Category: Blog

Will GM Recall Spur Auto Safety Reform?


Will GM Recall Spur Auto Safety Reform?

July, 2014

Dear Care for Crash Victims Community Members:

A must read “reality check” has been published in the LA Times by a giant of auto safety.  

Ben Kelley concludes:“NHTSA’s acquiescence in such delays support arguments that it is too responsive to the cost-containment agenda of the auto companies. Its inability to effectively police the industry has almost certainly invited such profit-driven misconduct. Recently, a top agency attorney, in comments to an auto industry group, admitted that “the first line of defense against safety defects is not NHTSA.” Rather, it is the auto companies themselves. “Our agency’s job is to make sure your company is doing its job and to catch problems when it does not,” he said, leaving unaddressed the obvious question of why the NHTSA failed for a decade to “catch” GM’s ignition switch defect.

The answer to that question is that NHTSA is abysmally underfunded and understaffed, and lacks a foundation of tough laws to support its regulatory mission. Nothing in today’s political environment suggests that is going to change soon.”

See http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-0729-kelley-gm-recalls-20140729-story.html

Based on my decades of work at NHTSA and now trying to shine the light on NHTSA’s captivity by corporate interests, I must support his grim conclusion.

When the President of the U.S.A. briefly mentioned auto safety – without noting the problem of more than 150,000 crash deaths on his watch – he used a black Cadillac as a photo prop.  He looked like a corporate puppet moving on the strings of GM.  How’s that for use of the bully pulpit? 

See http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2014/07/15/president-speaks-importance-our-nations-infrastructure

I voted for him twice.   I hoped he would cut the GM control of auto safety positions and deadly policies at NHTSA.  Tragically for too many Americans that has not happened.  
As usual, we must thank Ben Kelley for giving us this reality check.
And we must again thank the LA Times for this article and Michael Hiltzik for the question that continues to haunt and challenge the nation:  “Only oversight by a Congress and president truly devoted to the public interest, not commercial interests, can keep regulatory agencies focused on the people’s business.

But when business gets its say on Capitol Hill and the White House too, what’s the ordinary person to do?”

See  http://articles.latimes.com/2014/jan/26/business/la-fi-hiltzik-20140126

Lou

 


Trial Lawyers Publish a Report on History of Litigation Landmarks in Auto Safety

June, 2014

Dear Care for Crash Victims Community Members:

Trial lawyers Report “Driven to Safety” is available at:http://www.driventosafety.org/

Trial lawyers have done a lot of good over the decades for crash safety.  But in my humble opinion, not nearly enough.   Over the period covered by these “successes” more than 2 million Americans have died of crash injuries and about another 8 million suffered serious injuries.

Read this report and note: *  Nader is mentioned but only in a footnote.   *  Advocates and leaders such as Joan Claybrook and Clarence Ditlow, not mentioned.

*  Insurance industry contributions not mentioned.
*  Contributions of scientists and engineers in industry and government such as Dr. Haddon, not mentioned.

*  Engineer who identified GM switch defect, not named.

*  GM Switch comparison graphic in small print on p.5 shows the force difference in the new switch was nearly doubled.  But the authors describe the difference simply as 1.6 mm longer.

My plea to trial lawyers:  You can, and must, do better.

Lou

 

Warning: CarMax Selling Unsafe, Recalled Used Cars


Warning: CarMax Selling Unsafe, Recalled Used Cars

June, 2014

Dear Care for Crash Victims Community Members:

Rosemary Shahan asks that we spread the word. NY Times     http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/25/automobiles/consumer-groups-ask-ftc-to-investigate-carmax.html?ref=automobiles&_r=0 LA Times / Chicago Tribune:     http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/breaking/la-fi-hy-carmax-deceptive-advertising-20140624,0,1951105.story Detroit News     https://www.autoblog.com/2014/06/26/ftc-urged-halt-deceptive-carmax-ads-recalled-car-issue/ Reuters      http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/06/24/carmax-investigation-idUSL4N0P53XZ20140624

Sen. Schumer’s release:     http://www.schumer.senate.gov/Newsroom/record.cfm?id=352957

 

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 at General 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 repaired 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 Scandal Reminiscent of Watergate


GM Scandal Reminiscent of Watergate

June, 2014

Dear Care for Crash Victims Community Members:
Cover-up

June 6, 2014, Washington Post Front Page Headline:  “GM: Faulty ignitions were not covered up”

Recall Nixon’s “I am not a crook.”  See

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/gm-ceo-15-fired-over-ignition-switch-recalls-probe-shows-pattern-of-failures-no-coverup/2014/06/05/2dc575bc-ecb8-11e3-9f5c-9075d5508f0a_story.html

June 6, 2014, NY Times, Front Page Headline: “G.M. Inquiry Cites Years of Neglect Over Fatal Defect”  “Company Fires 15 in Handling of Ignition Tied to 13 Deaths – Chief Cleared”
Reporting on the GM Internal Investigation Valukas Report: “It seems like the best report money can buy,” said Senator Richard Blumenthal, Democrat of Connecticut, who had been highly critical of Ms. Barra at a hearing in April.  “It absolves upper management, denies deliberate wrongdoing and dismisses corporate culpability.”  Seehttp://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/06/business/gm-ignition-switch-internal-recall-investigation-report.html?action=click&contentCollection=Business%20Day&module=RelatedCoverage&region=Marginalia&pgtype=article
Secrecy Another NY Times article addressed GM Secrecy.  

“To the legal department at General Motors, secrecy ruled.

Employees were discouraged from taking notes in meetings. Workers’ emails were examined once a year for sensitive information that might be used against the company. G.M. lawyers even kept their knowledge of fatal accidents related to a defective ignition switch from their own boss, the company’s general counsel, Michael P. Millikin.

An internal investigation released on Thursday into the company’s failure to recall millions of defective small cars found no evidence of a cover-up. But interviews with victims, their lawyers and current and former G.M. employees, as well as evidence in the report itself, paint a more complete picture: The automaker’s legal department took actions that obscured the deadly flaw, both inside and outside the company.

While Mr. Millikin survived the dismissals this week of 15 G.M. employees tied to the delayed recall, his department was hit hard.”  See

More Hearings and Investigations Ahead
Hopefully future investigations will be more independent and more penetrating than the Valukas report which focused on corporate culture, silos, and lower level employees.
“The report offered an extraordinary window into a company where employees avoided responsibility with a “G.M. salute” — arms crossed and pointing fingers at others — and the “G.M. nod,” which Ms. Barra described in the report as “the nod as an empty gesture.” The report also lays bare a bureaucracy that appeared to stun Mr. Valukas. “The Cobalt ignition switch passed through an astonishing number of committees,” he wrote. “But determining the identity of any actual decision-maker was impenetrable.”  Seehttp://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/06/business/gm-ignition-switch-internal-recall-investigation-report.html?action=click&contentCollection=Business%20Day&module=RelatedCoverage&region=Marginalia&pgtype=article
Hopefully, the hearings and investigations ahead will go up the GM chain of responsibilities and include NHTSA and the GM related political people that also had responsibilities and powers to prevent tragedies and protect past and future crash victims.  See my March Report attached and at 
Who is responsible for the last decade of crash deaths at https://www.careforcrashvictims.com/blog-lastdecade.php
Let’s keep a good end in mind: To build a safer America through a NHTSA free – not captive – of auto industry influence, a safer GM, and a safer auto industry.
Lou

 

Millions of Defective Cars Rolling & Endangering Drivers, Passengers, Pedestrians, and Cyclists


Millions of Defective Cars Rolling & Endangering Drivers, Passengers, Pedestrians, and Cyclists

June, 2014

Dear Care for Crash Victims Community Members:

This may be a record year for recalls — nearly 28 million vehicles this year so far.  Clarence Ditlow is warning that “there is no such thing as a minor recall”.  An excellent article is at 

http://www.thedetroitbureau.com/2014/06/is-your-car-concealing-a-deadly-defect/

And a good current Forbes article is at http://www.forbes.com/sites/billkoenig/2014/06/16/general-motors-recalls-another-3-16-million-vehicles-boosts-quarter-recall-tab-to-700-million/

Summer is the most dangerous season for crash victims.  This year we have more to worry about with all these recalled but unfixed vehicles still out there yet to be fixed.  Check out the status of your car at http://www.safercar.gov/Vehicle+Owners

Lou

 

Fathers of Safety Creativity


Fathers of Safety Creativity

June, 2014

Dear Care for Crash Victims Community Members: A great story of how auto safety creativity advanced has been published byGood – Creative Solutions for Living Well + Doing Good. See an Unreasonable Car at http://magazine.good.is/articles/an-unreasonable-car

Two Fathers of Safety Creativity are described – Ralph Nader and his father Nathra Nader.

I met Mr. Nathra Nader in the early 1970’s and asked him if he had any advice on raising my young boys,  He said he taught his children to never look down on anyone and never look up to anyone — which I thought was good advice.

A personal auto safety story of mine is that for my first new car we bought a new 1961 VW Beetle.  As we drove it out of our driveway in Connecticut early Mondaymorning it was a little icy.  The VW Beetle spun out of control so suddenly that in a shockingly split second we found our selves with the rear end of the car up an embankment.   I realized that the rear engine vehicle had a weight distribution imbalance problem — too much weight in the rear relative to the front where the trunk was.  I went to a hardware store and purchased a bag of sand to add weight to the front.  Over the next decade of driving we never experienced another such rear spin out — but we did witness several other Beetles spin out of control.

We need to apply more humanistic safety creativity at the corporate, governmental, and individual levels to build a Safer America.

Lou