Car safety wars

This study recounts the history of the hundred-year struggle to improve the safety of American automobiles and save lives, a long battle that was won by consumers and safety advocates only after decades of defeat. The major victory was the enactment in 1966 of a federal safety law, which cut highway deaths and injury rates by 70 percent. But the safety wars have not ended. General Motors and Toyota, among others, have for years failed to report defective vehicles, demonstrating that safety laws and agencies created with good intentions can be corrupted and strangled over time. The author suggests ways to avoid these undesirable consequences, but he also cautions that safer cars and highways are difficult to come by and that we are only part of the way home.--Adapted from publisher description.