Category: Blog

Two U.S. Senators Call on Honda For “Do Not Drive” Recall For Air Bag Rupture Defect

Dear Care for Crash Victims Community Members:

Please see Press Release below from Senators Blumenthal and Markey.

For Immediate Release

Contact: Maria McElwain (Blumenthal)

(202) 224-6452

Giselle Barry (Markey)

(202) 224-2742

July 26, 2016

 

AFTER NEW DATA REVEALS TAKATA AIR BAG RUPTURE RATES AS HIGH AS 50%, BLUMENTHAL & MARKEY CALL ON HONDA TO IMMEDIATELY ISSUE ‘DO NOT DRIVE’ ORDER FOR VEHICLES WITH THESE AIR BAGS

[WASHINGTON, DC] – After new data revealed that Takata air bags in certain Honda and Acura vehicles have a 50 percent chance of rupture in a crash, U.S. Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Edward J. Markey (D-MA) are calling on Honda to immediately issue a “do not drive” order to owners vehicles with these dangerous air bags. In a letter to Honda today, the Senators urged Honda to take the strongest possible action to ensure that vehicles with such air bags are immediately removed from the road before more people are killed. They also called on the company to take additional measures to make it as easy as possible for owners of these vehicles to have this dangerous defect repaired, without having to drive the vehicle to a dealership.

“Honda has a responsibility to clearly communicate the danger to consumers so that they understand the grave risks at hand,” the Senators wrote. “A ‘do not drive’ instruction should be conspicuously displayed on any recall notices, as well as this new test data so owners are informed that in the event of a crash, there is a 50 percent change that the airbag will violently explode. This new test data, coupled with the fact that eight of the 10 confirmed U.S. fatalities due to defective Takata airbags were in this subset of vehicles, make it abundantly obvious that a ‘do not drive’ instruction is absolutely warranted.”

The Senators first expressed concerns with NHTSA’s limited recalls and testing of Takata airbags in October 2014. They have also called on Takata to recall all vehicles with ammonium nitrate-based airbags, and expressed serious concern about the pace of Takata recalls and repairs. Earlier this year, the senators sent a letter urging President Obama to recall every vehicle with airbags using ammonium nitrate as their propellant, and to use “every tool at his disposal” to accelerate the repair of all vehicles with potentially-lethal Takata airbags.

A copy of the letter is available here and below:

Dear Mr. Mikoshiba:

In light of new test data released by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) revealing that certain model-year 2001-2003 Honda and Acura vehicles show rupture rates as high as 50 percent in a crash, we write to urge you to immediately issue a “do not drive” order to owners of this subset of vehicles. This data warrants the strongest possible action that a manufacturer can take to ensure that vehicles with such air bags are immediately removed from the road before more people are killed.

As Department of Transportation Secretary Foxx stated following the release of this news, “Folks should not drive these vehicles unless they are going straight to a dealer to have them repaired immediately, free of charge.”[1] In the wake of this announcement, we expected Honda to echo the Secretary’s remarks and quickly follow-up with a “do not drive” instruction to owners of this subset of vehicles.

We are extremely disappointed that Honda does not appear to have taken this important step. Honda has a responsibility to clearly communicate the danger to consumers so that they understand the grave risks at hand. A “do not drive” instruction should be conspicuously displayed on any recall notices, as well as this new test data so owners are informed that in the event of a crash, there is a 50 percent chance that the airbag will violently explode. This new test data, coupled with the fact that eight of the 10 confirmed U.S. fatalities due to defective Takata airbags were in this subset of vehicles, make it abundantly obvious that a “do not drive” instruction is absolutely warranted.

Additionally, we call on you to take additional measures to make it as easy as possible for owners of these vehicles to have this dangerous defect repaired, without having to drive the vehicle to a dealership. Considering NHTSA has directed consumers “to not drive these vehicles,”[2] we suggest Honda make available mobile mechanics who can travel to where an owner lives or works to conduct the necessary repair; or free towing to the closest repair facility, so that owners will not have to drive these high risk vehicles. As you know, there remains 313,000 vehicles with this very dangerous defect unrepaired, and we believe making such additional options available will be critical to achieving a 100 percent recall completion rate.

We urge you to immediately issue a “do not drive” instruction order, on at least this subset of cars with airbags exhibiting substantially higher risk to life. Please let us know by July 31, 2016, what actions you have taken to this end, as well as any other actions you have taken to ensure vehicles with these especially high risk air bags are immediately removed from the roads.

Sincerely,

Ford Recall Model of Placing Money Before Customer Safety and Satisfaction

Dear Care for Crash Victims Community Members:

Forbes has an excellent report on Ford Windstar recall that shows how Ford – and NHTSA – did not put safety ahead of corporate short term money.

Forbes has done its readers, company and government safety engineers, and hopefully some corporate executives a service by showing how companies should not put short term gains ahead of safety and customer satisfaction.

“The danger that caused the recall is supposed to be eliminated, not mitigated, said Joan Claybrook, former head of Public Citizen who was in charge of the N.H.T.S.A. from 1977 to 1981.  She contends the brackets are not a “lawful repair.”

There’s also a problem with charging for the axle, even if it is a discounted price, because federal regulations require a free repair says Clarence Ditlow, the executive director of The Center for Auto Safety.

The safety agency doesn’t have a problem with Ford’s approach.

“The support brackets that were the recall remedy, eliminated the safety-related consequence if they were properly installed,” N.H.T.S.A. spokesman Bryan Thomas said.”

Readers can check the April 2016 issue of Consumer Reports rankings of “Which Brands Make the Best Cars” and find Ford ranks 16th.  Ford ranks 16th!!!

Reminds me of the NHTSA safety engineer that I worked with and had a great reputation.  He bought a Windstar and was very sorry he did so.

This inequality of safety vs. money and power must change for the better to end vehicle violence.
Lou Lombardo
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____________________Lou Lombardowww.CareForCrashVictims.com

USA Today Carries Safety Advocates Views on Tesla Fatal Crash

Dear Care for Crash Victims Community Members:

USA Today reports:“It wasn’t ready to go out on the road,” said Rosemary Shahan, president of the advocacy group Consumers for Auto Reliability and Safety about Tesla’s Autopilot. “If you have a system called Autopilot that cannot distinguish between the side of a truck and the open sky, it’s not ready.”….“The tragic Tesla crash shows again the need for aggressive oversight of an industry that has implemented new systems before they are truly tried and tested, ” said Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn, in a statement. “Whatever the promise of self-driving cars, automakers have failed at even simpler technologies, like ignition switches and air bags.”….

“No manufacturer should ever put a beta system on the road and make consumers the test drivers,” said Clarence Ditlow, executive director of the Center for Auto Safety. Other automakers put millions of miles on major safety systems before they are deemed ready for prime time, he says, including many hours at their own test tracks.

Ditlow said NHTSA’s lack of a regulation on self-driving car features amounts to a “loophole” that Tesla exploited.

“If you look at any car, there’s a certification label that says ‘this vehicle meets all applicable safety standards’ and you can’t sell it unless you certify that it does,” Ditlow said. In this case, there were none of those standards in place.”

See http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/cars/2016/07/05/concern-over-tesla-death-close-self-driving-loophole/86726396/

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____________________Lou Lombardowww.CareForCrashVictims.com

Fwd A Grandma To Be Heard And Heeded

Dear Care for Crash Victims Community Members:

Marianne Karth, who lost two daughters in a crash, wrote:

My grandson just turned 10 years-old. Lately I’ve been noticing little things that show me how much he is maturing and taking responsibility. And I keep thinking how proud AnnaLeah and Mary would be of him. They both spent so much time with him from the time he was born.

gertie 264Minolta DSC

One thing Marcus asked me about the other day was when he saw my copy of the book Car Safety Wars by Michael Lemov. Car safety wars, he asked?  So I had to try and explain it. I asked him what a war is and what happens in a war. And we talked about how it’s a war because while we’re “fighting for” some things to make cars and roads safer, other people are fighting against them.

Imagine.

See http://annaleahmary.com/2016/07/casualties-of-the-car-safety-wars/

And Marianne Karth asks:“So why is protection from vehicle violence not listed on the Democratic Party Platform?

The 2016 Democratic Party Platform is quite lengthy and I am sure contains many things of interest to many Americans. But the federal government has one role that is unquestionable: to protect its citizens.

. . . the right to protection was not merely a matter of constitutional theory, but a doctrine with concrete legal meaning. In the common law tradition, the protection of the law implied both the recognition of fundamental rights by law, and the enforcement of such rights by government. The paradigmatic instance was the government’s duty to protect individuals against violence. By the middle of the nineteenth century, this duty was understood to include not only the enforcement of civil and criminal law with respect to injuries already committed, but also the responsibility to prevent violence before it occurred. THE FIRST DUTY OF GOVERNMENT: PROTECTION, LIBERTY AND THE FOURTEENTH AMENDMENT

So why is the protection of American citizens from vehicle violence not listed on the Democratic Party Platform? 2016 Democratic Party Platform July 21, 2016″

Violence

See  http://annaleahmary.com/2016/07/so-why-is-protection-from-vehicle-violence-not-listed-on-the-democratic-party-platform/

Marianne’s questions are aimed at making us all safer.  She knows the tragedy of vehicle violence first hand.
I trace the preventability of her tragedy to the first days of the Reagan Administration when NHTSA work on truck underride guards was demoted in the name of “deregulation”.  Reagan appointed Raymond Peck, a former coal industry lobbyist.  NHTSA staff were demoted and reduced by 33% or about 300 people out the door (Now an industry Revolving Door).  And the airbag rule was rescinded.  It took a better Supreme Court than we have today to overturn the Reagan rescission with the words “For nearly a decade, the automobile industry has waged the regulatory equivalent of war against the air bag and lost — the inflatable restraint was proved sufficiently  effective.”  Story at Car Safety Wars, p. 163. Seehttps://www.amazon.com/Car-Safety-Wars-Technology-Politics/dp/1611477476/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1469371675&sr=1-1&keywords=car+safety+wars
Disclosure:  I had the honor, working under Joan Claybrook, to have a role in writing and editing the 1980 NHTSA Report “Automobile Occupant Crash Protection, Progress Report No. 3” that the Supreme Court cited.  See https://www.careforcrashvictims.com/assets/1980fullreport.pdf
Hopefully Marianne’s  writings will help our future be safer.
Lou Lombardo

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____________________Lou Lombardowww.CareForCrashVictims.com

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____________________Lou Lombardowww.CareForCrashVictims.com

White House Petition To End Preventable Crash Fatalities

Dear Care For Crash Victims Community Members:

Marianne Karth has started a petition we all can sign.

In his final months as President, there is a chance we can get President Obama to act on the people’s behalf.

Please see, sign, and share the Karth family petition at:http://annaleahmary.com/2016/07/whitehouse-gov-petition-end-preventable-crash-fatalitiesappoint-natl-traffic-safety-ombudsman/

“Every average day in the U.S., 100 of our loved ones die in crashes and 400 more suffer serious crash injuries–along with $2 Billion in crash losses.

We propose that the President establish an independent Office of National Traffic Safety Ombudsman to be an advocate to eliminate preventable crash deaths and serious injuries.

We need someone who has a mandate to advocate on behalf of the victims, someone who is not compromised by competing interests. We call on the President to take this action to protect our families and loved ones from one of the leading causes of preventable death.

Traffic Safety has not been a national priority. Without this Presidential action, too many lives will continue to be lost to vehicle violence.”

The Karth family has already been successful in obtaining 20,000 signatures on a previous safety petition.  Let’s help with this too.

Lou

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____________________Lou Lombardowww.CareForCrashVictims.com

Will Hillary Help Turn Crash Victim Grief Into Good

Dear Care for Crash Victims Community Members: 

Will Hillary Clinton help Marianne Karth turn crash victim grief into good – safety for all of us, forevermore?

Hillary is a Mom and Grandma. Marianne Karth is a Mom and Grandma who tragically lost two young daughters in a crash.  See https://www.careforcrashvictims.com/blog/blog-fwdagrandmatobeheardandheeded/

Marianne Karth has been working diligently to end vehicle violence for us all ever since.  She has obtained more than 20,000 signatures on a petition for a Vision Zero Goal for the nation.  See http://www.rockymounttelegram.com/News/2016/03/08/Family-continues-fight-for-trucking-safety.htmlHillary should meet Marianne for the sake of all of us.  Marianne lives in Rocky Mount, NC – a swing State that the Hillary campaign bus may visit – hopefully safely.

I hope that Hillary does this soon, before Donald Trump alone sends out a tweet to fix vehicle violence.

Lou Lombardo
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____________________Lou Lombardowww.CareForCrashVictims.com