Is This Vehicle Safe?

摘要

It's amazing how a hundred deadly tire blowouts can clear a traffic jam on Capitol Hill. For more than a decade, the powerful auto industry has successfully fought any efforts in Washington to publish a ratings system for measuring a vehicle's propensity to roll over. Detroit wasn't going to let some meddling bureaucrats potentially gut its sacred cash cow, the wildly popular and profitable sport- utility vehicles (SUVs). But by last week, as the estimated death toll in the Firestone- tire recall debacle rose to 101, it became increasingly clear to Mo-town's allies in Washington that the battle had turned against them.