more punks in a newer Corvette tried to make a sweeping turn off the main 4 lane road onto a 2 lane that ran along the river. They missed the turn and wrapped the Corvette around a light pole. Two more dead. Stupidity was the main factor in all cases, but factor in the speeds involved and the outcome is obvious.

But of course the answer is NOT to add more donut eating cops siting behind radar guns giving tickets to daily commuters who might be going 5mph over the limit.

 

Reality : Speed NEVER killed anyone

Instant Deceleration Kills, Speed doesn't

 

To me it seems much more logical to increase the training of our drivers rather then just sending idiots out on the road and telling them don't do this and don't do that.

 

Ditto. I second that.

 

You making too much sense. You should know better.

The speeding issue has nothing to do with safty. As any number of studies have shown, speed is not the major factor in most accidents. Lack of paying attention is the overwhelming cause complicated by a lack of even basic driving skill.

But speeding pays. It pays the politicians through the form of insurance company lobby groups and campaign contributions. It pays the insurance companies through increased premiums. It pays local and state law enforcement through fines. Speeding is a political dream.... everyone gets paid!

THAT is what its all about. Everyone with even a clue knows it. Its Road Tax, pure and simple.


Terry

 

I never would have said this prior to my getting my license when I was 17 b/c I could not wait any longer. But I seriously think they should toughen the rules on who gets a license and how they do so. I'm sorry but its only $180 I think to get one and the test can be done w/ your eyes closed. Start teaching people how to drive and we'll get less accidents. Decreasing the horsepower and giving out more tickets won't change a thing...

Putting better drivers on the road will.

 

Exactly!! But the idiots in washington and these agencies will never understand that. They give licenses away like candy, fail to recognize that any idiot can go 100+mph in just about any car (110hp or 500hp), and think automatically that limiting hp and setting up more speed traps will solve everything.

 

Getting a license is a cakewalk. Especially, here in NJ. They could at least make it an on the road test, instead of a silly little road coarse with a 15 m.p.h. speed limit. That's great, they're licensing kids to drive parking lots.