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outlandish AWF Admin 
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Manufacturers of ATVs eager for safety standards Aaron Blake, Star Tribune November 22, 2005 WASHINGTON -- Polaris Industries Inc. CEO Tom Tiller keeps returning to the car analogy: All cars sold in the United States need to meet certain safety requirements, he says, and so should all ATVs. In an industry that has for decades successfully fought off federal regulation, Tiller's words appear to go against the grain. But his company and other major manufacturers are looking at ATV safety legislation introduced last week by Minnesota's senators as a boon to the industry and consumers. Sens. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., and Mark Dayton, D-Minn., last week introduced legislation that would for the first time regulate all ATVs sold in the United States. The bill would make mandatory standards that manufacturers such as Minnesota's Polaris and Arctic Cat Inc. meet voluntarily but that ATV makers in other countries do not. Coleman, who sponsored the legislation, said it's important that Polaris and Arctic Cat are "not tagged with the sins of faulty workmanship and poor standards" of others in the industry. Dayton called the legislation a "trifecta" of safety, fairness and benefits for Minnesota's economy -- 2,200 Minnesotans work at Polaris and 1,500 work at Arctic Cat. The senators hope to move on the bill soon after Thanksgiving. Critics of the legislation say it is intended to push an emerging import industry out of the market. But with ATVs often maligned for safety issues, Tiller and Arctic Cat CEO Christopher Twomey said it's about safety, first and foremost. "Imagine if there were cars coming in from China that the brakes work half the time," Tiller said. "How long do you think it would take for the Michigan delegation to figure out that that's not a particularly good thing for consumers or for the American car manufacturers?" As ATV sales have taken off in recent years, so have the numbers of injuries and deaths associated with the vehicles. The Consumer Product Safety Commission reports that an average of about 500 people died using ATVs each of the past five years, more than a quarter of them 15 or younger. The number of riders requiring emergency room care has climbed to more than 100,000 per year, about a third of them under 16. In Minnesota, 43 ATV deaths were reported between 2002 and 2004 and 178 since 1982. It isn't known how many of those involved imports, and there is little information available on imports in general. Tiller said people get hurt on imports because of poorly made braking, lighting and suspension systems and a lack of safety education or ability to perform recalls. But Rachel Weintraub, assistant general counsel at the Consumer Federation of America, said the push for regulation has more to do with how imports are gaining a rapidly increasing share of the market. Imports, many from China and Taiwan, others from South Korea and Italy, can be substantially less expensive. Major-manufacturer adult ATVs cost about $4,000 on the low end and $8,000 on the high. Import adult ATVs generally are about $2,000 or less. Major-manufacturer children's ATVs run about $2,000, while import children's ATVs can be $1,000 or less. It's not clear how new safety standards would affect those prices. Imports now account for 10 to 25 percent of all ATVs sold, according to the Specialty Vehicle Institute of America, a trade association sponsored by the major manufacturers. Tiller estimated that imports made up about 1 percent of the market five to 10 years ago. Joe Engle, a 35-year-old father of three from Savage, last year wanted to get an ATV at a cheap price for his now-8-year-old daughter Megan. He didn't want to pay a major-manufacturer price, so he researched imports to find one that had the features he was looking for. He bought a used, Chinese-made Long Chang LC50 for $440 on eBay and spent $120 replacing the carburetor. He likens its performance to Polaris and Arctic Cat but has trouble running it in cold weather and said his daughter at first couldn't stop safely when using the hand brakes. He said he would buy from a major manufacturer if he were to buy another ATV. Daniel Maples, co-owner of Southeastern Wholesale.com Inc., which sells import ATVs and other small motor vehicles, said that safety is a valid concern but that he suspects the real reasons for the legislation are financial. Imports are produced cheaply overseas, sold with low overhead and not accompanied by costly safety requirements. In 1987, the Consumer Product Safety Commission sued the major manufacturers over safety issues, and the two sides settled on a precursor to today's voluntary standards. Equipment standards include maximum speeds for youth models and requirements for brakes, suspension, shifting, throttle, lighting, tires and sound levels. Safety standards include minimum age recommendations for certain engine sizes, labeling, hands-on training and safety information and videos. Arctic Cat said it spends more than $1 million annually on the safety requirements. Early last month, the Consumer Product Safety Commission announced it would look into the effectiveness of the voluntary standards and possibly make them mandatory. The Coleman-Dayton bill would, in effect, speed up the process. Aaron Blake is a correspondent in the Star Tribune Washington Bureau.
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