Safety Inequality in America
December, 2014
““It’s a difficult problem,” said Clarence Ditlow, director of the Center for Auto Safety in Washington. “If you look at the older vehicles, the recall rate can drop to less than 50 percent.”
More than 17 million U.S. vehicles have been recalled for potentially defective Takata inflators, according to Reuters. According to a government analysis of recalls from 2000 through 2008, about 65 percent of recalled cars each year get fixed within 18 months of the recall.
So if just 65 percent of the Takata-related vehicles are fixed, that would leave some 6 million or more vehicles on the road with potentially explosive inflators that could send deadly shrapnel at drivers and passengers.
For years, Ditlow said, he has suggested a law requiring dealers to complete all recalls before selling a used car. In private transactions, the buyer would have to complete the recall before registering the vehicle.”
See http://www.autonews.com/article/20141222/OEM11/141219835/older-vehicles-can-escape-recalls-nets
This year, as in many of the past 40 years, the citizen auto safety group that has done the most to protect all Americans from crash injuries is the Center for Auto Safety. See http://www.autosafety.org/
Inequality of Financial ResourcesYear after year, a small group has struggled on behalf of crash victims (all of us) against irresponsible actions by NHTSA and the auto industry. It has been, and continues to be, a struggle of very limited citizen financial resources vs. nearly a Billion dollar “safety” agency + a Trillion dollar industry. See http://www.nhtsa.gov/Laws+&+Regulations/NHTSA+Budget+Information andhttp://www.thedetroitbureau.com/2014/12/u-s-auto-industry-generates-record-1-1-trillion-in-2014-sales/
The inequality of financial resources can be recognized by the fact that the Center for Auto Safety annual budget is a small fraction of the cost of just one 30 second Super Bowl ad of $4.5 Billion this year. See http://www.thedetroitbureau.com/2014/12/automakers-spending-big-money-to-maximize-exposure-with-super-bowl-ads/
Note that in the corporate world, the auto industry funds spent on Super Bowl ads support a violent and injurious sport to Americans.
