Lawsuit: Hybrid taxis couldn't handle NYC streets

Taxi operators have sued the city over requiring yellow cabs to go green, saying cars that run on a mix of gasoline and electric power can't handle the workout they would get on New York City streets.

The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court on Monday, weeks before an Oct. 1 deadline requiring new cabs to get 25 miles per gallon. It asked a federal judge to strike down the city requirement.

It claims that hybrid vehicles were not built to withstand the pounding that city taxis endure or to be used in commercial fleets. The lawsuit is partly based on an engineer's report that hybrids could not handle 24-hour operation and that air bags might not deploy in taxis that have safety partitions between the driver and passengers.

City law department spokeswoman Kate O'Brien Ahlers said the city hadn't seen the legal papers but expected to consider all its legal actions once it did.

The lawsuit was filed by the Metropolitan Taxicab Board of Trade, a trade association claiming to represent a quarter of the city's 13,000 cabs. Other plaintiffs include a garage that services taxis and a leasing company.

The report's author, automotive engineer C. Bruce Gambardella, said the cars needed to undergo crash testing before being added to the fleet.

"It is completely unknown whether these modified cars would pass federal crash tests," he said. "No automaker would put such an inadequately tested vehicle on the road, nor should the public or any federal regulatory agency stand for it."