Nobody’s Diesel Would Be Better

I find it difficult to contain my outrage upon reading “Not Your Daddy’s Diesel” [May 17]. If Chrysler has its way, the hapless drivers of America are not only to be subjected to the daily assaults of yet more gigantic sport-utility vehicles--which seem to be purchased by the most thoughtless, aggressive and reckless drivers on the road--but in the future, these wasteful monstrosities will probably be powered by toxic diesel engines.

Well, isn’t that something to look forward to?

Anyone who has ever been stuck behind a diesel Mercedes in the gridlock of summer traffic in Los Angeles knows how vile even the cleanest of diesel engines really are. And why will our barely breathable atmosphere be further polluted by yet more of these filthy devices? Because Detroit thinks that diesel engines are “rugged, durable and, well, masculine.”

Maybe the deep thinkers at Chrysler have concluded that they may as well kill us with cancer before we all drown or suffocate from the effects of global warming. That our tax dollars will subsidize this slow-motion suicide for the sake of auto industry profits is unconscionable madness. When will we ever cease the idiocy of fouling our own nest, to the detriment of current and future generations, for such ephemeral economic gains?

MICHAEL TAYLOR

Los Angeles