U.S. Govt bans Ford engine

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 33034, 29 September 1972, Page 9

U.S. Govt bans Ford engine

(N.Z.P. A.-Reuter—Copyright)

WASHINGTON, September 28.

The United States Government has ruled that an engine made by Ford failed to pass exhaust emission tests, and has thus barred from sale thousands of 1973 model cars and trucks already distributed.

The ruling was made by the Environmental Protection Agency, which has refused to certify the 3275 c.c. engine because it exceeded the durability standards for the emission of carbon monoxide in 50,000-mile tests.

Ford says that it will provide additional information to the E.P.A., and will begin new 50,000-mile tests. The engine, one of 12 families of engines used in Ford vehicles, is fitted in Bronco trucks and Maverick and Comet cars, and it is thought that about 9000 of these vehicles have already been delivered to agencies throughout the United States since the granting of a limited certificate of conformity. These vehicles cannot be sold until they meet the required standards. G.M. PROJECT General Motors said today that it had developed two devices to meet the Government’s strict 1975 pollution emission standards, but it gave a warning that much more work must be done before either of them could be put into mass-produced cars, The president of General Motors, Mr Edward Cole, told oil industry executives that both systems would require a different type of petrol from that was now sold throughout the country. It would have to have less lead, phosphorus, and sulphur in it.

The initial reaction from executives of competing vehicle firms, and from industrial observers in Detroit, is that General Motors is not claiming any break-through. They note that Mr Cole stopped short of an outright declaration that his corporation had solved the pollution problem, and had not decided on a final pollution-control system, though it narrowed

the choice to two competing systems.

In his speech, Mr Cole urged the oil industry to urge motorists to use low-leaded fuels in present and late model cars, since such fuels would be needed in 1975, and later, cars, and yet were beneficial to those Of the present.