...and car designs starting in the early seventies. The first catalytic converters thrown on vehicles basically ended the era of technological innovation in automobiles as the manufacturers scurried to make vehicles pass CAFE standards and federal emissions standards.

So the manufacturers responded with tons of plastic starting around 1979 all cars became plasticized. Well, naturally plastic doesn't grow on trees and so factories churning out countless plastic parts put that much more chemical pollution into the atmosphere. The cars shrank accordingly and the CAFE standards kept inching up.

That more folks were dying in the small cars became apparent and so seatbelts and airbags were employed to offset the "small car=certain death" equation.

Sure each life isn't that important to collectivists. The "masses" are far more important. In California I've lost already at least 5 friends directly attributable to small vehicle deaths. Had they been in larger cars, I know they would have survived but it's too late now. When the entire front seat area collapses like an accordian in a Honda there is not much the driver or passenger can do to survive. They loved small cars too. Cheaper. Better gas mileage and more "sporty". Girls way too often seem to be intimidated by handling a "big" car as well. If only...

But casualties are just one part of the CAFE increases outcome. The SUVs the left lament and the entire "truck" mentality that has come along with it can be laid at CAFE standards as well. Manufacturers had to turn trucks into passenger cars to meet the standards, because trucks were exempt. So the "SUV" was born and marketed as the natural "manly" alternative to passenger cars. It was turned into a faux "status symbol" so that the stigma of "driving a truck" which used to mean you were a blue collar worker, could be forgotten.

Then they got rid of the full size cars altogether in the late nineties. Now all the folks who used to buy a 6 passenger car for their large families are FORCED to choose a SUV or a VAN or something riding on the commercial chassis exempt from CAFE standards.

So the environmentalists and the "guvmint" have actually created the whole Hummer, SUV, 4 wheel drive monster truck redneck crowd the far left so despise and loathe.

The roads would look a lot more like 1985 than they do today where now every 1 of 3 vehicles is a SUV/TRUCK.

Instead of MANDATING fuel economy standards they should REWARD those companies that achieve them with TAX breaks. That's the way you spur real innovation. REWARD it. MANDATING things only makes manufacturers hack away at their cars, cutting weight and reducing safety while putting more trucks on the road.