Ted Cruz, Republican Senator from Texas
New car prices in the US are increasingly high. According to Republican lawmakers, excessive security systems are to blame — which are preventing vehicles from having an “affordable” cost.
In the United States, where owning a car is practically mandatory for 92% of the population, the constant increase in prices of cars is causing great concern among consumers — a concern that has reached the political class.
O average cost of a new car in the country recently reached record values, while vehicle seizures due to non-compliance with payments are at the highest point in the last fifteen years.
Always looking for the next scapegoatRepublican lawmakers now argue that the Blame lies with car technologysays .
However, do not criticize excessive applications multimedia, smart keys, heated electric seats or remote subscription services, but rather the security systems which, according to the American road safety regulator NHTSA, saved 860 thousand lives since 1968.
Yes, you read that right. According to , the Republicans are organizing an authentic crusade, led by Senator Ted Cruzto attack federal laws that require the implementation of safety technology in new automobiles.
These include proven effective and low-cost systemslike automatic emergency braking (AEB), which should only be mandatory from 2029, and audible alarms to remind drivers not to forget children in the back seat.
The group of congressmen led by Cruz called a meeting with executives from the so-called “Big Three” Detroit builders (Ford, Fiat Chrysler and General Motor) and Tesla to “explain the increase in vehicle costs”.
The meeting is expected to be scene of great accusationsespecially because, in practice, leaders in the automotive sector already align with Republican priorities.
Earlier this year, a lobby group filed a lawsuit against the Department of Transport on behalf of the automotive industry, challenging future AEB requirements.
The companies claim that these standards “significantly increase costs”, although many already offer this system as standard on some of their models.
However, when analyzing in depth the reason for the increase in prices, it is clear that legislators they are pointing the finger at the wrong target. In practice, technological advances in factory automation allowed manufacturers to produce cars at increasingly lower costs
In an ideal worldthe industrial giants would transfer these savings to the consumer; the efficiency should, after all, lower costs. But that would imply a reduction in sector profits — contrary to the logic that has always guided car manufacturers.
Car seats are a prime example. Although the design of seats influences safety in the event of an accident, the industry has taken this issue to another level, transforming them into “electric banks” packed with biometric sensorsventilation ducts, encoders and motors.
By themselves, banks are just another component. But, equipped with all this technological comfort, have become a parallel industrywhich in 2014 was worth 50 billion dollars, creating a new source of revenue for brands and a new burden for consumers.
It is an excellent example of how capitalism, left to itself, tends to degenerate into a profit-oriented production and not because of people’s needs, notes Futurism.
If Republicans were really worried about rising car prices, would attack the monopolies that make them grow — not the safety rules that keep consumers alive.
