Center for Auto Safety Sues DOT Secretary Foxx
February, 2016
Please see release and documents below:
February 5, 2016202-328-7700
CAS Sues Transportation Secretary Foxx For Violating Safety Act Mandate to Post Dealer Technical Service Bulletins & Index on DOT Website
For over three years DOT has violated the Congressional mandate in the “Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act” (MAP-21) enacted on July 6, 2012 that “the Secretary shall make available on a publicly accessible Internet website, a true or representative copy of each communication to the manufacturer’s dealers or to owners or purchasers of a motor vehicle or replacement equipment produced by the manufacturer about a defect or noncompliance with a motor vehicle safety standard prescribed under this chapter in a vehicle or equipment that is sold or serviced.”
To make the Bulletins findable by consumers, MAP-21 required “an index to each communication, which–
(A) identifies the make, model, and model year of the affected vehicles;
(B) includes a concise summary of the subject matter of the communication; and
(C) shall be made available by the Secretary to the public on the Internet in a searchable format.”
DOT has failed to do either legal mandate – publish the actual bulletins or an index to them.
According CAS Executive Director Clarence Ditlow: “DOT failure to implement the law costs consumers money for repairs that covered by Service Bulletins and endangers their lives by witholding Service Bulletins that disclosures defects that can cause crashes, deaths and injuries. Today the Center for Auto Safety filed suit against DOT Secretary Foxx to force the Secretary to do what the law so clearly requires. This is yet another example of where voluntary and cooperative action by the auto industry so praised by Secretary Foxx fails.”
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The Center is represented by Adina Rosenbaum of the Public Citizen Litigation Group in Washington DC.
Related Documents
CAS v. Foxx Complaint – 2/4/16
Examples of Technical Service Bulletins – Ford Toyota General Motors
No wonder most Americans think that government policies are on the wrong track.
