Will Senator Thune Hold Auto Safety Hearing on Tesla Fatal Crash Before the Nov Elections?

Dear Care for Crash Victims Community Members:
NHTSA has failed to protect us again by policies promoting use of motorists as guinea pigs for profits.https://www.careforcrashvictims.com/blog/blog-nhtsasresponsibilitiesfordeaths/

Now Senator John Thune (R) of SD, up for re-election this year, has written to Tesla’s Elon Musk:“To address the foregoing issues, I request that you direct company representatives to brief Committee staff on the details of this incident, including the technology that was in use at the time, Tesla’s actions in response, and the company’s cooperation with NHTSA, by no later than July 29, 2016.”  See https://www.commerce.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/2016/7/thune-seeks-answers-from-elon-musk-on-autopilot-technology

But there are 34 Senate seats up for election in 2016 and Senator Thune is expected to easily win re-election.  Seehttps://ballotpedia.org/United_States_Senate_elections,_2016?gclid=CLnT6c7I-s0CFcQkhgodhFINYwDo the people of South Dakota know that every year more than 100 people die of crash injuries in SD?  See https://www.arcgis.com/home/webmap/viewer.html?webmap=e21e612d64654d75943f85a1a6035472

Do the people of South Dakota know what their chances of surviving crash injuries are without health care?
Do the American people know how their State ranks in vehicle fatalities?  See
Will the media ask questions and demand answers of government and auto company officials that advance safety?
Will the Senate invite both Mr. Musk and Marianne Karth who, having lost two daughters in a truck underride crash , knows first hand the importance of safety policies?  See http://www.fairwarning.org/2016/06/underride-crashes/
Lou Lombardo

____________________Lou Lombardowww.CareForCrashVictims.com

Will Hillary Provide Kennedy like Leadership

Dear Care for Crash Victims Community Members:

In January of 2013, after 132,250 Americans had lost their lives to vehicle violence in his first term in office, President Obama had an opportunity.

As I wrote in January 2013, President Obama could have set a Kennedy-like goal to put Americans on the roads in safer new vehicles and bring them back alive in a decade.  See https://www.careforcrashvictims.com/assets/MonthlyReport-January2013-Vol1.pdf

President Obama did not do so and now we, and he, face his leaving office with an estimated additional 135,569 American lives lost in his second term.

Will Hillary Clinton provide Kennedy-like leadership and set a Vision Zero Goal to put Americans on the roads in safer new vehicles and bring them back alive in a decade?
We have the 21st Century technology.
We need 21st Century leadership that tackles our clear and present dangers here in the U.S.A. today – every day.
Lou

____________________Lou Lombardowww.CareForCrashVictims.com

Will Hillary Help Turn Crash Victim Grief Into Good

Dear Care for Crash Victims Community Members: 

Will Hillary Clinton help Marianne Karth turn crash victim grief into good – safety for all of us, forevermore?

Hillary is a Mom and Grandma. Marianne Karth is a Mom and Grandma who tragically lost two young daughters in a crash.  See https://www.careforcrashvictims.com/blog/blog-fwdagrandmatobeheardandheeded/

Marianne Karth has been working diligently to end vehicle violence for us all ever since.  She has obtained more than 20,000 signatures on a petition for a Vision Zero Goal for the nation.  See http://www.rockymounttelegram.com/News/2016/03/08/Family-continues-fight-for-trucking-safety.htmlHillary should meet Marianne for the sake of all of us.  Marianne lives in Rocky Mount, NC – a swing State that the Hillary campaign bus may visit – hopefully safely.

I hope that Hillary does this soon, before Donald Trump alone sends out a tweet to fix vehicle violence.

Lou Lombardo

____________________Lou Lombardowww.CareForCrashVictims.com

White House Petition To End Preventable Crash Fatalities

Dear Care For Crash Victims Community Members:

Marianne Karth has started a petition we all can sign.

In his final months as President, there is a chance we can get President Obama to act on the people’s behalf.

Please see, sign, and share the Karth family petition at:http://annaleahmary.com/2016/07/whitehouse-gov-petition-end-preventable-crash-fatalitiesappoint-natl-traffic-safety-ombudsman/

“Every average day in the U.S., 100 of our loved ones die in crashes and 400 more suffer serious crash injuries–along with $2 Billion in crash losses.

We propose that the President establish an independent Office of National Traffic Safety Ombudsman to be an advocate to eliminate preventable crash deaths and serious injuries.

We need someone who has a mandate to advocate on behalf of the victims, someone who is not compromised by competing interests. We call on the President to take this action to protect our families and loved ones from one of the leading causes of preventable death.

Traffic Safety has not been a national priority. Without this Presidential action, too many lives will continue to be lost to vehicle violence.”

The Karth family has already been successful in obtaining 20,000 signatures on a previous safety petition.  Let’s help with this too.

Lou

____________________Lou Lombardowww.CareForCrashVictims.com

USA Today Carries Safety Advocates Views on Tesla Fatal Crash

Dear Care for Crash Victims Community Members:

USA Today reports:“It wasn’t ready to go out on the road,” said Rosemary Shahan, president of the advocacy group Consumers for Auto Reliability and Safety about Tesla’s Autopilot. “If you have a system called Autopilot that cannot distinguish between the side of a truck and the open sky, it’s not ready.”….“The tragic Tesla crash shows again the need for aggressive oversight of an industry that has implemented new systems before they are truly tried and tested, ” said Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn, in a statement. “Whatever the promise of self-driving cars, automakers have failed at even simpler technologies, like ignition switches and air bags.”….

“No manufacturer should ever put a beta system on the road and make consumers the test drivers,” said Clarence Ditlow, executive director of the Center for Auto Safety. Other automakers put millions of miles on major safety systems before they are deemed ready for prime time, he says, including many hours at their own test tracks.

Ditlow said NHTSA’s lack of a regulation on self-driving car features amounts to a “loophole” that Tesla exploited.

“If you look at any car, there’s a certification label that says ‘this vehicle meets all applicable safety standards’ and you can’t sell it unless you certify that it does,” Ditlow said. In this case, there were none of those standards in place.”

See http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/cars/2016/07/05/concern-over-tesla-death-close-self-driving-loophole/86726396/

____________________Lou Lombardowww.CareForCrashVictims.com

Two U.S. Senators Call on Honda For “Do Not Drive” Recall For Air Bag Rupture Defect

Dear Care for Crash Victims Community Members:

Please see Press Release below from Senators Blumenthal and Markey.

For Immediate Release

Contact: Maria McElwain (Blumenthal)

(202) 224-6452

Giselle Barry (Markey)

(202) 224-2742

July 26, 2016

 

AFTER NEW DATA REVEALS TAKATA AIR BAG RUPTURE RATES AS HIGH AS 50%, BLUMENTHAL & MARKEY CALL ON HONDA TO IMMEDIATELY ISSUE ‘DO NOT DRIVE’ ORDER FOR VEHICLES WITH THESE AIR BAGS

[WASHINGTON, DC] – After new data revealed that Takata air bags in certain Honda and Acura vehicles have a 50 percent chance of rupture in a crash, U.S. Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Edward J. Markey (D-MA) are calling on Honda to immediately issue a “do not drive” order to owners vehicles with these dangerous air bags. In a letter to Honda today, the Senators urged Honda to take the strongest possible action to ensure that vehicles with such air bags are immediately removed from the road before more people are killed. They also called on the company to take additional measures to make it as easy as possible for owners of these vehicles to have this dangerous defect repaired, without having to drive the vehicle to a dealership.

“Honda has a responsibility to clearly communicate the danger to consumers so that they understand the grave risks at hand,” the Senators wrote. “A ‘do not drive’ instruction should be conspicuously displayed on any recall notices, as well as this new test data so owners are informed that in the event of a crash, there is a 50 percent change that the airbag will violently explode. This new test data, coupled with the fact that eight of the 10 confirmed U.S. fatalities due to defective Takata airbags were in this subset of vehicles, make it abundantly obvious that a ‘do not drive’ instruction is absolutely warranted.”

The Senators first expressed concerns with NHTSA’s limited recalls and testing of Takata airbags in October 2014. They have also called on Takata to recall all vehicles with ammonium nitrate-based airbags, and expressed serious concern about the pace of Takata recalls and repairs. Earlier this year, 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.

A copy of the letter is available here and below:

Dear Mr. Mikoshiba:

In light of new test data released by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) revealing that certain model-year 2001-2003 Honda and Acura vehicles show rupture rates as high as 50 percent in a crash, we write to urge you to immediately issue a “do not drive” order to owners of this subset of vehicles. This data warrants the strongest possible action that a manufacturer can take to ensure that vehicles with such air bags are immediately removed from the road before more people are killed.

As Department of Transportation Secretary Foxx stated following the release of this news, “Folks should not drive these vehicles unless they are going straight to a dealer to have them repaired immediately, free of charge.”[1] In the wake of this announcement, we expected Honda to echo the Secretary’s remarks and quickly follow-up with a “do not drive” instruction to owners of this subset of vehicles.

We are extremely disappointed that Honda does not appear to have taken this important step. Honda has a responsibility to clearly communicate the danger to consumers so that they understand the grave risks at hand. A “do not drive” instruction should be conspicuously displayed on any recall notices, as well as this new test data so owners are informed that in the event of a crash, there is a 50 percent chance that the airbag will violently explode. This new test data, coupled with the fact that eight of the 10 confirmed U.S. fatalities due to defective Takata airbags were in this subset of vehicles, make it abundantly obvious that a “do not drive” instruction is absolutely warranted.

Additionally, we call on you to take additional measures to make it as easy as possible for owners of these vehicles to have this dangerous defect repaired, without having to drive the vehicle to a dealership. Considering NHTSA has directed consumers “to not drive these vehicles,”[2] we suggest Honda make available mobile mechanics who can travel to where an owner lives or works to conduct the necessary repair; or free towing to the closest repair facility, so that owners will not have to drive these high risk vehicles. As you know, there remains 313,000 vehicles with this very dangerous defect unrepaired, and we believe making such additional options available will be critical to achieving a 100 percent recall completion rate.

We urge you to immediately issue a “do not drive” instruction order, on at least this subset of cars with airbags exhibiting substantially higher risk to life. Please let us know by July 31, 2016, what actions you have taken to this end, as well as any other actions you have taken to ensure vehicles with these especially high risk air bags are immediately removed from the roads.

Sincerely,

Tesla and NHTSA Priorities Revealed in Fatality Reporting: Not Safety of Customers and Taxpayers First?

Dear Care for Crash Victims Community Members:

Are we, the little people, not “material” to automakers and to NHTSA?

Automotive News reports on timeline of delays in warning motorists of their endangerment:

“SAN FRANCISCO — Tesla Motors Inc. alerted regulators to a fatality in one of its electric cars in partial self-driving Autopilot mode nine days after it crashed, the company said on Tuesday, defending its decision not to make the accident public before a federal investigation was announced.

Tesla learned about the crash of the Model S sedan in Florida “shortly” after the May 7 crash, and on May 16 it disclosed the incident to the government. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration on June 30 announced a probe.”

http://www.autonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20160705/OEM11/160709944/tesla-told-regulators-about-autopilot-crash-9-days-after-accident

Corporations and NHTSA keep the public in the dark on fatal crashes.

It is a deliberate Vision Zero policy of keeping the public blind, ignorant, and unsafe.

Lou

____________________Lou Lombardowww.CareForCrashVictims.com