| 29 March 2009

Automobile manufacturers have historically paid scant attention to the lifetime costs of developing, owning, and disposing of a car or truck.

The domestic car industry in the past has failed to look beyond the next sales cycle when designing a new model. Basic safety features such as seat belts, five mile an hour bumpers, ABS, and traction control as well as fuel economy and emission control standards were imposed on the industry over their strongest objections and predictions of disaster for their industry. A lot of these features were first developed in Europe and then migrated to the US in imports. For example, seat belts were invented by an engineer at Volvo in the late 50s, reached the US in the mid 60s, and became mandatory in 1974. Although Bendix invented electronic fuel injection here in the US, it was developed under license by German electronics manufacturer Bosch and came into widespread use by European cars long before it appeared on Domestic cars.

Ford of Europe has developed a sustainability index that allows automobile manufacturers to assess the environmental, social, and economic impact of their vehicles in the design phase. Although manufacturers have historically looked at such things as emissions, safety, and cost, Ford's index allows them to assign values to not only the design phase, but also the long-term societal and environmental costs as well. For example, it estimates the life time carbon footprint of a car, not only its tail pipe emissions and fuel consumption, but the carbon costs of building it, maintaining it, and disposing of it when it no longer serves its function. The index also attempts to assign societal costs to the car itself by asking "is this the best way to move people around in a city", or could a smaller car, or one that held more passengers be more appropriate. Ford has even attempted to reduce the human impact of potential allergens in the interior of the car by minimizing the use of fabrics and plastics that outgas or cause allergic reaction in some small portion of the potential users.

Product sustainability is becoming a big deal in the automotive industry right now because we are realizing how much of our limited resources are spent on products that have been designed to fail after a limited number of years use. The size, form and function of automobiles will have a direct effect on whether or not they will still exit in their current form fifty years from now. Clearly Ford of Europe is looking down that road.

Figure 1 Ford of Europe's Galaxy has the TuV Rhineland's "Allergy-Tested Interior" seal of Approval.