5 Reasons Why Government Regulations Are Ruining Cars #IOCT

Introduction
This article applies to petrolheads across the globe, whether it be in the USA, England or Australia. There are bound to be laws that hinder your driving pleasure in some way. Most of the time, federal governments are overblown and interfere in our lives like an invasive traction control system. Here are some ways that the federal government poisons the water hole of the car community.

One: US Import Laws
Many of you are probably familiar with US Import Laws, being that it makes it illegal (most of the time) to import a car like the R34 Skyline GTR (insert rage comment here). Here is a clip from US Customs explaining those laws. “As a general rule, motor vehicles less than 25 years old must comply with all applicable Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS) in order to be imported permanently into the United States.” Basically, if you want to import a car that’s less than 25 years old, it has to meet US safety standards and emissions standards in order for it to be imported. For those of us who want to hear the swan song of an S15 or an R34 Skyline in the US, we’re out of luck. A possible solution to this dire problem is to put a warning sticker on imported cars, saying that this imported car is potentially less safe and pollutes more. Besides, most people who buy an S15 Silvia in the US don’t give a hoot about emissions and safety.

Two: European (and US) Emissions Laws
Car guys want to hear that VROOOOOOOM and BRAAAAAAP STUTUTUTU! Unfortunately, emissions laws can get in the way of this (this can be a bigger problem for VW TDI owners). To quote Road and Track in their article Why Ferrari engineers hate turbos, “By all rights, Ferrari shouldn’t give a flaming tailpipe about mpg. But governments are cracking down on CO2 emissions, and the only way to emit less carbon dioxide is to burn less fuel. So even Maranello is looking to the turbo to reduce fuel consumption.” Because of emissions laws, many sports cars that once had big engines with natural aspiration have had to switch to small engines with forced induction; don’t even get me started about the VW emissions scandal. Granted, we shouldn’t over pollute the planet, but maybe our federal governments should step back and take a better look at all of this.

Three: Speed Limits
Apart from lucky Germany, almost all countries have speed limits on all their roads. For the most part, this is a good thing, the last thing we need are idiots in riced Citroens going 100 MPH down a residential street. However, sometimes, we petrolheads just want to drive fast on an empty road in the middle of nowhere. This reminds me of the multiple times that Top Gear has gone to America and every time, they complain about the speed limits. “What are we going to hit? There’s nothing. No wildlife, no people. It’s shtupid! It’s shtupid!” –Jeremy Clarkson. Also, if you’re going 66 MPH in a 60 MPH zone, a cop can pull you over and write you a ticket, even if the majority of traffic was going the same speed. Speed enforcement can be too strict, and can be very irritating. In my opinion, straight highways in the middle of nowhere should have very high speed limits, or no speed limits at all.

Four: Safety Standards
Safety standards have increased in scrutiny over the years, and that has had some impact on the cars we drive. Cars are safer to drive and crash, but there are a few downsides to more strict safety standards. Modern cars are heavier, bigger and have lower visibility compared to classic cars. Petrolheads don’t want cars that are heavy, big and have low visibility, we want the opposite of that; that’s why the Mazda Miata sells so well. Also, because of the added weight, it means that modern cars can’t be as fuel efficient as they could be. It’s common sense that lighter cars usually get better fuel economy. Strict safety standards have in certain ways hurt performance cars.

Five: U.S.A. CAFÉ standards
In 2012, US News reported “The Obama administration released new Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards this week, requiring automakers to raise the average fuel efficiency of new cars and trucks to 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025.” Basically, the US government is forcing automakers to make more fuel efficient cars, and they’ve been doing this since 1975. Many American cars used to have glorious V8’s but V8’s have slowly been phased out of cars where V6’s and Inline 4’s have taken their place. It shouldn’t be the government that forces car makers to make more fuel efficient cars and trucks. It should be competition among car makers and consumer demand that makes cars and trucks more fuel efficient.

Conclusion
Don’t come away from this article thinking that the government is absolute evil and that all regulations should be done away with. What I want you to learn is that government can sometimes be too overbearing and that these regulations have negative consequences towards us gearheads. Thank you for reading this article and let me know about anything I missed in the comments.