Light Trucks And Dirty Air

New rules will require SUVs to clean up their act

Sport-utility vehicles have always been odd automotive beasts. Part miniature truck, part muscled-up car, they have all the amenities of a family sedan and all the gas-gulping bulk of a big rig. Now the SUV will have to do a little downsizing--at least when it comes to tailpipe emissions. Last week President Clinton announced new rules requiring SUVs and other so-called light trucks to put out no more pollution than an ordinary car.

Until now the Environmental Protection Agency has gone pretty easy on light trucks, allowing them to release between 0.7 gram and 1.5 grams of smog-producing nitrogen oxide per...

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