Bureaucracy Works

"Hearse Makers No Longer Strapped Under Car-Seat Law." by Cindy Skrzycki. Washington Post Tuesday, October 26, 2004; Page E01

Five years ago, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration issued a rule requiring all vehicle manufacturers to install standardized anchors so child safety seats would be held securely in place.

In August 2000, Accubuilt, the largest manufacturers of hearses, or funeral coaches, formally petitioned to be exempt from this ruling. Just this month Oct 15, 2004, the NHSTA officially defined funeral coaches and granted them a permanent exemption to the child safety seat ruling.

Lautermilch of Accubuilt said there were no hard feelings; he realized the delay was an oversight, especially since the issue applies to such a tiny segment of the vehicle market. In fact, Rick Gullette, Accubuilt's chief engineer, said that nothing about the rule made any sense. But he was pleased with the result. And for an industry that deals with finality, what was the rush? "It got done quicker than I expected," he said.

Considering that Accubuilt (or any of the other hearse manufacturers) hired no lawyers to fight this issue and employed no lobbyist to represent their interests, one can almost be surprised that it got done at all.