Heavier Autos Are the Safest, GM Study Says

DETROIT — Heavier cars are generally safer, General Motors said one of its studies has found.

A vehicle’s weight is more important than its size when it comes to protection during an accident, said the study, published in this month’s American Journal of Public Health.

A 170-pound difference in a two-car collision can provide as much safety as an air bag for the driver of the heavier car, said Leonard Evans of GM Research Laboratories.

A heavier car stops slower in a collision, reducing the forces that jostle passengers, according to the study. Risk of injury is similar in cars that weigh about the same, no matter their size, it said.

“The heavier the car, the more it protects its occupants in all types of crashes,” said Evans, the report’s lead author.

He said increasing the fuel economy standard--the federal government’s minimum requirement for a fleet’s average miles per gallon--will “inevitably” lead to increased traffic fatalities.

Safety and environmental advocates denounced the study as little more than an attempt to keep the government from increasing its fuel economy requirements. Melanie Griffin of the Sierra Club said it was “designed to scare the public.” Auto makers fought legislation that would have raised fuel economy standards from a fleet average of 28 miles per gallon to 40 miles per gallon by 2001. The companies said such standards would hurt their competitiveness with foreign auto makers. The bill is expected to come before Congress again after the Nov. 3 election.

Doug Nelson of the Center for Auto Safety said higher fuel economy standards will not mean higher risk.

“Historically, it has not been a trade-off,” said Nelson, a vehicle safely researcher at the Washington-based consumer group.

He said a General Accounting Office study indicates that car deaths have declined since the Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards took effect in the 1970s.

“And the biggest improvement came in smaller, lighter cars,” Nelson said.