National Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 1966

National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act was enacted in the United States in 1966 to empower the federal government to set and administer new safety standards for motor vehicles and road traffic safety. The Act created the National Highway Safety Bureau (now National Highway Traffic Safety Administration).

Commentary

Why We Had To Regulate The Auto Industry

Posted On: July 01, 2011

By Jake Blumgart. Posted on July 1, 2011.

I recently came across an old Ralph Nader op-ed extolling the virtues of automobile safety and reminding us why government action, in this instance, was so necessary.

The occasion for Nader’s opining was the 20th anniversary of the publication of Unsafe At Any Speed (1965), a searing depiction of an auto industry with little concern for the safety of their product. LBJ signed The National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act into law a year after Nader’s book hit the shelves. A new federal agency was created to address the myriad oversights of the American auto industry: The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). The Big Three—General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler—were horrified by this unprecedented incursion into their domain.

Cry Wolf Quotes

Shoulder harnesses and head rests are complete wastes of money.

In a secretly taped meeting with Nixon, future Chrysler CEO Lee Iacocca. National Archives Nixon Project.

04/27/1971 | Full Details | Law(s): National Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 1966, NHTSA’s Head Restraint Standard

From a commercial standpoint in a competitive marketplace [safety devices such as the turn signal and the seat belt must be optional] until a very high proportion of the customers select the item or unless there are compelling reasons for standard installation.

GM president Frederic G. Donner, Testimony, Subcommittee on Executive Reorganization of the Senate Committee on Government Operations.

07/13/1965 | Full Details | Law(s): National Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 1966

Many of the temporary standards are unreasonable, arbitrary and technically unfeasible . . . If we can’t meet them when they are published we’ll have to close down.

Henry Ford II, 1966.

01/01/1966 | Full Details | Law(s): National Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 1966

And you can see that safety has really killed all of our business...We're not only frustrated, but, uh, we've reached the despair point.

In a secretly taped meeting with Nixon, future Chrysler CEO Lee Iacocca. National Archives Nixon Project.

04/27/1971 | Full Details | Law(s): National Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 1966