The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety is planning to call for increased federal oversight of the small electric vehicles made by a Chrysler subsidiary and another company. The Chrysler Gem and Changan Tiger Star are designed for local travel; the Gem does not exceed 25 mph. But in recent tests, the institute found that all occupants would likely die if hit by a full-sized sport utility vehicle traveling at 31 mph, the Los Angeles Times reports.
The low-speed vehicles are usually made with plastic body panels and do not have reinforced steel like regular vehicles. Almost all states allow the Gem on roads with speed limits of 35 mph or less. The company has sold 41,000 of the mini autos since 1998.
“There’s a world of difference between vehicles that meet crashworthiness standards and those that don’t,” the institute’s chief research officer, David Zuby, told the Times. “It may be time for Congress to step in.”
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration established safety guidelines for the vehicles based on use in closed communities, not for travel across town to the grocery store. Zuby said the safety rules might need to be updated.
Dear Journalists,
I read with great dismay your articles on the safety of NEV’s / LSV’s , clearly they were written from an informed, impartial, intelligent common sense perspective, or is the world still flat after all, perhaps in the USA it seems. I am from Europe, and we tend to think a little further than ones domestic detached attitude!
In your article you question the safety of LSV vehicles and there primary function, and whether they are ‘safe’ for urban living? However I must stress at this point, safety is of the uppermost priority when discussing a motor vehicle for any street, whether it can go 10 mph or 200 mph albeit illegally! But sadly where does it end, and surely all vehicles designs are flawed based on not knowing where, how, with what an accident may occur, it is impossible. So LSV vehicles like any other should have some basic safety features. BUT, sadly this is one reason your articles are (excuse my directness) flawed, and merely discombobulate your readers, here’s why…
Please view the following link; (this theory also applies worldwide)
http://50ccscootersusa.com/index.php?cPath=9
Questions;
Are these scooters (mopeds) faster that the governed LSV limit?
Are these scooters fitted with a 3 point DOT/E-mark seat belt system?
Do these scooters have a roll bar fitted?
Do these scooters have any form of air bags?
Can you drive them on public roads?
Do they offer any side / front / rear collision damage?
You get the gist… I could go on for ever…
Based on the TRUE answers to the above, all Scooters, Motorbikes, Quads, trikes WHATEVER would have to be banned over night if your articles were to have any credibility! I think the word your looking for is, hypocritical, please be careful about what you write, without looking at the FACTS!
I grant you that your opinion is your democratic right, but please do ‘due diligence’ before (excuse the pun!) you put pen to paper….
Regards
James May