ALL auto's in Italy are **required** to carry fire extinguishers.

one of the points the US FTC made in its claim that Fiats were not automobile
and thus could not be sold -- to this day -- in the USA as automobiles is the
truely alarming frequency with whic their junk could fire, even waiting at a
stop light.

you are welcome to check the court records if you wish.

From: "Paolo Zini"
Date: 9/2/2004 1:13 PM Eastern Daylight Time
Message-id:


Remind me not to travel with JAX. I was in Rome for a couple of weeks in
July, during killingly hot weather, and remarkably enough, not a single
vehicle burst into flames. Good thing, too; in Rome's sardine-packed

sardine-packed in july? Definitively you must see in winter! :-)

traffic, the flames would have spread to dozens or hundreds of micro-cars
and scooters.

...and noone have the exitguisher! believe me! :-)
The mandatory "safety" pack includes:
spare weel,
spare bulbs and fuses,
warning triangle,
one reflective jacket to be put on at night in case of on the road repairs.
No first aid kit nor fire extinguisher

This at least in Italy, there are still differences between european
countries.

Given the presence in the USA of Subaru, Hyundai, etc., and the departure
of
Peugeot and other labels, I suspect Fiat's absence from US car showrooms
may
have more to do with the cost of marketing and of meeting highway safety
and
pollution control measures than the FTC's opinion of the vehicle.

Fiat have one agreement with GM. This can mean that there is also one "no
iterference" agreement about marketing...

The safety and pollution rules are really stringent also in europe now,
leaded gas is no longer sold, car are safety and pollution checked every two
year and car aged 10 year or more are so stringently checked that is more
convenient to destroy it in place of paying a lot of expensive repairs.


Paolo