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outlandish AWF Admin 
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Bill Lambrecht POST-DISPATCH WASHINGTON BUREAU Sunday, Dec. 11 2005 WASHINGTON A push by U.S. manufacturers of all-terrain vehicles to impose minimal safety standards on imported Chinese models encountered a hill too steep to climb: Sen. Christopher "Kit" Bond. At the 11th hour of a Senate-House conference last month, Bond, R-Mo., stunned industry officials by stripping safety provisions that had been added by the Senate to a transportation-spending bill. Bond, chairman of the Senate spending panel that engineered the $138 billion legislation, is known as a reliable supporter of various industries - particularly those in Missouri. Handling the same transportation bill, he torpedoed consumer protection wording aimed at movers by arguing that it unfairly harmed Unigroup Inc., of Fenton, Mo., which owns United Van Lines and Mayflower Transit. Bond was not available for comment. Aides said last week that there hadn't been enough time to understand the Senate-passed amendment and how it might affect the highly competitive ATV industry. Rob Ostrander, a spokesman for Bond, said the problem "may be very real and merit action. But the proposed solution is complex, impacting safety and jobs, and it required far more scrutiny, broader input and a fuller understanding than there was time to provide in the short couple of weeks of conference consideration." Bond was not alone in questioning the ATV industry push. The Consumer Federation of America also withheld support of the amendment, viewing it as a half-a-loaf plan written by an industry facing government-imposed rules because of a poor safety record. Supporters of the legislation, including Kawasaki, which operates an ATV-motor plant in Maryville, Mo., were disappointed. Steve Bratt, manager of Kawasaki's Missouri plant, traveled to Washington to seek Bond's support on the amendment. His plant, in northwest Missouri, employs more than 1,000 people, 700 of them full-time. Bratt argued that the Asian imports lacked safety features of U.S.-made ATVs, such as speed controls and leg protection. "Our main concern is for the customers. We don't want them to buy something and people get hurt," he said. Bratt's reaction was similar to others in the industry after learning that their wording been stripped. "We were shocked. I had a lot of explaining to do to our Japanese executives," he said. Flood of Chinese imports The issue involves competition as much as safety. Imports of ATVs from China and Taiwan have soared to more than 140,000 annually and soon could make up 20 percent of the ATV market in the United States, industry officials say. They are sold over the Internet and at a variety of retail outlets. They cost 25 percent to 40 percent less than U.S.-made four-wheelers, sometimes in models barely distinguishable from those manufactured in Missouri or Minnesota. Dennis Toaspern, who operates a company called Motorcycle Forensics in upstate New York, is a former ATV dealer who testifies in accident cases both for plaintiffs and defendants. In an interview, he argued that the lower-priced imports lack quality. "While they use components that the rest of the world uses . . . the metallurgy quality is not as high as ours, and the engines are a generation or two behind us." U.S. manufacturers contend that the imports have flourished in part because they do not comply with U.S. safety standards. The American standards, which are set by the private Specialty Vehicle Institute of America and remain voluntary, promote training for first-time ATV purchasers and in some cases require operating lessons as part of the warranty. Sales of new three-wheel ATVs were banned in 1988 as too dangerous. The standards commit companies to refrain from selling adult-size ATVs for use by children under 16. The industry says it uses undercover methods to monitor dealer practices. Faced both with increasing imports and with the prospect of more stringent controls, the ATV industry agreed this fall to make those voluntary standards mandatory as long as they were required for all four-wheelers sold in the United States. With two ATV manufacturers - Polaris and Arctic Cat - in his state, Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., is the leading proponent of the safety legislation. The bill would prohibit a manufacturer from distributing an ATV unless it had complied with the safety standards practiced in the United States as well as with equipment and performance requirements developed by the Specialty Vehicle Institute of America. Manufacturers, both foreign and domestic, would be required to file a plan to promote ATV safety that would have to be accepted by the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Coleman said in a statement to the Post-Dispatch last week that he was "disappointed that the ATV amendment was removed in conference after a strong showing of support." He hastily reintroduced his proposal and hopes to amend it this week to another appropriations bill in the Senate's waning days. But many in the industry believe that he missed his chance this year. "The fact remains: Imported ATVs are not held to the same safety standards used by American manufacturers and do not adequately protect users," Coleman said. Deaths, injuries As the popularity of ATVs has increased, so have deaths and injuries. The Consumer Product Safety Commission reported this fall that an average of 500 people have died in ATV accidents annually over the past five years. About 100,000 people require emergency room treatment each year, often after being thrown from the ATVs in rugged terrain or as a result of the machines flipping over. From 2002-2004, at least 46 people died in ATV accidents in Missouri, and 30 people were killed in Illinois. In a report this fall, the commission noted that 28 percent of the 130 deaths nationwide last year were children under 16. The commission has compiled no separate statistics about accidents with imported ATVs and only anecdotal evidence of their problems exists. For instance, a jury in Philadelphia awarded $3 million last month to survivors of a 31-year-old man who died when he lost control of an ATV made in Taiwan. Lawyers in the case alleged that a design defect had caused the problem. In October, the commission voted to delay action on a petition from the Consumer Federation of America and other advocacy groups to ban the sale of adult-size ATVs for use by children under 16. But the commission formally gave notice that it was beginning a broad inquiry into ATV accidents, which could lead to rules beyond those proposed in the stalled legislation. Rachel Weintraub, the Consumer Federation's director of product safety and senior counsel, said her group had declined to take a position on the amendment stripped by Bond because it lacked what she called a comprehensive approach. "It is not a solution to the ATV safety problems. It was introduced to deal with Asian import issues and to protect the large American manufacturers," she said. Intentionally or not, Bond's decision to block the amendment could focus broader attention on the ATV industry and its problems, including the arrival of Chinese imports that experts like Toaspern dislike. "It's not just the competition that creates negative feelings on these things. They're junk, that's the bottom line," Toaspern said. blambrecht@post-dispatch.com 202-298-6880
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