Category: Blog

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

 

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

DOT NHTSA & GM Recall & Senator Markey Sees Need for More

Dear Care for Crash Victims Community Members:

DOT Secretary Foxx and NHTSA Acting Administrator David Friedman appear to be trying to bury this problem without acknowledging DOT NHTSA failures:

“We know no one is perfect. But we cannot tolerate, what we will not accept, is that a person or a company who knows danger exists and says nothing. Literally, silence can kill,” said U.S. Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx during a press conference today.

“The fact remains that GM did not act, and did not alert us in a timely manner. What GM did was break the law. They failed to meet their public safety obligations….”

“David Friedman, NHTSA’s acting administrator, noted that if information GM provided the agency in February had been made available earlier some owners of the vehicles may have avoided injury or death.

“Friedman said there wasn’t one particular reason why GM didn’t act sooner even though there were plenty of employees as well as suppliers that knew there was a problem with the ignition in the vehicles. He said there was no indication that Barra had been briefed about the problem before the January meeting she referenced in testimony in two congressional hearings in early April.”

Source:

http://www.thedetroitbureau.com/2014/05/nhtsa-forcing-gm-to-change-safety-culture/

DOT NHTSA admits failure but points the finger at GM:

“Both in 2007 and again in 2010, NHTSA reviewed data related to the non-deployment of airbags in certain Chevy Cobalt models but each time, determined that it lacked the data necessary to open a formal investigation. However, on February 7, 2014, GM announced it would recall certain model vehicles for a defect where the vehicle’s ignition switch may unintentionally move out of the “run” position that could result in the air bag not deploying in the event of a crash. GM had failed to advise NHTSA of this defect at the time of the agency’s earlier reviews”.

See

http://www.dot.gov/briefing-room/us-department-transportation-announces-record-fines-unprecedented-oversight

Senator Markey recognizes more is needed. See Release and documents below:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Giselle Barry (Markey) 202-224-2742

Markey Statement on GM Settlement with Department of Transportation

In wake of GM recall, Senators Markey and Blumenthal introduced legislation to increase transparency and earlier reporting of auto defects

Washington (May 16, 2014) – Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), a member of the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, released the following statement after the federal government announced it had reached a settlement with GM after a defect in the ignition switch of its Chevy Cobalt vehicles led to the deaths of at least 13 people.

“This settlement takes some important steps, including ensuring GM is quicker to call for recalls and shares information with the federal government about its internal investigations into possible defects. But we also need to require all automakers report more information about possible defects earlier and for the Transportation Department to publish the materials it receives so that public receives true ‘early warnings’ about possible deadly defects. I will continue to work with Senator Blumenthal and all of my Congressional colleagues to get legislation passed that can help ensure tragedies like this never happen again.

“A penalty of $35 million is a parking ticket in comparison the toll this defect has taken on the lives of America’s families. We need to increase the statutory caps for civil liability settlements to ensure that auto manufacturers know they will be held fully and fiscally accountable if they do not report safety issues in their vehicles in a timely and responsible manner.”

Last month, Senators Markey and Blumenthal introduced S. 2151, The Early Warning Reporting Act, legislation that would require more information to be reported to the public Early Warning Reporting database when auto manufacturers first become aware of incidents involving fatalities.

More information about Senator Markey’s leadership on the GM recall can be found HERE.

Victims Voices Bringing Us Closer To Achieving Vision Zero Crash Deaths in a Decade

Dear Care for Crash Victims Community Members:

An excellent article by crash victims was published in the NY Times.

See http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/04/nyregion/how-being-hit-by-a-vehicle-changed-times-colleagues-lives.html

Voices of crash victims desperately need to be heard and heeded if we are to accelerate progress toward achieving Vision Zero Crash Deaths and Serious Injuries in a decade.

When I started at NHTSA under Joan Claybrook, I had the privilege of beginning study of effects of crash injuries on families. See https://www.careforcrashvictims.com/effects-on-families.php

Reagan stopped that line of inquiry at NHTSA in 1982 along with reducing the agency by 33% (300 people). NHTSA today, after more than 1.5 million more crash deaths, is still operating at that reduced level and under greater industry influence.

These voices are eloquently joining other citizen efforts to achieve Vision Zero. See https://www.careforcrashvictims.com/blog-lessons.php and for growing political interest and possibilities see https://www.careforcrashvictims.com/blog-progressive.php and for even some positive action by NHTSA on pedestrian protection see https://www.careforcrashvictims.com/blog-praise.php

Greater voices = greater choices for building a safer America.

Imagine the mapping that appears in the NY Times article extended across the nation by State and Congressional district. This can be done. See https://www.careforcrashvictims.com/CrashDeathMappingTools.php

As for detailed information on consequences of leg and foot injuries see https://www.careforcrashvictims.com/assets/CIREN3.pdf

Thanks to the NY Times, crash victim authors, citizen activists, and Mayor de Blasio for his leadership in setting a Vision Zero goal for NYC. Now we need such leadership for a national Vision Zero goal.