Month: January 2015

NHTSA Announces $70 Million Consent Order Agreed to by Honda


NHTSA Announces $70 Million Consent Order Agreed to by Honda

January, 2015

Dear Care for Crash Victims Community Members:

NY Times reports Honda hit with record fines of $70 million (2 fines of $35 million each) for not performing required reports of data on deaths and injuries to NHTSA for over a decade.

“It is the largest amount that the safety regulator has ever levied against an automaker. The penalty stems from the automaker’s failure to report 1,729 death and injury claims to the agency for the past 11 years, and its failure to report certain warranty and other claims in the same period.

“Today’s announcement sends a very clear message to the entire industry that manufacturers have responsibility for the complete and timely reporting of this critical safety information,” Mark Rosekind, the new head of the agency, said Thursday.”  See 

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/09/business/honda-fined-70-million-in-underreporting-safety-issues-to-government.html?emc=edit_na_20150108

USA Today reports:

“Last year, NHTSA issued more than $126 million in civil penalties, which was a record. The agency says the total exceeded the total amount collected by the agency during its forty-three year history.

“These fines reflect the tough stance we will take against those who violate the law and fail to do their part in the mission to keep Americans safe on the road,” Foxx said.”  See 

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/cars/2015/01/08/honda-fine-nhtsa/21445701/

Bloomberg News reports an interesting contrast between GM and Honda that raises questions about the relative safety of the two automakers:

“GM, eager to demonstrate proactivity in the wake of the biggest recall in its history, disclosed 102 death and injury reports per 100,000 vehicles sold in 2014 through November. By contrast, Honda disclosed 2.4 reports per 100,000 vehicles sold over the same period. “

And Bloomberg further notes what may be further future actions:

“The Center for Auto Safety, a research group that has been tracking recalls and defects since it was founded in 1970, asked transportation regulators in October to refer Honda to the Justice Department for a criminal investigation. It cited a 2009 fatality and an August 2013 incident resulting in serious injury that weren’t included in Honda’s Early Warning Reports.”  See

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2015-01-08/honda-fined-record-70-million-for-underreporting-injury-claims.html

“The Center for Auto Safety responded to our inquiry:

“The Center for Auto Safety calls on the Justice Department to open a criminal investigation into Honda violating NHTSA’s Early Warning Reporting Regulation. $70 million is too small a price to pay considering Takata airbags is one of the defects Honda failed to report under EWR.  How many other deadly defects are concealed in the 1,729 death and injury claims not reported by Honda.  The company must waive all statutes of limitations at the state and federal level over potential recalls or lawsuits arising out of defects concealed in the unreported claims.” 

Open questions for NHTSA:  

1.  NHTSA has not yet responded to our inquiry as to whether its fines are tax deductible or not.

2.  NHTSA has not yet responded to our request for a link to the media briefing it held today and recorded at taxpayer’s expense.  It should be made publicly available.

Lou

 

IIHS Report on Crash Death Statistics by Make and Model for 2008 – 2011 Model Year Vehicles


IIHS Report on Crash Death Statistics by Make and Model for 2008 – 2011 Model Year Vehicles

January, 2015

Dear Care for Crash Victims Community Members:

IIHS publishes important real world data on Driver Death Rates.

See http://www.cbsnews.com/htdocs/pdf/Driver_DeathRates_sr5001_emb.pdf

Also attached.

Lou

 

Honda & NHTSA Fail to Report Crash Deaths


Honda & NHTSA Fail to Report Crash Deaths

January, 2015

Dear Care for Crash Victims Community Members:

Honda Fails to Report Deaths – Honda Fined $70 million Recently NHTSA (with Honda’s agreement) fined Honda $70 million for failing to report information on deaths involving Honda vehicles.  See http://www.nhtsa.gov/About+NHTSA/Press+Releases/2015/DOT-fines-Honda-$70-million   And see: https://www.careforcrashvictims.com/blog-withstandingmsg.php   And see:http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/09/business/honda-fined-70-million-in-underreporting-safety-issues-to-government.html?_r=0

And see: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/10/business/honda-in-japan-distances-itself-from-us-subsidiary-after-record-fine.html

NHTSA Fails to Report Honda Deaths – NHTSA Fined $0 

NHTSA regularly collects data in FARS about deaths associated with each automaker.   But NHTSA does not bother to summarize fatalities and publish the results by each automaker.  So how many people died of crash injuries involving occupants of Honda vehicles (not including data on Honda motorcyclists that is attached separately) in recent years?   Randy and Alice Whitfield of Quality Control Systems Corp. kindly provided such information.  They reported that in the years 2010 – 2013 the total number of Americans who died of crash injuries as occupants in Honda passenger vehicles was 6,280 people.
One particularly important thing to note about these statistics — that NHTSA has, but will not publish — is their regularity.  Year after year!
20101,594 2011  1,536 20121,593 20131,557
Why does NHTSA not publish the data on fatalities it has by automaker?
What holds NHTSA back?   NHTSA frequently publishes fatal crash data on involvement of alcohol, restraint use (buckled), speed, age, and gender of crash victims — but not by vehicle manufacturer.  See http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/Pubs/812032.pdf
Honda Motorcyclist Deaths 
Data on Honda Motorcyclists’ Deaths summarized from NHTSA files are attached for the years 1982 – 2011.  In 2011, the number of Honda motorcyclist deaths were 817, i.e., occurring at an average rate of more than 2 deaths per day. These data that NHTSA has failed to publish by vehicle manufacturer for decades are important to note.  They provide deadly evidence of NHTSA captivity since Reagan was elected President.  
If NHTSA had been regularly publishing such data by automaker, there would have been a market pressure on automakers to improve the safety of their products.

NHTSA’s failures to report such data by manufacturer to the public for more than 30 years deserves much more than a $0 fine.   NHTSA can publish such data today!   NHTSA can and should do better. Lou

 

Good News from NHTSA in 2015


Good News from NHTSA in 2015

January, 2015

Dear Care for Crash Victims Community Members:

NHTSA has published some good news on its programs over the years:

Saving an estimated 613,501 lives since 1960.  See

“Lives Saved by Vehicle Safety Technologies & Associated Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards, 1960 to 2012 Passenger Cars and LTV’s” (DOT HS 812 069):  NHTSA began in 1975 to evaluate the effectiveness of vehicle safety technologiesassociated with the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards. By June 2014, NHTSA had evaluated the effectiveness of virtually all the life-saving technologies introduced in passenger cars, pickup trucks, SUVs, and vans from about 1960 up through about 2010.  The total number of estimated lives saved by these technologies and programs from 1960 to 2012 is 613,501. 

So yes safety programs can save lives!  

And we need to do more and better.  See “Early Estimate of Motor Vehicle Traffic Fatalities for the First Half (Jan-Jun) of 2014” (DOT HS 812 093):  A statistical projection of traffic fatalities for the first half of 2014 shows that an estimated 14,950 people died in motor vehicle traffic crashes. This represents a decrease of about 2.2 percent as compared to the 15,294 fatalities that were reported to have occurred in the first half of 2013. Preliminary data reported by the Federal High­way Administration (FHWA) shows that vehicle miles traveled (VMT) in the first 6 months of 2014 increased by about 6.5 billion miles, or about a 0.4-percent increase.

You might think that President Obama might have thought this good news was worth mentioning in his State of the Union speech.  Maybe next year…

Lou

 

Safety Inequality in America: Fatal Risk for Used Car Buyers


Safety Inequality in America: Fatal Risk for Used Car Buyers

January, 2015

Dear Care for Crash Victims Community Members:

NY Times Reports:“Buying a used car in the United States can be a dangerous proposition — if the vehicle has an unadvertised safety defect.

This month, Carlos Solis died after the airbag in a used car he bought last year from a Texas dealer exploded, sending a piece of metal into his neck. Mr. Solis, 35, was not aware when he bought the vehicle that its airbags could be defective and had been recalled, according to a lawsuit filed by his family on Friday….”

“Federal laws do not require used-car dealers to repair vehicles with safety defects before putting the cars back into public use. Nor are dealers required by law to disclose to customers that a vehicle is the subject of a recall. Legislation to address the issue has languished in Congress.

With no progress in legislation, consumers are left on their own to check whether a used vehicle has been recalled for a safety defect, by running their vehicle identification numbers through the federal safety database or on an automobile manufacturer’s website, or by purchasing a vehicle history report from a vendor like Carfax.”

See http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/31/business/buyers-of-used-cars-are-left-to-find-recalls-on-their-own.html?emc=edit_tnt_20150130&nlid=37926955&tntemail0=y&_r=0

 

Delete the Jan. 31, 2015 Deadline of the GM Ignition Switch Compensation Program


Delete the Jan. 31, 2015 Deadline of the GM Ignition Switch Compensation Program

January, 2015

Dear Care for Crash Victims Community Members:

The GM Ignition Switch Compensation Plan – Status

The GM Plan is scheduled to end January 31, 2015.  See http://www.gmignitioncompensation.com/index

As of January 16, 2015 the GM Plan reports 2,818 claims received and only 121 claims deemed eligible.   *  49 claims eligible out of 311 claims made for fatalities

*    7 claims eligible out of 207 claims made for catastrophic injuries

*  65 claims eligible out of 2,300 claims made for hospitalization injuries

See http://www.gmignitioncompensation.com/docs/program_Statistics.pdf

The GM Ignition Switch Compensation Plan – Needs Extension
The number of claims made appear to be too few in comparison with the number of GM fatalities each year over the calendar year period 2001 – 2013 during which ignition switch related deaths and injuries occurred and continue to occur.   NHTSA data on GM Vehicles in Fatal Crashes by year are as follows: Crash        Fatal           TotalYear          Crashes     Fatalities 2001        15,543        17,699 2002        15,366        17,524 2003        15,097        17,159 2004        14,986        17,065 2005        14,631        16,633 2006        13,889        15,704 2007        13,208        14,917 2008        11,797        13,192 2009        10,540        11,914 2010        10,268        11,404 2011          9,714        10,828 2012        10,094        11,265 2013          9,580        10,617
                 _______________ Total        164,713       185,921
In 2013, GM vehicles involved in fatal crashes resulted in 10,617 crash deaths, i.e., an average of 29 American deaths per day in the U.S.A.   This is occurring in the 21st Century.
These 10,617 crash deaths involving GM vehicles in 2013, valued at $9.1 million in accordance with DOT Policy Guidance (copy attached) amount to a societal loss of $96 billion in monetary terms — not moral terms.
Note: Not all of these GM deaths are ignition switch related.  But NHTSA should publish an analysis of these fatal crashes to determine how many may have been.  And what more could GM and NHTSA have done to reduce their contribution to all these tragedies then and now. It is neither fair, nor moral, for GM to place the onus on crash victims families to have to document, to the satisfaction of GM, their claims – especially without help from NHTSA and other government agencies.  And do so in the few short months of the GM designed plan. 
The January 31, 2015, GM created, deadline for receiving claims from victims is unfair, immoral, and untenable.  Millions of Americans continue to be at risk.  A recent reported fatality occurred on Oct. 9, 2014.  See http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/04/business/Recalled-GM-cars-remain-unrepaired-as-safety-concerns-persist.html The arbitrary deadline for claims should be deleted by GM.  If necessary, it should be done under pressure from NHTSA and the Justice Department.  It is the right thing to do.
With 185,921 GM deaths – not including serious injuries – we need an independent national Crash Victims Commission to examine what can be done to reduce such tragedies.  One recommendation would be for NHTSA to publish fatality and injury data by auto company to spur competition for safety advances.  See https://www.careforcrashvictims.com/assets/MonthlyReport-May2014.pdf Lest NHTSA or GM seek shelter in the declines since 2006, we must recall that one major factor was the effect of the Great Recession.  See NHTSA Figure 1 http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/Pubs/812093.pdf
Additional Information on GM Ignition Recall 
GM and NHTSA can and must act this week to protect Americans, compensate victims, and build a Safer America.  Delete the GM deadline, now please.
Lou