Should SUV's be banned?

[Woochifer]

Again, we live in a country where our forefathers fought so that you have the freedom to own (or drive) whatever your heart desires, yet you criticize people for owning something they don't "need"? How about all those people who buy the 4-door trucks or the super high-end luxury cars? Why not just ban every car that isn't a hybrid?

The benefits of hybrid technology have only scratched the surface so far. I can't remember if it was GM or Chrysler, but one of those companies has now licensed Toyota's hybrid design. And Honda's now working on a next generation hybrid sports car that will generate almost 400 horsepower AND get over 30 MPG on the highway.

Why are SUV owners the target of all of this instead of the factories/industries who pollute? I'll tell you why - everyone knows how much gas mileage an SUV gets - its easy info to find. Nobody will put the time and effort into learning how much a local factory pollutes. Why do you think factories move out of the US? Cheap labor is only half of it - it's because the pollution laws are much less strict everywhere else... let's force all US-based corps who move out of the US to still abide by the same pollution laws no matter where they move to. Imagine how much longer we could make the world last then.

Believe me, the air pollution control districts in California work the industry angle every bit as intensively as the various vehicle emission programs. They've put a LOT of time and effort into studying the impacts of fixed point-source pollution sources (and I've participated in a few of them), and the mandated emission reductions on industry have been every bit as punative as anything that's been done with auto emissions. In the studies I've done, these types of emission regulations are very low on the list of things that drive industry overseas.

SUVs are singled out because they are used like passenger vehicles, yet regulated as trucks when it comes to mileage and emissions. The truck standards work on the premise that trucks are needed for commerce and having a lowered standard for trucks is a way of keeping business costs down. They were not drafted as a permit for one family to generate more pollution than another, nor as an avenue by which auto makers can pad their profits by withholding their best engine control technologies from SUVs.

Passenger cars that meet California's strictest PZEV emission standards actually clean the air during unhealthful smog conditions (because the tail emissions are actually cleaner than the air that the engine pulls in during smoggy conditions) and are better for the environment than even electric vehicles if you account for point source pollution by power generating plants. Thus far, not a single SUV meets the PZEV standards, while a growing list of passenger cars meet them, including the BMW 3 series, VW Jetta, Ford Focus, Mazda 3, Toyota Camry, and Honda Accord. IMO, when it comes to SUVs, either regulate them as passenger vehicles or give passenger vehicles the same exemptions that SUVs get.

http://www.latimes.com/classified/au...,1649115.story