EDITORIAL: Running on fumes

The Times-Picayune (1-11-03)

To judge from the furious reaction among supporters of the auto industry, you would think that writer Arianna Huffington had the power to ban sport-utility vehicles.

Ms. Huffington is the co-founder of and most visible spokeswoman for the Detroit Project, a group that has produced a series of ads that connect the low gas mileage of beefy SUVs to Middle Eastern terrorism.

The campaign has touched off a firestorm. The Competitive Enterprise Institute, a pro-industry think tank in Washington, accused the Detroit Project of spouting "elitist nonsense" and of interfering with Americans' right to choose their own vehicles. TV stations in Detroit and some other cities have refused to run them. Some commentators have accused Ms. Huffington of trying to force people into tiny, unsafe cars. The controversy is absurd.

Ms. Huffington and her supporters are private citizens who used their own money to produce their ads. They aren't asking the government to ban SUVs. But they are trying to communicate two points that ought to be obvious: First, depending heavily on oil from Middle Eastern nations that wink at or actively support terrorism is a threat to America's national security. Second, the choices that manufacturers and consumers make influence how many resources the nation as a whole consumes.

The Detroit Project's ads undeniably oversimplify a complex issue, but no more so than ads on a host of other matters -- and no more so, certainly, than the publicly financed ads that link terrorism to drug use.

Anyway, the faux indignation of the Detroit Project's critics has less to do with the wisdom or folly of the group's tactics than with how hard it is to rationally defend the most wasteful SUVs.

The common contention that making vehicles more efficient means reducing them to tiny, underpowered deathtraps is simply nonsense. For one thing, while SUVs can provide more crash protection than regular cars, they are more likely both to roll over and to kill passengers in other vehicles. Besides, SUVs can be made more efficient, thanks to advances in engine design, without reducing their size at all.

When President Bush ordered an increase in fuel efficiency, the Transportation Department acknowledged that doing so would have no impact on safety.

It's worth noting that the hottest part of the SUV market is the so-called "crossover" sector, which includes vehicles like the Lexus RX300, Honda Pilot and Acura MDX. These vehicles, which are built on car platforms, are designed to be more fuel-efficient and less destructive to others on the road. Clearly, consumers are starting to remember the importance of these traits, even if the auto industry's apologists do not.