Nader Turns High Beams On Auto Safety

More than 40 years after "Unsafe at Any Speed" shook up the auto industry, Ralph Nader is returning to his roots. The longtime consumer advocate and former presidential candidate contends that the auto industry has failed to push technology that could make vehicles safer, cleaner and more fuel-efficient.

Nader accuses the government of acting as a "consulting firm" for U.S. automakers. And he wants to open an office in Detroit to monitor the industry that helped propel him to fame in the 1960s.

"My indignation level is rising again. The gap between the government's dereliction and these kinds of efficient, safe, clean technologies has never been greater," Nader said. "NHTSA's now a consulting firm for Detroit."

Nader's 1965 book, "Unsafe at Any Speed," pointed to safety problems in the Chevrolet Corvair, leading to congressional hearings and federal safety laws. He has not ruled out a presidential bid in 2008, saying he will decide sometime after November's midterm elections.

He has refocused his attention on the industry at a time when General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co. are downsizing as they deal with growing health care and pension obligations and intense competition from Asian automakers.

Nader has urged the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to improve a proposed roof-crush standard, calling it insufficient. In August, he urged the government to warn consumers about Ford pickups and sport utility vehicles under investigation for a defect that may have caused engine fires.

And last month, he released a lengthy report describing several missed opportunities to improve fuel efficiency and safety in vehicles. The report by his Center for Study of Responsive Law argued that automakers have suppressed technological advances by suppliers; insurance providers have failed to offer incentives for safer vehicles; and the government has been reluctant to improve technology in its fleet vehicles.

"There's a huge backlog of practical technologies for improving the safety of motor vehicles, their fuel efficiency, emission controls, ease of repair that are piling up on the shelf and not being implemented," he said.

Nader's critics are numerous, from Democrats who still blame him for Al Gore's defeat in the 2000 presidential election to industry officials who view Nader and the consumer groups he helped develop as adversaries who fail to acknowledge the high costs of some of the technologies.