The nation's leading consumer advocate and Green Party candidate for the 2008 Presidential bid Ralph Nader announced today that he would protest the looming privatization of the federal auto safety agency which he helped establish 12 years ago.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) plans to deregulate key automotive roof crush safety rules - a move that, Nader says, will prevent victims of rollover and roof-crush events from seeking justice under the long-standing product liability law. The Nader/Gonzalez campaign emphasized that the prevailing lag in what is now common safety equipment is a primary culprit for unnecessary injuries and fatalities and that many foreign automakers are currently offering vehicles with such measures already in place.

"The proposed roof crush standard is dangerously weak and lags behind existing, practical technology," Nader said. "Some automakers - Volvo, Saab, and Suburu, for example - produce models that offer greater protection in roof crush rollovers than the protection offered by this long-overdue anemic standard that NHTSA is about to issue."

Ralph Nader plans to attend the protest, which will take place in front of the NHTSA biulding on Thursday May 8, 2008 at 12 noon.