Trump Admin Prepares to Relax Lethal Fuel Economy Standards for New Cars

Times Square at Broadway and 46 St., New York on Feb. 10, 2014. Samira Bouaou/Epoch Times

The Trump administration is set to relax a set of decades-old fuel efficiency rules for new vehicles that proved to be fatal by forcing auto manufacturers to make lighter, less crash-worthy cars.

The regulations were tightened under President Barack Obama despite a Harvard-Brookings study showing that the fuel efficiency goals caused a 14 to 27 percent increase in traffic deaths due to car downsizing. In 1996 alone, the corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) standards caused an estimated 2,700 to 4,700 deaths, according to the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI).