CEI’s CAFE Litigation: Case 1

Full Document Available in PDF

CEI’s second case is available here.

CEI’s CAFE LITIGATION

Compiled by Sam Kazman

            In the 1980s, CAFE was the subject of several lawsuits by the Center for Auto Safety and Public Citizen, each of which attempted to force the standard to more stringent levels than those chosen by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.  In 1986 CEI and Consumer Alert entered the picture, arguing that NHTSA was illegally ignoring CAFE’s lethal impact on traffic safety.  In our view, consideration of this issue would have led to CAFE standards that were less stringent and therefore less lethal.  At a minimum, a public assessment of CAFE’s safety effects would at least have informed the public of the human costs of this program.