February, 2016
Roger C. Lanctot has posted an informative blog on current DOT NHTSA officials and policies on driver-less vehicles.
See https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/nhtsas-googles-war-drivers-roger-c-lanctot
February, 2016
Reuters reports:
“U.S. auto safety regulators are examining whether an additional 70 million to 90 million Takata Corp (7312.T) airbag inflators should be recalled because they may endanger drivers, according to a person with knowledge of the matter.
That would nearly quadruple the 29 million inflators recalled so far and linked to nine deaths in the United States….
Takata cited its agreement with regulators in November to pay a $70 million penalty to NHTSA in a settlement that included its commitment to stop making inflators that use ammonium nitrate by 2018. It also pledged to declare all remaining ammonium nitrate inflators defective by 2019 unless it can demonstrate they are safe.
The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration continues to investigate all Takata inflators using ammonium nitrate, but it has not yet found sufficient evidence to direct automakers to recall the remaining inflators, said spokesman Gordon Trowbridge.
“This issue will take years to resolve,” Trowbridge said.”
See http://www.reuters.com/article/us-autos-takata-inflators-exclusive-idUSKCN0VV0L6
Americans need to ask: Why?
Lou
February, 2016
In 1997, under the Clinton Administration, NHTSA was briefed on the need and feasibility of improving emergency medical care for crash victims using Automatic Crash Notification (ACN) and URGENCY software. See NHTSA reports and papers at https://www.careforcrashvictims.com/assets/MartinezBriefing3-27-97.pdfhttps://www.careforcrashvictims.com/urgency.php
February, 2016
Lou
February, 2016
The NY Times reports:
“JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — As the safety crisis surrounding Takata’s airbags that are prone to rupture has mushroomed, the Japanese auto supplier has insisted that the propellant in its airbags is safe.
But on Friday, testimony in a Florida court showed that Takata’s own engineers discarded evidence that may have shown otherwise as long as 16 years ago. As early as 2000, around the time the propellant, which includes a compound called ammonium nitrate, was introduced into Takata models, failures occurred during internal testing.
But Takata altered its test data to hide the failures from its biggest customer, Honda, and a senior Takata executive ordered some of the evidence be discarded, the testimony said….”
Judge James H. Daniel of Duval County Court agreed with Takata that there was not enough evidence linking Takata’s actions directly with Ms. Mincey’s accident and injuries. But he said he was open to considering more evidence, which Mr. Leopold said he would provide.
Still, safety advocates found it disturbing that Takata might have known about potential problems years ago, but not immediately reported them to customers, automakers and safety regulators.
“It’s very damning,” said Rosemary Shahan, founder of Consumers for Auto Reliability.
“It’s bad enough to have a faulty product, it’s even worse to cover it up.” See
February, 2016
Congratulatory 50th Anniversary messages from former and the present Secretary of Transportation are at
February, 2016
Dear Care for Crash Victims Community Members:
* Quick Facts 2014 (DOT HS 812 234): NCSA has released the 2014 Quick Facts publication as a quick reference to the most asked questions regarding motor vehicle traffic fatalities and crashes. This publication provides the most current data at your fingertips. See http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/Pubs/812234.pdf
