LETTERS

With corporate scandals in the headlines, you’d think the men who run the world’s major auto companies would recognize the perils of arrogance. Yet William Clay Ford Jr. and other auto maker CEOs are bringing in more lawyers to fight California’s new emissions law instead of telling their engineers to build the clean cars and trucks Californians demand [“Car Makers to Challenge State’s New Emissions Law,” July 26].

Even though some companies already are selling cars with smart technology that cuts global warming emissions, industry naysayers claim the law, which gives them until the end of the decade to deliver, moves too fast.

They’re saying “drop dead” to California without even trying. Rather than sue, Mr. Ford and the others should put their experts to work on the cleaner cars we need. Car makers have shown time and again that they can deliver cleaner cars when they try.

But first they have to get started. Courtroom challenges are a giant step in the wrong direction.

David G. Hawkins

Director, National Resources

Defense Council Climate Center

Washington

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The reaction of the auto industry is proof that the new emissions law is needed. U.S. auto makers seem more concerned with winning court battles than with embracing a technological challenge and an opportunity to come up to speed with the rest of the industry.

Paul W. Rosenberger

Manhattan Beach

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The legislation will help drivers save money at the pump and give them more vehicle choices. Auto makers are using the same tired arguments they’ve used to oppose safety belts, pollution laws and fuel economy standards.

The auto makers’ can’t-do attitude flies in the face of cleaner hybrid cars that are already on California’s roads. Plus, new studies by the National Academy of Sciences and the Union of Concerned Scientists show that off-the-shelf technology can reduce heat-trapping gas emissions without sacrificing performance, size or safety.

Patricia Monahan

Senior analyst, Union

of Concerned Scientists

Berkeley

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Car makers miss the point when arguing that the fuel-efficient cars that are currently produced are not being bought in sufficient quantities. The technology used in these smaller cars, such as the variable valve timing that Honda Civics had for years, is equally applicable to larger cars, SUVs, trucks, and minivans. BMW, among others, proved this with large-displacement V8 engines.

It is not the technology, it is the lack of will on the part of American manufacturers to apply it that is the problem.

Homer McPherson

Hermosa Beach