The so-called fuel economy standard for passenger cars is now 27.5 miles per gallon. But for light trucks such as SUVs, it remains 20.7 miles per gallon. A bipartisan Senate bill calls for raising that standard to equal that of passenger cars by 2007.Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D, CA): "There is no earthly reason why SUVs and light trucks shouldn't be as fuel efficient as sedans."
[Ed.: A July report by the National Academy of Sciences concluded that the current set of CAFE standards, which encourage smaller cars, contribute to between 1,300 and 2,600 deaths a year, as well as ten times that many serious injuries. They're also more than a little silly, since they're averaged for each manufacturer's class of vehicle. Thus, DaimlerChrysler is able to define its popular PT Cruiser—a mere whisp of a vehicle—as a "truck" to offset the low mileage of large SUVs such as the Dodge Durango.]
