Category: Blog

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

 

GM Cost U.S. Taxpayers Another $826 Million

Dear Care for Crash Victims Community Members:

“U.S. taxpayers are taking a bigger loss on the General Motors bailout package than $10.3 billion originally reported. Due to an accounting error, the loss is actually $11.2 billion, according to a report released today.

The Treasury Department reported an $826-million administrative claim had been written off on March 20. However, the claim, which has not been revealed, cannot be written off….”

“Others suggest that GM should repay the losses, but that notion was dismissed by then-CEO Dan Akerson, who told an audience at the National Press Club last December that the government took a risk like any other investor – including those wiped out when GM filed for Chapter 11 protection.”

Source: http://www.thedetroitbureau.com/2014/04/taxpayers-taking-bigger-hit-on-gm-bailout/ and http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/04/30/us-autos-gm-treasury-idUSBREA3T0MR20140430

Oh well, former GM CEO Dan Akerson says the taxpayers took a risk just like any other investor. And $826 million compares with about 90 lives lost when valued at $9.2 million per statistical life in accordance with DOT policy. See attached DOT policy.

$9 million happens also to be the amount GM paid Dan Akerson in 2013. One DOT life’s worth = 1 year of GM CEO income. See https://www.cnbc.com/2014/04/25/gm-awarded-former-ceo-akerson-about-9m-in-2013.html

NHTSA has data on how many lives are lost each year in GM crashes but does not publish such figures.

We can do better than this, but it may take additional tragedies before we do.

Associated Documents:

VSL-Guidance-2013

“Untold Heartache” of Crash Victims & GM Recall

Dear Care for Crash Victims Community Members:

The NY Times published an excellent story and video of the heartaches suffered by crash victims in GM crashes.

“Mr. Erickson, 25, was one of the 13 victims whose deaths General Motors has linked to an ignition switch defect that can cause a loss of power in cars, according to an email that Mr. Erickson’s mother, Rhonda, received from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Ms. Erickson asked the federal agency whether her son was among the 13 victims at the request of The New York Times, which has compiled the identities and circumstances of 12 of the deaths, as well as information about the vehicle involved in the 13th, based on interviews, accident databases and communications from federal regulators.

The email to Ms. Erickson last week was the first time the family had been told that anything other than negligence by Ms. Anderson contributed to the accident.”

See http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/27/business/13-deaths-untold-heartache-from-gm-defect.html?hp

The NY Times Timeline reveals that two lawsuits were settled by GM under CEO Dan Akerson while NHTSA was headed by David Strickland. Neither Akerson nor Strickland have been called to testify yet.

“September 2010

G.M. Daniel Akerson becomes CEO.

February 2011

Accidents and lawsuits

The Chansuthus family settles its lawsuit against G.M. Even though Ms. Chansuthus’s blood alcohol level was more than twice the legal limit, the company pays the family an undisclosed amount….”

“September 2013

Accidents and lawsuits G.M. settles the case involving Ms. Melton, paying the family an undisclosed amount.”

Source:

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/05/18/business/gms-ignition-problem-who-knew-what-when.html

The powerful voices of victims can help GM and NHTSA realize that: What is not good for the people is not good for GM, NHTSA, or anyone working in the auto industry.

Hopefully, stories of crash victims will bring us all closer to the day when the century of auto industry war against safety ends. As can be seen from the U.S.A. Crash death clock, accessed this morning, about 3,633,788 people have died of crash injuries. That indicates a lot of “Untold Heartache.” See https://www.careforcrashvictims.com/clock.php

Canadian Video of Nader – Nearly 50 Years and Two Million Crash Deaths Ago

Dear Care for Crash Victims Community Members:

Nader told about safety problems that persist to this day. See

http://www.cbc.ca/archives/categories/science-technology/transportation/the-drive-to-survive-reducing-road-deaths-in-canada/unsafe-at-any-speed.html