Dear Care for Crash Victims Community Members:
Nader told about safety problems that persist to this day. See
Category: Blog
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
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.
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.
NY Times Covers GM Recall DOT Consent Agreement (Video coverage included)
Dear Care for Crash Victims Community Members:
GM Crash Death Problems – Bigger Than The Public Knows
Dear Care for Crash Victims Community Members:
Attached is our May 2014 Report that updates GM and NHTSA’s failures to protect the public from crash deaths and serious injuries.
Hoping this helps prevent more crash victims.
Associated Documents:
NHTSA Celebrates EMS Week May 18-24, 2014
Dear Care for Crash Victims Community Members:
NHTSA celebrates its 40th Anniversary of EMS Week with a Selfie message from its EMS Director Drew Dawson.
See http://ems.gov/newsletter/aprilmay2014/letter_from_director.htm#
Drew joined NHTSA over a decade ago from many years with Montana EMS. When he arrived at NHTSA a decade ago, I thought I would show him the possibilities of saving the lives of more crash victims with new technologies of Automatic Crash Notification (ACN) and URGENCY software to improve timely, optimal emergency medical care.
I showed him a map of crash deaths by location in the State of Montana thinking he would be delighted as to how we could do better saving lives with instant notification of serious crashes along with URGENCY information on the calculated probability of a serious injury being present.
I was shocked by his reaction. He became visibly upset and said those people were DRT’s!
I had not heard that term before so I asked what it meant. He said DEAD RIGHT THERE!
I returned to my office dismayed but determined to continue research on ACN & URGENCY without his support.
One can see how many Americans have died in crashes in Montana and every other State for the years 2002 – 2011 at
Montana totals now approach nearly 3,000 crash deaths. National totals to date now exceed 400,000 crash deaths. See http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/Pubs/811754AR.pdf
What a legacy!
NHTSA certainly could have done better — much better.
Sorry I was not able to do better.
More Evidence of NHTSA and GM’s Failures to Protect Americans
Dear Care for Crash Victims Community Members:
Please see latest Center for Auto Safety letter and attachments at
And see excellent CNBC Documentary with voices of victims at
Hopefully these will help improve safety.
Associated Documents:
Friedman Stalling Recalls Letter with Attachments
