February, 2016
Dear Care for Crash Victims Community Members: Delay and Confusion:http://www.nbclosangeles.com/investigations/Latest-Airbag-Advice-Confuses-Drivers-369043331.html
February, 2016
Please see the attached letter to Secretary Foxx and Administrator Rosekind.
Why does it take a small but dedicated consumer protection group with a small budget to do that which the DOT and NHTSA should be doing?
Lou
February, 2016
Powerful message sent to President Obama.
(Washington, D.C.) – U.S. Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) today urged President Obama to recall every vehicle with airbags using ammonium nitrate as their propellant, and to use “every tool at his disposal” to accelerate the repair of all vehicles with potentially-lethal Takata airbags. The renewed calls for action follow the December death of Joel Knight in South Carolina, who was killed when his truck struck a stray cow. As reported by the New York Times, instead of cushioning the impact from the wreck, the airbag ruptured, firing shrapnel into Mr. Knight’s neck and killing him.
The Senators wrote: “It appears that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has consistently deferred to Takata as it set forth its requirements to industry, first by allowing many automakers to take voluntary rather than mandatory actions to alert vehicle-owners to this defect’s existence, then by limiting the recalls to cars registered in ‘high humidity’ states absent evidence that the defect would not manifest itself outside these arbitrary boundaries, and now with its apparent policy of waiting until someone has died in a particular make and model before recalling that make and model. This, coupled with NHTSA’s willingness to allow Takata to take until the end of 2018 to prove that ammonium nitrate is safe in existing airbags; and until 2019 to show that the latest models of the inflators that use the compound are safe, is an outrageous dereliction of NHTSA’s basic duty to protect consumers.”
The Senators first expressed concerns with NHTSA’s limited recalls and testing of Takata airbags in October 2014, first called on Takata to recall all vehicles with ammonium nitrate-based airbags in August 2015, and subsequently also expressed serious concern about the pace of Takata recalls and repairs.
The full text of the Senators’ letter to President Obama is below, and it is available in pdf format by clicking here.
The Honorable Barack Obama
President
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20500
Dear Mr. President:
As we learn of yet another tragic and completely preventable death related to faulty Takata airbags, we write urging the Administration to recall every car with an airbag containing ammonium nitrate as its propellant, and to use every tool at its disposal to accelerate the repair of all the vehicles that contain them.
As reported in the New York Times, Joel Knight was driving on a highway in South Carolina when his truck hit a stray cow. Instead of cushioning Mr. Knight from the impact, the Takata airbag on his Ford Ranger ruptured. Shrapnel from the airbag punctured his neck and he bled to death. At the time of this incident, the number of vehicles affected by Takata recalls had reached 19 million, but did not include his Ford Ranger – or any Ford models, for that matter. Mr. Knight had no idea that his car even contained a Takata airbag. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) did not add Ford as an automaker affected by Takata recalls until after it had learned of Mr. Knight’s death.
It has been apparent for some time that the use of ammonium nitrate is the source of the problem with the faulty Takata airbags. Takata is the only major airbag manufacturer to use this compound, which is well known by experts to be unstable when exposed to moisture or humid environments. It is believed that as many as 54 million metal inflators containing this explosive compound are installed in vehicles in the United States. While about 28 million of these inflators have been recalled to date through vehicle recalls, a staggering 26 million remain in vehicles not yet recalled. Yet NHTSA has resisted our repeated calls to expand its recall.
While we have been somewhat encouraged by NHTSA’s recent more aggressive stance on automobile safety enforcement once violations are discovered, we are troubled that it has not shown the same commitment to the Takata crisis or to making permanent changes to auto safety regulations in order to prevent more avoidable deaths in the future. In fact, it appears that NHTSA has consistently deferred to Takata as it set forth its requirements to industry, first by allowing many automakers to take voluntary rather than mandatory actions to alert vehicle-owners to this defect’s existence, then by limiting the recalls to cars registered in ‘high humidity’ states absent evidence that the defect would not manifest itself outside these arbitrary boundaries, and now with its apparent policy of waiting until someone has died in a particular make and model before recalling that make and model. This, coupled with NHTSA’s willingness to allow Takata to take until the end of 2018 to prove that ammonium nitrate is safe in existing airbags; and until 2019 to show that the latest models of the inflators that use the compound are safe, is an outrageous dereliction of NHTSA’s basic duty to protect consumers.
In light of the evidence thus far, and the 10 deaths and more than 100 injuries we know of related to faulty Takata airbags, we strongly believe consumers have a right to know today, whether they are driving a vehicle with a Takata airbag containing ammonium nitrate. And we certainly expect a more aggressive effort to ensure that these vehicles are quickly repaired. Accordingly, we urge the Administration to use its authority to direct NHTSA to expand the current recall so that all consumers driving a vehicle with a Takata airbag are made aware of this fact and can take appropriate action to protect themselves and their families.
We do not need to wait for yet another preventable death to happen in order to recall the remaining population of vehicles containing ammonium nitrate-propelled airbags. Thank you for your attention to this letter.
Sincerely,
February, 2016
Dear Care for Crash Victims Community Members:
For Immediate Release:
Contact: Josh Zembik (Blumenthal) – 202-224-6452
February 24, 2016
Giselle Barry (Markey) – 202-224-2742
BLUMENTHAL, MARKEY STATEMENT ON RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN TAKATA AIR BAG RECALLS
According to Recent Reports, Takata Falsified Data to Cover Up Problems with Products and Up to 90 Million Additional Vehicles May Be Recalled
(Washington, D.C.) – Today, U.S. Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) released the following statement in response to recent developments in Takata air bag recalls. According to a report by the Senate Commerce Committee released yesterday, Takata falsified data to cover up problems with its products. There are also reports that up to 90 million additional vehicles may be recalled.
“We have no faith in Takata. A company that would manipulate test results is a company that would lie to regulators – and may have for years. Now we know there may be an additional 70 million to 90 million vehicles with potentially lethal airbags currently on the road. These airbags sit in Americans’ cars like ticking time bombs, and we must take action now to get all Takata airbags off the road. Coming on the heels of a Senate Commerce Committee report exposing Takata falsified data to cover up problems with their products, this is even further evidence that this deceptive company is not to be trusted.”
“NHTSA must accelerate the recall of these dangerous airbags. Safety recalls shouldn’t be eventual, they should be immediate. The danger from these exploding airbags isn’t conditional, and neither should be NHTSA’s commitment to get these vehicles off the road. We have a duty to protect the American public, especially when Takata has demonstrated a pernicious disregard for doing so.”
The senators first expressed concerns with NHTSA’s limited recalls and testing of Takata airbags in October 2014, first called on Takata to recall all vehicles with ammonium nitrate-based airbags in August 2015, and subsequently also expressed serious concern about the pace of Takata recalls and repairs.Earlier this month, the senators sent a letter urging President Obama to recall every vehicle with airbags using ammonium nitrate as their propellant, and to use “every tool at his disposal” to accelerate the repair of all vehicles with potentially-lethal Takata airbags.
February, 2016
Matthew Avery, Thatcham’s director of research, said: “There is no longer any excuse for carmakers to launchnew cars without AEB as standard across the board and, along with dealerships, to promote and explain AEB more effectively to consumers.
“Not only will this reduce insurance premiums, but give peace of mind for motorists by significantly reducing crashes and associated injuries.” See
http://www.express.co.uk/life-style/cars/644503/Campaign-launched-to-improve-car-safety-for-just-40
Ignore Prime Minister Cameron’s right wing view of “Emergency Braking” in the video.
Lou
February, 2016
Dear Care for Crash Victims Community Members: CarComplaints.com reports:
February 16, 2016 — A Jeep Grand Cherokee gas tank fire lawsuit has been filed by the brother of two people who were killed when their 1995 Grand Cherokee burst into flames from a rear-end impact.
The crash occurred when 56-year-old trucker Vincent Espinvera slammed into a line of vehicles on Interstate 78 in Greenwich Township, Berks County Pennsylvania, killing three people.
Although four people survived, the crash killed Robert Rosner, 52, Edward Dearden, 57, and 54-year-old Theresa Dearden. Espinvera faces a jury trial and three counts each of homicide by vehicle and involuntary manslaughter, two counts of aggravated assault and 17 counts of reckless endangerment.
The 1995 Jeep Grand Cherokee that caught fire wasn’t the first vehicle hit by the truck, according to accident investigators. The truck first slammed into the rear-end of Rosner’s vehicle, which caught on fire and was lodged on the front of the trailer, causing Rosner to burn to death.
The Rosner vehicle rear-ended another car and that car rear-ended the Jeep Grand Cherokee, which caught on fire and killed Edward and Theresa Dearden.
I recently reported about a comment I made in the Comments section on the NY Times article “Pardon Snowden” See http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/15/opinion/pardon-edward-snowden.html?_r=0
My recent blog post describing my comments and what happened at the NY Times was as follows:
Then the NY Times removed my comments and those of the people who had replied to my comments.”
I complained to the Public Editor of the NY Times. No response.
Trying to understand what happened, I looked up on Wikipedia the profile of NY Times Editor Dean Baquet. Here’s what I found to my surprise:“In 2006, ABC News reported that Baquet had killed a story about NSA wiretaps of Americans.[14] Commenting on Baquet’s role in suppressing the NSA story, constitutional lawyer Glenn Greenwald said of Baquet “…Dean Baquet does have a really disturbing history of practicing this form of journalism that is incredibly subservient to the American national security state, and if his past record and his past actions and statements are anything to go by, I think it signals that the New York Times is going to continue to descend downward into this sort of journalism that is very neutered and far too close to the very political factions that it’s supposed to exercise oversight over.”[15]“ See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dean_Baquet
Lou Lombardo
