Detroit's caveats about the troublesome effects of legislated auto safety standards all but faded away after President Johnson signed the Highway Safety Act last September.* Now, though the first set of federal standards, which will be mandatory for 1968 models, are not due until next January, the furor is being revived—this time on the European front.
The Europeans are complaining about a preliminary list of 26 safety requirements, passed around by the U.S. Department of Commerce to give importers an idea of what the coming federal standards will be like. Britain's Society of Motor Manufacturers and...