Costs, benefits, effectiveness and safety : setting the record straight.

The concepts of "cost-benefit" and "cost-effectiveness"are increasingly cropping up in debate over present and future motor vehicle standards. Since a motor vehicle safety standard has no cost per $e it cannot be evaluated either in cost-benefit or cost-effectiveness terms. It is the particular design alternatives available to manufacturers to achieve the objectives of a standard that have societal costs. The various design alternatives can be evaluated.