Category: Blog

What Did GM and NHTSA Know Using OnStar Data for Safety Recalls?


What Did GM and NHTSA Know Using OnStar Data for Safety Recalls?

July, 2014

Dear Care for Crash Victims Community Members:
As I wrote in my Monthly Report of May, 2014, the GM Crash Death Problems are Bigger Than We Know.   We have about “30 Americans dying of crash injuries each day involving GM vehicles.”   That report went on to note how much GM and NHTSA knew, when, and could and should have known.  And that what GM and NHTSA know and the public does not yet know — can kill us.

Today an excellent article in the NY Times sheds light on the important questions of what and when did GM and NHTSA know (and could and should have known) about defective vehicles using OnStar data?

“As General Motors overhauls its approach to safety, one powerful tool may be a technology that dates back two decades — the OnStar in-car assistance system.

Yet in the automaker’s recent flurry of recalls, with new safety problems announced in millions of cars, the automaker says none were prompted by analysis of the voluminous OnStar data it collects. And the company declined to discuss how it is using OnStar to investigate safety problems, citing competitive reasons. It would say only that OnStar is being used to notify owners of G.M. vehicles about the recent recalls, which now have reached about 29 million for the year….

At the heart of the OnStar system is a link to the vehicle’s computerized brain, which collects more than 1,000 separate measurements on virtually every aspect of the vehicle’s health. What are the fluid levels? How is the engine running? Are the air bags functioning? Did they just deploy?

Subscribers who receive OnStar’s monthly diagnostic emails see a few dozen of those measurements. G.M. itself gets them all. The company can analyze that data, looking across thousands or even millions of vehicles in search of safety problems. But G.M. remains tight-lipped about how it uses OnStar data.

“OnStar, like many other parts of G.M., will be leveraged, where applicable, as part of the larger company efforts to improve the overall quality, safety and total ownership experience related to its vehicles,” a G.M. spokeswoman, Kelly Cusinato, said in a statement.

Jack R. Nerad, senior analyst at the auto research firm Kelley Blue Book, said that some at G.M. might be worried that if OnStar data analysis became a significant way to spot safety problems, the company could face pressure to share its methods and even its technology.

“You could have people start asking, why shouldn’t everyone benefit from this?” he said….

G.M. would not comment, for instance, on how OnStar data could be used to track moving stalls — which after years of being labeled a matter of “convenience” are now considered a safety problem.

But a former OnStar employee who spoke on the condition of anonymity said that while the system might not capture data on the ignition switches specifically at issue in numerous recent recalls, other data points could, in theory, act as proxies for detecting stalls….

“If you look for the engine being off, while at the same time the car shift is in drive, then that’s one way,” he said….

While much automotive research is done in a lab, at a proving ground or with company-owned vehicles, OnStar allowed G.M. researchers to analyze how tens of thousands of real-world vehicles performed over time.

“This approach represents a new, useful approach to assessing field crash rates, potentially providing better estimates of field effectiveness than has been possible through current approaches,” the 2011 study concluded….

“We’re all a little in the dark,” said James S. Rogers, a lawyer based in Seattle who is representing clients in cases related to the G.M. ignition switch recalls. He said that consumers should be told specifically if G.M. uses their data to root out safety problems, and if so, how.

Mr. Toprak, the Cars.com analyst, said G.M. might be keeping silent about OnStar’s role in its current safety efforts to avoid public pressure.

“It might open up the discussion that G.M. knows everything, that they’re capturing all of this data, but they’re not doing anything about it,” he said.

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/07/business/gm-data-has-potential-as-safety-tool.html?&hpw&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&version=HpHedThumbWell&module=well-region&region=bottom-well&WT.nav=bottom-well

Note:  Who owns OnStar data?  Who has rights to OnStar data?

 

U.S.: Record Year for Recalls Passed in Just 6 Months


U.S.: Record Year for Recalls Passed in Just 6 Months

June, 2014

Dear Care for Crash Victims Community Members:

The LA Times reports the U.S. has just set a new annual record for recalls.  In just 6 months!.

When will all these vehicles be fixed so Americans are safe?  
Your Life and/or Your Money?
The safety of their lives on the roads and the safety of their money in the repair shops?
The Washington Post reports:“It’s becoming the year of the recall: Automakers have recalled more than 28 million vehicles in the United States this year–more than one in 10 vehicles on the road — putting the industry on track to trample the 2004 record of 30.8 million….”

“The cost of recalls can put a financial strain automakers. GM estimates that its recalls will take $2 billion off its bottom line this year.

But for automakers and dealers, there is also an upside. Analysts say that at least two in three recall notices is fulfilled, meaning that dealers get to have their old customers back in the showroom. There, they can show off the new models, and, at minimum, be in a position to sell drivers on some repairs they previously were not considering.”

See http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2014/06/23/more-than-one-in-every-10-vehicles-on-the-road-has-been-recalled-since-january/

Sudden Loss of Power and Control = Wipeout
Imagine your GM vehicle, or passing another GM vehicle, that is not yet fixed, suddenly losing power.  Imagine sudden stalling, loss of power steering, loss of power brakes, and loss of airbag protection.   Quick!  What would you do?  What could you do?  What if the driver is a teenager?  In your car?  In a passing car?
Will we get all these GM cars fixed before another wipeout occurs?
In the U.S. each day, we are suffering nearly 100 crash deaths and another several hundred more serious injuries.    President Obama:  We can and must do better protecting Americans now from the clear and present dangers we face here in the U.S.A. today.  And since President Obama took office, more Americans have died of their crash injuries than died in the Afghanistan, Iraq, Viet Nam and Korean wars — combined.
President Obama: Please send in Special Forces to clean up the DOT and NHTSA.  You have the powers, responsibility and duty to act to protect Americans.
Lou

 

GM Recalls: GM VP Knew of Switch Problem in 2005, Delphi Investigation, & New Numbers


GM Recalls: GM VP Knew of Switch Problem in 2005, Delphi Investigation, & New Numbers

June, 2014

Dear Care for Crash Victims Community Members:

Bloomberg reports Barra Confidante knew in 2005

“A top product-development executive still working atGeneral Motors Co. (GM) was, as an engineer, involved in deliberations about a deadly ignition flaw kept from the public, newly released documents indicate.

Doug Parks, a vehicle chief engineer for the Chevrolet Cobalt in 2005, was involved in the debate over whether it was worth the cost to redesign a faulty ignition switch that had been installed on millions of cars, according to company e-mails and documents released yesterday by congressional investigators. He would later become vice president of global product programs under Mary Barra, now GM’s chief executive officer.

Barra, who rose from product development to become CEO in January, has tried to manage the fallout over the delayed switch recall by assuring lawmakers that GM’s corporate culture regarding safety has changed. While GM has ousted 15 people over the switch defect and two other senior engineers involved retired, Parks remains.” 

See  http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-06-26/gm-documents-show-engineer-went-against-company-panel.html

NY Times reports Senate Investigating Delphi

“Senate investigators are widening the scope of the inquiry into General Motors’ decade-long failure to recall cars with a defective ignition switch to also focus on the supplier that made the flawed part.”

See http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/27/business/parts-supplier-is-scrutinized-in-gm-flaw.html?emc=edit_tnt_20140626&nlid=37926955&tntemail0=y

NY Times also publishes Graphic showing that in North America in 2014, the total number of GM Recalled vehicles currently = 20,013,649.  Now NHTSA needs to publish numbers of vehicles still unrepaired on the roads endangering Americans.  NHTSA also needs to publish the data it has on Recalls by each automaker.   See NY Times Graphic on GM at:http://graphics8.nytimes.com/packages/pdf/Recalls-Running-Total.jpg?action=click&contentCollection=Business%20Day&module=RelatedCoverage&region=Marginalia&pgtype=article 

These reports hold promise of more safety progress as the public learns more about the enormity of the problem and the focus moves up the chain of command.  Hopefully America will do as well with these “Safetygate” investigations as we were able to do with Watergate.

Lou

 

GM Engineers – One Now a NHTSA Executive – Were Told in July 2004


GM Engineers – One Now a NHTSA Executive – Were Told in July 2004

June, 2014

Dear Care for Crash Victims Community Members:

Automotive News in an excellent article has unveiled key documents in GM & NHTSA Recall scandal.

GM Told in July 2004

“A General Motors supplier studying an “anomaly” in a crash test on a preproduction Chevrolet Cobalt urged the company in 2004 to take a closer look at the connection between the ignition system and airbag deployment — a link that eluded engineers and investigators at the company for years afterward.

“A July 1, 2004, report by Siemens VDO Automotive analyzed why frontal and side-impact airbag sensors simultaneously shut down less than two-tenths of a second after the moment of impact. It was written a little more than a month before GM began building the first Cobalts.

The report, released this week by a congressional committee investigating GM, examined both the results of the crash test and a series of laboratory simulations run by Siemens VDO to determine how the airbag sensors would respond to a loss of power. The cutoff of the sensors “appeared to be indicative of an ignition cycle,” Siemens engineer Douglas McConnell wrote.

“He concluded: “It is recommended that future severe crashes have ignition voltage and [in-vehicle network] messages monitored to determine the root cause of the … Power Off issue.”

“The document doesn’t identify the flimsy ignition switch as the culprit in the power loss. But it is significant because it shows that, before the first production Cobalt ever left the assembly plant, a GM-commissioned analysis had flagged a potential connection between a loss of power and airbags not deploying, and recommended that GM seek a root cause….”

GM Engineer Told in 2004 – Now in Charge at NHTSA

“Officials from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration have said they did not realize that GM had designed its airbags to not deploy when the ignition was out of the “run” position….”

“The Siemens report shows that it was provided to five GM engineers, one of whom has worked for NHTSA since 2007.

“That engineer, Matthew Craig, identifies himself on LinkedIn as a former safety performance integration team leader at GM and now NHTSA’s chief of human injury research. Craig referred a request to discuss the report to a NHTSA spokeswoman, who declined comment….

“At the time the Siemens report was prepared, only one of the 13 deaths that GM now links to failed airbags caused by faulty ignition switches had occurred. The second of those fatal crashes happened three days later. Both crashes involved 2004 Saturn Ions, which used the same ignition switch as the Cobalt.

GM started production of the Cobalt in August 2004. The Siemens report wasn’t mentioned in Valukas’ report; neither were any of the five GM engineers shown as receiving it.”  See article and readers comments at 

http://www.autonews.com/article/20140627/OEM11/140629876/gm-was-urged-in-2004-report-to-study-cobalts-ignition-airbag-link

Why Has NHTSA Failed?

Readers may recall that I have pointed to the NHTSA GM connections and associated, at the least, appearance of conflicts of interests to be examined in this and other failures to protect Americans from crash injuries.  Dr. Matthew Craig has long held an important executive position in NHTSA.  The Human Injury Research Program, that Dr. Craig is head of at NHTSA, is charged with investigation of crash injuries to determine what could be done to prevent the tragic consequences of crashes.  See https://www.careforcrashvictims.com/assets/CFCV-MonthlyReport-March2014-2%20.pdf

And in addition to GM problems with airbags not deploying, that NHTSA missed for a decade, NHTSA is now dealing with airbags deploying explosively that they failed to protect us from for a decade.  
I have long been critical of his leadership of the program.  Disclosure: I had a role for years in the CIREN program at NHTSA which is now under Dr. Craig’s management.
Airbags Not Deploying and Deploying Explosively 
In addition to GM problems with airbags not deploying, that NHTSA missed for a decade, NHTSA is now dealing with airbags deploying explosively that they failed to investigate and protect us from for a decade.   An excellent article by AutoBlog reports:“Guddi Rathore was one of those customers. She was behind the wheel of her 2001 Honda Accord on Christmas Eve 2012 when she was involved in a minor fender bender near her home in Virginia that caused little damage to her car. Shards from an exploding airbag severed arteries in her neck, and she bled to death in front of her three young children. On May 27, 2009, Ashley Parham also died in a 2001 Accord, after her vehicle hit another in her high-school parking lot. When the airbag deployed, “shards of metal exploded from the airbag mechanism, and that’s what penetrated her neck and caused her fatal injury,” a police spokesperson told The Oklahoman. Looking at the long history of deadly problems associated with this particular defect, Kane said he’s dumbfounded that NHTSA let the problem linger for years before finally opening its preliminary evaluation this month. “The agency has fallen down on the job,” he said. “At what point does NHTSA jump in and triage this? How can this happen in 2001, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013 and now 2013 – How can we get those recalls for the same defect across a broad swath of vehicles and they’re not interested in digging into it? I don’t remember anything quite as problematic as this that the agency has let go.”“NHTSA Finally Investigates “As Congress has probed the reasons behind GM’s decade-long delay in recalling cars with flimsy ignition switches, lawmakers also want to know why NHTSA missed early warning signs of a problem, and once a problem was apparent, delayed taking action.“
Hope for Safety Solutions
With the House and Senate Committees looking into both NHTSA and GM as well as investigations by a Grand Jury, Justice Department, plaintiffs attorneys, and State Attorneys General, it appears there is a growing chance that safety reforms will finally be made for the better.
Hopefully President Obama will finally turn his attention to the more than 250,000 American crash deaths, nearly 1 million serious crash injuries, and nearly $3 Trillion in crash losses that he is on track to rack up on his 8 year watch.
If President Obama cares enough, he certainly has the responsibilities and powers to do more than he has.  He can clean up conflicts of interest at NHTSA as a start.  And for more he can do see my comments at https://www.careforcrashvictims.com/assets/com-NHTSA-strategic-plan.pdfhttps://www.careforcrashvictims.com/assets/MonthlyReport-May2014.pdf
Lou

 

NY Times Video Gives Voice to Victims of GM Crashes


NY Times Video Gives Voice to Victims of GM Crashes

June, 2014

Dear Care for Crash Victims Community Members:

Please see this brief video on consequences of crash deaths and serious injuries.http://www.nytimes.com/video/business/100000002948468/families-of-gm-victims-speak-out.html?action=click&contentCollection=Business%20Day&module=RelatedCoverage&region=Marginalia&pgtype=article

Recognize that this is just a glimpse of tragedies that have been going on for more than a century.

Under Joan Claybrook, I had the privilege to participate in a small way in research on the effects on families of crash deaths and serious injuries in the late 1970s.  That work was brought to an end under President Reagan’s anti regulatory programs that tried to kill airbags and did cripple NHTSA by cutting its staff by 33%.  The reduction of NHTSA staff by 300 workers in the 1982 period has not been restored to this day more than 30 years and more than 1 million American crash deaths later.   Seehttps://www.careforcrashvictims.com/effects-on-families.php

And see attached statistics that document crash deaths by Year, State, and Failures to Transport to any facility for emergency medical treatment.  
We can and must do better than this.  But President Obama and political leaders must feel more pressure from crash victims for us all to do better at ending the nearly 100 crash deaths and hundreds more serious injuries occurring each day in America today.
See Crash Death and Injury Clocks at https://www.careforcrashvictims.com/clock.php
Lou

 

NY Times Examines Tragic Costs of Victims Injuries n GM Recall


NY Times Examines Tragic Costs of Victims Injuries n GM Recall

June, 2014

Dear Care for Crash Victims Community Members:

The NY Times has published a fine article describing some of the tragic consequences to some of the GM Recall crash victims.  See http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/23/business/gm-prepares-to-count-cost-of-suffering.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&version=HpSum&module=first-column-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news

The NY Times article also carries insights into Ken Feinberg’s task for GM as follows:

“His past work suggests that Mr. Feinberg is likely to find anyone who has been treated in the hospital for accidents they can prove involved a defective car eligible for compensation. As a first threshold, according to those familiar with Mr. Feinberg’s deliberations, anyone whose air bags deployed will not be eligible.

But the burden of proof is likely to be less onerous than what is required in a court of law. “What they will almost certainly do is set up some simple procedure run by folks in Feinberg’s office,” said Mr. Laycock, the law professor, who has followed Mr. Feinberg’s work over the years. “It will probably be a fairly objective checklist. Did you have one of these switches in your car? What are the accidents caused by ignition switch like? Was yours like that?

“The principal purpose of this type of fund is to greatly reduce litigations costs,” he explained. “They want it very simple, very inexpensive.””

Lou

 

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