Rules Sought in Auto Safety Waiting Game

"We set the agenda based on real-world safety problems, not on what is politically expedient or someone's pet problems," he said. He added that the agency should be held accountable but said it does not need Congress to direct its regulatory agenda.

Runge said NHTSA will begin a roof-crush rulemaking this year (that would update a 1971 standard); it has a proposed rule on strengthening door locks; it will have a final rule to provide head protection in side-impact crashes next year; and it is working toward a proposal to prevent rollover by requiring that "four wheels stay on the road."

One initiative in the bill not on NHTSA's list is posting the results of agency crash tests on car windows, so consumers could determine how crashworthy the vehicle might be. The legislation also gives the agency more than $8 million a year to buy new vehicles so it can keep testing new models.

Robert Strassburger , vice president of vehicle safety for the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers , said the industry didn't lobby against the package of deadlines, in part, because it is installing safety equipment independently. For example, he said, 50 percent of new cars have electronic-stability control, a system that helps keep a vehicle from rolling over. About 75 percent of 2005 vehicles offer head-protecting airbags for the first row of seats.

But consumer groups say such equipment is often found on high-end cars and is optional on others.

"By setting standards fleet-wide, it will lower costs over time, and the equipment will be there," said Robert Hurley , who does lobbying for auto-safety suppliers.

Joan Claybrook , president of Public Citizen and a former NHTSA administrator, said the legislation "could produce the most significant safety enhancement since airbags were required in all vehicles . . . " under the provisions of 1991 legislation.

Said Runge: "The fact is, we all want the same thing -- fewer deaths."