Traffic fatalities are simply the result of driver error. That was the mantra in the early ’60s. Then, on November 30, 1965, a book was published on vehicle safety and forever changed the auto industry.
Ralph Nader’s book “Unsafe at Any Speed: The Designed-In Dangers of the American Automobile” was not just about the Chevrolet Corvair, although the Corvair’s propensity to flip because of a poorly designed rear suspension highlighted the overall inattention to safety by automakers.
GM could have done better, and the Corvair’s post-1965 4-link rear suspension proved it. But GM was hardly alone. Except for a few European automakers, nobody really focused on safety. Seat belts were rarely worn. Widespread use of reinforced passenger compartments, air bags and electronic crash avoidance systems was in the future. There weren’t even federal crash standards.
Cars were sold on horsepower and style, not the standardized gear selectors, collapsible steering columns, padded dashboards or reduced tailpipe fog for which Nader advocated.
Without Ralph Nader and his book, the cars we drive today would be vastly different from the ones we take for granted.
“Nader and his book were catalysts for policymakers and the public recognizing that vehicle designs affect safety — that vehicles can be engineered to protect people in crashes,” said Adrian Lund, president of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, an independent auto safety research organization known for its crash tests. “Most of us accept this in today’s world of crash test ratings, recalls and discussions of smart cars, but it was different in the early 1960s. Nader’s work and his congressional testimony were key to the establishment of NHTSA and the U.S. Department of Transportation.”
The Department of Transportation was created in 1966. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration came in 1970, as did the Environmental Protection Agency. Those bodies birthed the Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards in 1975, all of which have made an indelible and irreversible mark on making cars cleaner, better and safer.
According to NHTSA, there were 5.3 fatalities per 100 million vehicle miles traveled in 1965. In 2014, the agency estimated the rate to be 1.04 fatalities, an 80 percent reduction.
Mr. Nader recently spoke about his book’s legacy.
Q: Only one chapter was really about the Corvair. Why has that seemed to define the book?
A: The press in those days would almost never criticize a car by make or model. I had to go to Canada to get on a television show. It caught their eye in Detroit. I opened the book that way because I wanted a very specific example and focused on the biggest auto company of all.
Q: Of what changes in auto safety are you proudest since the book?
A: Obviously, seat belts, air bags, improved tires and improved handling. We were behind the Europeans. They had disc brakes. We didn’t. They had radial tires. We didn’t. Seat belts and padded dash panels were important to reduce severity of crashes when they occur.
Q: Where do you still see opportunities for improvement?
A: Biggest opportunities are side impact, rollovers and collision avoidance, which is coming along nicely. They still need to update crash protection standards; they’re still at 30 mph. It took the Firestone scandal (a coverup between Ford and Firestone where the treads on select tires would separate, causing Ford vehicles, most notably the Explorer, to roll over) to update the tire standards from 1968.
Q: You advocated tire air pressure sensors in 1965. Why did it take 40 years to mandate them in passenger cars?
A: Industry opposition. Very much.
Q: Which automaker is best at safety?
A: Well, Volvo has always been one of the leaders. They were first in the ’50s with three-point seat belts. Over 40-50 years, I give the nod to Volvo. But now, Daimler and others are good. When they had to meet standards, variation among auto companies was reduced. When it really counted on legislation, we would use Volvo as an example every chance we got.
Q: What are your thoughts about the coming age of self-driving cars? It seems they would improve safety…
A: It will be a long time. I asked the head of NHTSA what he tells people when they ask about driverless cars. He said two words: No data. Drivers are incredibly more accurate in determining variables, cars pulling out from side streets in Manhattan, etc., than an algorithm. It will take awhile for an algorithm to anticipate everything a human does.
Q: Anything you would write differently if you were writing the book again?
A: I did the most I could with the least amount of public information. There was not much from industry. Engineers wouldn’t talk. MIT was towing the industry line. The book was a pretty good distillation of available evidence. Lots of people weren’t talking. That’s why nobody wrote a book like that — they didn’t know how to marshal the evidence like a lawyer.
Q: What would you want to be the book’s lasting impact?
A: That it produces more and more pressure by example and exposes more and more. You have to keep the heat on them because there’s a propensity for stagnation. Auto companies weren’t interested in safety. They were selling style and horsepower. Major innovations came from the suppliers.
Special-edition autographed copies of “Unsafe at Any Speed” will be available for sale later this year from http://www.nader.org.
