Disagreeing with American automakers, Japanese manufacturer Honda told the U.S. Senate Commerce Committee yesterday that raising fuel-efficiency standards for SUVs and other light trucks would not pose a safety threat. The split in the auto industry came to light as the committee discussed whether increasing the standards would make vehicles unsafe by causing automakers to build lighter trucks. Also at the hearing, a representative for the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers (which doesn’t include Honda) raised the ire of Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) by saying he couldn’t assess whether automakers could raise the fuel efficiency of vehicles by even a single mile per gallon over 10 years. Kerry’s response: “Don’t you think that renders you sort of silly?”
