Product Safety—The SUV Debate
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE—May 8, 2003
CONTACT: Kim Keating—603-646-2733
HANOVER, N.H.—Have the car companies traded safety for profits? At the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth on May 5, prominent critics of the automotive industry's safety record with sport utility vehicles (SUVs) took on spokesmen for major car manufacturers in a business ethics panel on product safety. In an effort to integrate further debate on ethics and corporate responsibility into its curriculum, the Tuck School brought together experts from both sides of the issue for a discussion titled, "The SUV Debate: Have the car companies traded safety for profits?"
SUVs represent the fastest growing segment in the automobile industry, accounting for 25 percent of the vehicles sold in the U.S. last year. SUV sales account for about 90 percent of the profits of the big three automobile manufacturers. They are immensely popular with the American consumer, yet critics cite the increased risk of rollover, the risk to other vehicles in collisions, and low fuel efficiency.
David Pittle, Consumer Report's expert on automotive safety, and Tab Turner, the nation's leading automotive plaintiff's attorney, confronted Christopher Preuss, General Motors' spokesman on SUV safety, and Jason Vines, former vice president of communications at Ford Motor Co., on whether the SUV manufacturers are sacrificing occupant safety in the interest of profits.
Turner, who has devoted his professional life to working on SUV legal cases-such as the Ford Explorer and Firestone tires lawsuit-said consumers need to determine whether or not the risks posed by these vehicles outweigh the benefits. Preuss added that GM is making the best cars that they know how to, and are putting forth their best effort to make them safe. Pittle mentioned that a Federal Motor Vehicles rollover regulation test should be available later this year and, for the first time, consumers will have the ability to make informed choices about product safety. Vines argued that the facts about SUVs are being manipulated, and that the media are misrepresenting SUVs and making them out to be "the mink coats of society."
One thing the four panelists agreed on was that the SUV debate is a macro societal issue ripe for discussion. From executives, to engineers, to manufacturers, to marketers, to consumers, there are a lot of factors involved in automobile manufacturing, thousands of regulations to comply with, and billions of dollars at stake, but safety should never be compromised.
This was the last in this year's series of business ethics panels moderated by Tuck Professor Rick Shreve, a former managing director at Morgan Stanley. Previous panels have included "Making Your Numbers: When does managing earnings become cooking the books?" and "Conflict of Interest in the Securities Industry: Can it be fixed?" The Ethics at Tuck series is co-sponsored by Tuck's Dean's Office, James M. Allwin Initiative for Corporate Citizenship, and Ariel Halpern Endowment.
Founded in 1900, Tuck is the first graduate school of management and consistently ranks among the top business schools worldwide. Information about the Tuck School is available at www.tuck.dartmouth.edu.
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