Sulu

Source: Autoblog

Harmonization right now would be next to impossible. That would mean the Americans agreeing with the Europeans on common regulations. Could you imagine the Europeans agreeing with the Americans (or vice versa)?

Even if the Americans and Europeans could agree, it would take years (if not decades) to completely harmonize safety regulations.

Mutual recognition would be more likely but still not that probable, I believe, with both presumptive Democratic and Republican presidential nominees talking tough and protectionist when it comes to global trade and free trade.

It would be good for Canada (which has largely aligned its regulations with the USA), though, as we may then be more likely to get access to cars (smaller cars, hatchbacks) that may not appeal to our American neighbours.

Dare I hope that we could see more European (or built-for-Europe) station wagons, which the Americans do not like, but we Canadians would be more likely to welcome?

Aron9000

I think safety regulations would be something they could agree on. Personally I'd love to see adaptive LED headlights that are on high end European cars but are illegal in the United states due to severely outdated regulations.

As for the emissions standards, I don't think the EU and USA will ever see eye to eye on that. Regulations in Europe are so much more lax and favor dirtier diesel engines, thus most of the major cities have a serious smog problem that we simply don't have in this country. Diesel is an interesting technology, but as it sits it just costs too much to get them to run as clean as gasoline engines, and the emissions devices significantly harm the fuel economy advantage of diesel.

oldcajun

The aviation regulators have come to an agreement that amounts to mutual recognition. The Europeans accept FAA certification for US aircraft and we accept DGAC certification for Airbus aircraft. It can work.
Steve

JessePS

Now that would be great and also work on a similar system on fuel efficiency or whatever.

Sulu

I am starting to think that perhaps emissions regulations will, in fact, be one of the easier standards to be harmonised, what with the VW diesel scandal and the increasing number of European cities that are finding that they have to close their city centres to (older) cars that pollute a lot. In the not too distant past, the Europeans did concentrate on cutting CO2 emissions (by cutting fuel consumption, which favours diesel engines) at the expense of NOX and particular emissions, but the Euro 6 standard has gone a long way to correcting these older shortcomings.

The problem is that there are so many older cars -- following older European emissions regulations (Euro 1, 2, 3, 4, 5) -- that it will take time (or great political will) to get them off the roads (and there seems to be the political will in cities such as Paris to get older cars off the road). Meanwhile, Euro 6 should help a lot.

Just as the LA smog forced the hand of CARB and the EPA, London, Paris, etc. smog will force the hand of the Europeans.

I agree, but there is a difference between aviation and automobiles. Aviation truly is international and you would not be able to fly across borders if there was not mutual recognition. If there was no mutual recognition, a new aircraft like the Bombardier CS100, being built in Canada but with its first customer being in Switzerland, probably would have taken much, much longer before coming into service. It would have had to be certified in Canada first (yet with no Canadian deliveries yet), then gone through a similar certification cycle for the FAA (and again, with no American deliveries in the near future), and only then gone through the European certification cycle.

But even with mutual recognition among the American Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Transport Canada Civil Aviation (TCCA) and the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), a new aircraft will not receive certification by all 3 agencies at the same time.

Maybe come to one standard for fuel efficiency testing and reporting. The New European Driving Cycle (NEDC) has not been updated in close to 20 years and is almost comical in how far from real-world figures its test results give. The EPA's test, while not perfect, seem to be much better than the European one.

mmarshall

One main difference, though, in potential safety regs between Europe and the U.S. is that, in Europe, a far larger share of the total traffic on the roads is bicycles, motor scooters, very small motorcycles, and very small minicars that are not sold in the U.S., except for the Smart-for-Two. The vehicular impact-standards, in Europe, have to be geared much more towards cyclists and pedestrians, although the central core of big American cities also have a lot of foot-pedestrians.

Aron9000

^I'm not a huge fan of the European pedestrian impact standards. Basically it makes automakers raise the hood line of their cars so that if you hit somebody, there is a cushion space before you hit something really hard, like the engine block. I hate to be callous, but if you walk in front of a speeding car not paying attention, that's on you. Its not like today's cars have cow catchers, pointy spears and spikes like Ben Hur's chariot, or bumpers and hood ornaments that can impail you(57 Chevy for example)

mmarshall

Did you mean raising the hood line before someone striking the windshield? It's not very likely that a pedestrian is going to contact the engine block, deep inside the hood.

Aron9000

That's what I meant, more cushion/crush space between the hood and the engine block. The hood is just a piece of sheet metal that will deform, an engine block/head will not deform and break your ribs/arms/etc.

Here's a good article on what I'm talking about. It compromises car designs, because you can't have a car with a real low hood line. Think 1990's Honda Civic as an example of a mainstream design that probably wouldn't pass these regulations today. The hood on that car is really low to the ground.

http://www.caranddriver.com/features...fatter-feature

3rdDrawer

This.

The EU is in the process of falling apart anyway. There are huge things going on in the world. I don't want a globalist body that is killing french natives with radical refugees really have a say on anything. they need to go. What i wouldn't be opposed to is a private group of engineers and enthusiast from all auto makers coming together to decide on some standards. Who decided on OBD2 anyway?

And BTW i HATE how big and massive hood are now, rear visibility sucks as well. The old EF civics were a dream to drive, you could see everything, and that is good for safety. Unlike my Insight which when backing up its a matter of hitting the gas and praying nothing is behind you.

Headlights are to bright also! Its the color they use, the temp are to high and it makes for a blinding light with no improvement on illumination imo. The old temps were just about perfect.

mmarshall

Back then in the 80s and 90s, low stance, in general was a common Honda design theme. It kept the center of gravity down for sharp handling and lack of body roll. Belt lines on the windows were also low for good visibility out. But it could also make it a PITA to get in and out......I remember well what it was like shoehorning in and out of my friend's CRX, which sat about an inch off the ground LOL.

Hoovey689

iTrader: (16)

Maybe we could finally get those forbidden fruit headlamps from the other side of the pond.

Let's get the Aussie's in on this too, I'd like to see some Utes make their way back over here too

Sulu

Of greater concern than broken arms and legs (legs may be broken by initial impact with the car's bumper) is the head effectively hitting the hard engine block because there was little empty crush space between the hood and the engine block.

The greatest impact on car design seems to be the height of the hood right at the front of the vehicle. Whereas minivans used to have hoods that sloped down from the base of the windshield to the front grill, they now seem to have flatter hoods.

And if you look at new cars, such as the latest Honda Civic, they seem to be very front heavy because there is less of a wedge shape now, due to the flat hood from the windshield right to the front grill. This looks worse on cars with long front overhangs.

Definitely!

I wonder if the Aussies have their own, unique regulations, or have mixed and matched from around the world.

Hoovey689

iTrader: (16)

I'd wager all three to some extent.

I'd have to do a more in depth search, but with a quick search, found some interesting tips for US/European/International drivers wanting to drive a car in Austrailia

natman

If unifying the regulations would save $10 billion, it would cost $30 billion to get all the sub-sub-sub-subcommittes to agree on everything.