Category: Blog

The NY Times reports:

“The transportation funding bill is the last viable chance for the current Congress to pass auto safety reform, aides on both sides say. As a result, lawmakers vied during the meeting to attach auto safety provisions to it — a common tactic for passing legislation that had otherwise stalled.

But one after another, Democratic senators’ proposals were defeated. The exception was a measure to ban rental companies from renting cars with unrepaired safety recalls. Still, a similar proposal to prevent used-car dealers from doing the same failed on a party-line vote. (The committee’s chairman, John Thune, Republican of South Dakota, said that banning used-car dealers from selling recalled cars “could have unintended consequences,” like complicating trade-ins.)

As for making it a specific crime to knowingly conceal information on safety defects, that, too, failed. Three Democrats — Claire McCaskill of Missouri, Gary Peters of Michigan and Joe Manchin of West Virginia — joined the Republican majority in blocking it.

The auto industry resisted what it said was “criminalizing the business of manufacturing” in a document that auto lobbyists circulated to lawmakers before Wednesday’s meeting. (The lack of criminal statutes has complicated efforts by federal prosecutors to bring charges against individual employees at General Motors over the cover-up of faulty ignition switches.)”  

Mr. Thune tried to highlight several auto provisions that made the cut, like the increase in the civil fine maximum to $70 million, an increase in certain funding and the rental car proposal.

But most Democrats, irritated by what they said was a lack of any real negotiating, were having none of it as the meeting concluded. Senator Maria Cantwell, Democrat of Washington, said the group was “breaking a long tradition” of committee bipartisanship on safety issues.”  See 

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/20/business/senate-committees-no-vote-incenses-lawmakers-seeking-auto-safety-reforms.html?action=click&contentCollection=Business%20Day&module=RelatedCoverage&region=Marginalia&pgtype=article

Sincerely,

How many Chrysler deaths?  A year ago, the Center for Auto Safety reported there have been at least“370 fatal fire crashes of 1993-2004 Jeep Grand Cherokees”  Seehttps://www.careforcrashvictims.com/blog-jeepburn.php Compare today’s $105 million civil fine as follows:

The NY Times reports:

“WASHINGTON — In a first for automobiles in the United States, a safety recall has been issued based on a web security threat: a flaw that could give hackers wireless control of a vehicle, including critical systems such as the engine, brakes and steering.

Fiat Chrysler on Friday issued a sweeping recall of 1.4 million vehicles to fix a software vulnerability revealed this week by two technology researchers who demonstrated how they successfully hacked a Jeep Cherokee through Chrysler’s Uconnect entertainment and connectivity system. The hackers were able to take control of the Jeep’s systems while sitting miles away in a St. Louis basement.

The recall affects more than three times as many vehicles as the researchers, Charlie Miller and Chris Valasek, had estimated could be at risk and includes many Fiat Chrysler vehicles starting with 2013 models.

The men alerted the automaker before making their findings public, and Fiat Chrysler released a software patch last week that customers could download or have installed at a dealer.”  Seearticle and commentsat

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/25/business/fiat-chrysler-recalls-1-4-million-vehicles-to-fix-hacking-issue.html?hpw&rref=technology&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=well-region&region=bottom-well&WT.nav=bottom-well&_r=0

Hoping this helps build a Safer America,

MEDIA ADVISORY

For Monday, July 20, 2015 – Media Conference Call

Contact:  Bill Bronrott, 202-270-4415

On Eve of Senate Debate on Surface Transportation Bill, Safety Advocates,

Crash Victims’ Families, and Members of Congress to Launch Renewed Push to

Adopt Pro-Safety Provisions and Dump Pro-Industry Rollbacks

Partisan Bill Departs from Historical Bipartisan Senate Actions

to Combat Highway Deaths and Injuries

Nearly 200,000 People Will Be Killed and 14 Million Injured in Crashes over 6 Years

Unless Commonsense and Cost-Effective Solutions are Enacted

Transportation Reauthorization Bill May Come to U.S. Senate Floor as Early as Tuesday

WHAT:            MEDIA CONFERENCE CALL

On the day before the multi-year, multi-billion dollar surface transportation reauthorization legislation may come to the U.S. Senate Floor, consumer, public health and safety groups and crash victims’ families will join Members of Congress to launch a renewed push to include lifesaving highway and vehicle safety provisions in the “Safety Title.” On July 15, the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee failed to include significant safety advances and rolled back numerous current safety laws when they voted along party lines to send the Comprehensive Transportation and Consumer Protection Act (S.1732) to the full Senate.  This bill allows 18-year-old truck drivers to traverse across the country, turns a blind eye to the General Motors and Takata recall failures, and sets back truck, bus, car, and motorcycle safety for years to come. 

The group will discuss their plans to press for Senate adoption of provisions in the “Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 2015” (S. 1743) sponsored by Commerce Committee Ranking Member Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) and co-sponsored by Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA), and the “Truck Safety Act” (S. 1739) sponsored by Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ).  The bills would reduce the growing number of deaths and injuries on the nation’s roadways, correct deficiencies in identifying and investigating vehicle safety defects, increase penalties for automakers that purposely hide defects that lead to deaths and injuries, advance truck safety and consumer information and protections.

WHEN:            Monday, July 20, 2015 at 10:00 am EDT

HOW:                        Toll-Free Tele-Conference Call-In Number: 1-877-366-0711

Participant Code: 49253737#

WHO:

·      Jackie Gillan, President, Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety

·      Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Member, Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, co-sponsor “Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 2015” (S. 1743)

·      Senator Ed Markey (D-MA), Member, Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, co-sponsor “Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 2015” (S. 1743)

·      Dr. Georges Benjamin, Executive Director, American Public Health Association

·      Angelina Sujata, Takata airbag victim who sustained serious injuries when her 2001 Honda Civic was involved in a rear-end collision in Chapin, SC in March 2012. Upon impact, the Takata airbag inflator exploded with alleged excessive force, shooting sharp, metal shrapnel into her chest multiple times. Angelina was hospitalized and has had to undergo two surgeries, the most recent of which was to remove shrapnel that was later discovered in her body and was causing chest pain.

·      Lindsey Rogers-Seitz, Esq., child safety advocate and Colorado mother of Benjamin Seitz who lost his life after being unknowingly left alone in a hot vehicle in Ridgefield, CT by his father on July 7, 2014.

·      Jackie Novak, a Hendersonville, NC mother whose son Chuck and his girlfriend Theresa Seaver were killed in a crash in October 2010 when a speeding tractor-trailer crashed into a line of stopped cars without slowing down. The trucking company had a long history of unsafe operations.  A total of five were killed and several others were seriously injured.

·      Jack Gillis, Director of Public Affairs, Consumer Federation of America

·      Joan Claybrook, Chair, Citizens for Reliable and Safe Highways (CRASH), and former Administrator, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

# # #

In a USA Today Op Ed, Joan Claybrook gives Americans a look.“But on highways across the country, large truck crashes continue their mayhem, one crash at a time, community by community. Officials and trucking companies pay little heed — it’s business as usual. Some 330 people are being killed each month and nearly 8,000 are suffering excruciating injuries in accidents involving trucks.”  Seehttp://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2015/07/21/trucks-big-rigs-congress-transportation-highway-safety-joan-claybrook/30431445/

*  Nearly $4 Trillion in losses can be expected in the six years under this proposed legislation.  More than the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. See http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/Pubs/812013.pdf *  More Americans will die and be injured in crashes in Red States than in Blue States.  Seehttps://www.careforcrashvictims.com/assets/MonthlyReportforJuly2015final.pdf *  Crash Death statistics for the past decade by State and Congressional district are available at https://www.careforcrashvictims.com/CrashDeathMappingTools.php

Source:  https://www.careforcrashvictims.com/blog-fwdmediaadvoc.php