No Sweat — NHTSA & Takata Strike Deadly Deal Behind Closed Doors – Obama Plays Golf


No Sweat — NHTSA & Takata Strike Deadly Deal Behind Closed Doors – Obama Plays Golf

June, 2014

Dear Care for Crash Victims Community Members:

In today’s Washington Post, Dana Milbank notes that President Obama on Tuesday evening hosted Tiger Woods and other great golfers in the White House.  “CBS News’s Mark Knoller, the unofficial statistician of presidential activities, reports that Bush played golf only 24 times while in the White House; Obama is up to 177 and now has a round-a-week habit.”

Today we read the following release from Clarence Ditlow, Executive Director of the Center for Auto Safety.NHTSA & Takata Strike Deadly Deal Behind Closed Doors To Limit Airbag Inflator Recall        “Sitting in air conditioned offices away from the sweltering humidity of Washington streets and away from the eyes of public scrutiny, NHTSA and Takata officials reached one of the strangest recall deals ever seen.  They agreed Takata could limit recall of airbag inflators that explode and send shrapnel into the occupant compartment to Florida, Puerto Rico, Hawaii and U.S. Virgin Islands.  The agreement totally ignores states such as Mississippi, Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana and others with notoriously high relative humidities not to mention Washington DC and even Portland Oregon which is higher than Hawaii. Without explanation, the agreement relies on absolute humidity for which records are scanty and no data are provided by either NHTSA or Takata. When it comes to a defect so deadly as an airbag inflator that kills like a shrapnel bomb, the public deserves more than a private nod from NHTSA to Takata just like the agency gave GM on the ignition switch defect.” Statement of Clarence Ditlow Executive Director

NHTSA NHTSA Statement on Takata Airbag Inflatorshttp://www.safercar.gov/Vehicle+Owners/NHTSA-statement-on-takata-air-bags  – 6/23/14 PE14-016 Opening Resumehttp://www.autosafety.org/sites/default/files/imce_staff_uploads/Takata %20Airbag%20PE14016%20Opening%20Resume.pdf  – 6/11/14 Takata Letter to NHTSA ODIhttp://www.autosafety.org/sites/default/files/imce_staff_uploads/Takata %20Letter%20to%20ODI%20-%20Regional%20Recall.pdf  – 6/11/14 Manufacturer Campaigns BMW Conducts “Voluntary Limited Regional Parts Collection Campaign” 14V-348http://www.autosafety.org/sites/default/files/imce_staff_uploads/Takata %20BMW%2014V348%20Part%20573.pdf  – 6/19/14 Chrysler Conducts Field Action only in FL, HI, PR, and USVIhttp://www.autosafety.org/sites/default/files/imce_staff_uploads/Takata %20Chrysler%20Field%20Action.pdf  – 6/20/14 Ford Conducts Field Action only in FL, HI, PR, and USVIhttp://www.autosafety.org/sites/default/files/imce_staff_uploads/Takata %20Ford%20Field%20Action.pdf  – 6/19/14 Mazda Conducts Special Service Program in FL, HI, and PR Onlyhttp://www.autosafety.org/sites/default/files/imce_staff_uploads/Takata %20Mazda%2014V344.pdf  – 6/20/14 Nissan Conducts Field Action only in FL, HI, PR, and USVIhttp://www.autosafety.org/sites/default/files/imce_staff_uploads/Takata %20Nissan%2014V340.pdf  – 6/19/14 Toyota Conducts Campaign only in FL, HI, PR, and USVIhttp://www.autosafety.org/sites/default/files/imce_staff_uploads/Toyota %20Takata%20Airbag%20Recall%2014V-350.pdf  – 6/19/14 Honda Campaign Rightly Covers Additional Absolute Humidity States Honda Safety Improvement Campaign 14V-351 Part 573 Defect Noticehttp://www.autosafety.org/sites/default/files/imce_staff_uploads/Takata %20Honda%2014V351%20Part%20573.pdf Honda Safety Improvement Campaign 14V-353 Part 573 Defect Noticehttp://www.autosafety.org/sites/default/files/imce_staff_uploads/Takata %20Honda%2014V353%20Part%20573.pdf Statement by American Honda Regarding Front Airbag Inflator Market Actions http://www.honda.com/newsandviews/article.aspx?id=7804-en  – 6/23/14 NEWS NY Times: Now the Air Bags Are Faulty, Toohttp://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/24/business/international/honda-nissan-a nd-mazda-join-recall-over-faulty-air-bags.html  – 6/23/14 NY Times: Toyota Orders Big Recall Tied to Airbag Parthttp://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/12/automobiles/toyota-recalls-2-3-millio n-vehicles-for-air-bag-problem.html?module=Search&mabReward=relbias%3Aw% 2C%5B%22RI%3A5%22%2C%22RI%3A16%22%5D  – 6/11/14 CAS ACTIONS “It’s Not Hot in Death Valley and It Doesn’t Snow Hard In Buffalo” – NHTSA Sings the Blues for Geographic Recall Victimshttp://www.autosafety.org/its-not-hot-death-valley-and-it-doesnt-snow-h ard-buffalo  – 2003 U.S. District Court Decision on Geographic Recallshttp://www.autosafety.org/sites/default/files/GeoDistrict.pdf  – 9/30/04 CAS Information Page: Don’t Be a Geographic Recall Victimhttp://www.autosafety.org/dont-be-geographic-recall-victim  – 2003 TOYOTA Toyota Recall 14V-350 Part 573 Defect Noticehttp://www.autosafety.org/sites/default/files/imce_staff_uploads/Toyota %20Takata%20Airbag%20Recall%2014V-350.pdf  – 6/19/14 Toyota Recall 14V-312 Part 573 Defect Noticehttp://www.autosafety.org/sites/default/files/imce_staff_uploads/Toyota %20Airbag%2014V312%20Part%20573.pdf  – 6/10/14 Dealer Notice of Suspension of Recall 13V-133http://www.autosafety.org/sites/default/files/imce_staff_uploads/Toyota %20Airbag%2014V312%20Suspension%20of%2013V133.pdf

What are Americans to conclude from this?  Should Americans conclude as I have been saying for all the years of Obama’s presidency that NHTSA is a captive agency?

Or since more Americans have died of crash injuries since President Obama took office (and playing 177 rounds of golf), than died in the Afghanistan, Iraq, Viet Nam, and Korean wars combined should we conclude something else?
Either President Obama does not care (despite the fact that his biological father died of crash injuries), or he is a puppet of auto industry lobbyists who pull the strings.
How many more tragedies do Americans have to experience before we can make our elected officials care?
Lou

 

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