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Senators Blumenthal, Wicker, Safety Advocates & Crash Victims Trying To Stop Big Truck Deaths

June, 2015

Dear Care for Crash Victims Community Members:

Senator Blumenthal is from one of the safer States (CT) and Sen. Wicker is from the State ranked 49th in worst crash fatality rates in 2013. See attached State rankings.

CONTACT: Bill Bronrott, 202-270-4415 and bronrott@gmail.com

MEDIA ADVISORY

Truck crash victims, law enforcement, safety advocates to join Senator Blumenthal (D-CT) as Senate is poised to consider dangerous special interest riders including “Double 33 Trailers” and “Tired Truckers” provisions passed by House in FY 2016 transportation spending bill

WHAT: NEWS CONFERENCE to urge the Senate Appropriations Committee to stop theunprecedented assault on truck safety led by large trucking company lobbyists who used backdoor maneuvers to slip several anti-truck safety provisions into the FY 2016 transportation spending bill(HR 2577) narrowly approved by the House on June 9.

The Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development (THUD) will mark up the Senate’s FY 2016 transportation appropriations bill on Tuesday, June 23and the full Appropriations Committee on Thursday, June 25. News conference speakers will call on the Senate committee to reject these stealth riders that made it into the House bill without any hearings, public input or evaluation of the impacts of these rollbacks on safety and the nation’s roads and bridges.

WHEN: Tuesday, June 23, 2015 at 2:30pm

WHERE: U.S. Capitol Visitor Center (CVC) Room 208, Washington, D.C.

WHO: Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Member of the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee and a leading voice for improved commercial motor vehicle safety. On June 18, Senator Blumenthal and Senator Roger Wicker (R-MS) sent a letter to the Senate Appropriations leadership urging them to reject any effort to legalize double 33-foot trailers on the nation’s highways.

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

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

James P. Hoffa, General President, International Brotherhood of Teamsters (INVITED)

Andy Matthews, Chairman of the National Troopers Coalition, which represents 42,000 State Troopers from 41 states around the country, and President of the Connecticut State Police Union.

Lisa Shrum of Fayette, Missouri, whose mother Virginia Baker and stepfather Randy Baker were killed in a crash on October 10, 2006, involving a FedEx double trailer truck. Lisa is a victim advocate with the Truck Safety Coalition.

Ed Slattery of Lutherville, Maryland. On August 16, 2010, Ed’s wife Susan was killed and their two sons, Peter and Matthew, were severely injured when a truck driver fell asleep at the wheel of a triple-trailer truck on the Ohio Turnpike, forcing them into the semi-trailer ahead. Matthew suffered massive head trauma, and is permanently disabled. Ed is a board member of Parents Against Tired Truckers.

Officer Robert Mills, Fort Worth (TX) Police Department, one of the nation’s leading commercial motor vehicle safety law enforcement experts.

BACKGROUND:

The safety rollbacks, repeals and exemptions in the House-passed transportation spending bill (HR 2577) would result in more overweight and oversized trucks driven by overworked and overtired truckers across the nation at the cost of more death and traumatic injury by:

* Forcing states to allow FedEx double 33-foot trailers throughout the country, taking away a state’s right to set trailer lengths. 39 states currently prohibit double 33 tractor-trailer combinations, which are at least 84 feet in length – the height of an 8-story building.

* Permanently increasing truck driver working and driving hours up to 82 hours per week and killing the “weekend off” for two nights of restorative rest.

* Defunding a public rulemaking underway at the Department of Transportation that is reviewing and assessing ifminimum insurance requirements for trucks and passenger-carrying buses are adequate. They have not been changed since 1985.

* Giving special interest carve outs to increase the current federal truck weight limits from 80,000 lbs. up to 129,000 lbs. in Idaho, raise truck lengths in Kansas and possibly additional state exemptions that could be offered during Committee mark-up that would further damage already-crumbling roads and bridges and rollback safety.

KEY FACTS:

Ø Every year 4,000 people are killed and nearly 100,000 are injured, on average, in truck crashes.

Ø Large truck crash fatalities increased 17% from 2009 through 2013 while total traffic fatalities declined by 3%.

Ø The number of people injured in large truck crashes increased 28% from 2009 through 2013 while the number of people injured in all traffic crashes increased by only 4%.

Ø In fatal two-vehicle crashes between a large truck and a passenger motor vehicle, 96% of the fatalities were occupants of the passenger vehicle.

Ø Commercial motor vehicle crashes cost our nation $99 billion annually.

Progress on Uncovering Deadly Defect Information

June, 2015

Dear Care for Crash Victims Community Members:

NHTSA & Industry Deadly Secrecy – Delay, Denial & Obfuscation

For many years the Center for Auto Safety (CAS) has had to fight both the NHTSA and the auto companies to reveal for the public deadly defect information – as required by law. Delay at Justice Department – see the 2011 CAS letters to the Justice Department seeking transparency for Death and Injury Inquiries (DI’s) athttp://www.autosafety.org/cas-letter-attorney-general-eric-holder-re-nhtsa-freedom-information-act-and-transparency-0Denial at NHTSA – see 2012 CAS Letter to NHTSA Administrator Strickland (before the Administrator resigned and exited through the NHTSA revolving door to join a law firm representing auto industry clients) at http://www.autosafety.org/sites/default/files/imce_staff_uploads/Strickland%20No%20More%20DI%20FOIAs%208-3-12.pdf

The CAS had to file FOIA after FOIA to obtain lists of Death Inquiries for the public. After one gets a list, one then has to FOIA for the underlying documents obtained by the DI which may consist of legal complaints, police reports, insurance claims, accident reconstruction or simple demand letters.

Obfuscation at NHTSA for years. The CAS reports:

“Under 49 CFR Part 579 (Early Warning Reporting Rule), automakers must submit summaryinformation to NHTSA on death and injury claims filed against them. (See http://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?SID=cc0a454e9c9e15c24f2be4bd364ddc68&mc=true&node=pt49.7.579&rgn=div5. As described in attached NHTSA Fact Sheet “NHTSA-ODI-EWR Facts, one can search the EWR reports for the summary information on death and injury reports but it is so vague as to be useless.

EWR submissions by manufacturers and NHTSA summary reports on passenger vehicles are grouped into 28 component categories so broad one doesn’t know what the report is. E.g., onecategory covers the fuel system – is this the fuel filler neck, the fuel rail, the fuel injection, the throttle body, the evaporative canister, the fuel tank, the electronic control unit that controls fuel metering or what?

The categories are: 01 steering system, 02 suspension system, 03 foundation brake system, 04 automatic brake controls, 05 parking brake, 06 engine and engine cooling system, 07 fuel system, 10 power train, 11 electrical system, 12 exterior lighting, 13 visibility, 14 air bags, 15 seat belts, 16 structure, 17 latch, 18 vehicle speed control, 19 tires, 20 wheels, 22 seats, 23 fire, 24 rollover, 25 electronic stability control system, 26 forward collision avoidance system, 27 lane departure prevention system, 28 backover prevention system, 98 where a system or component not covered by categories 01 through 22 or 25 through 28, is specified in the claim or notice, and 99 where no system or component of the vehicle is specified in the claim or notice. If an incident involves more than one such code, each shall be reported separately in the report with a limit of five codes to be included.

In the case of the Toyota 4Runner steering rod relay recall, 05V-389, for which NHTSA opened a timeliness investigation on May 10, 2009, Toyota coded a clear steering rod relay fracture that led to a rollover crash with 3 injuries as rollover and power train but not steering. In a September 2004 Audit of EWR, the DOT Inspector General found that EWR can’t identify steering defects & NHTSA Administrator Runge agreed to that finding.”

Senators Markey and Blumenthal have campaigned to require NHTSA to not only make all DIs public and searchable but also to require that the underlying documents behind a death claim be provided to the agency along with the initial EWR death claim report so that one doesn’t have to wait for NHTSA to request the documents.

Markey, Blumenthal Statement on NHTSA’s “Path Forward”

New Hope From NHTSA and CAS

“Under new NHTSA Administrator Rosekind, the walls of secrecy surrounding Death Inquiries are beginning to crumble. In response to a FOIA, NHTSA just provided CAS a complete list of all DIs from 2010 to present. The Center then took that list and combined it with earlier DI lists to make a searchable list by manufacturer of all DIs.” See

http://www.autosafety.org/nhtsa-ewr-death-inquiry-di-index

The CAS has now produced “How To Find EWR Reports Based on NHTSA DIs” that is an example of the deadly – and potentially life saving – information that now can be found through careful examination. See attached CAS “How To Find EWR Reports“.

Additional valuable Defect Investigations resources are now publicly available thanks to the CAS work at their Defect Investigations Page, under Early Warning Reporting at

http://www.autosafety.org/campaigns/22

Years of hard work by the Center for Auto Safety, Congressional and public pressure, and now new NHTSA leadership are advancing auto safety. It is about time.

Lou

The Center for Auto Safety, DOT, and Senators Markey and Blumenthal on NHTSA’s Recall Program

June, 2015

Dear Care for Crash Victims Community Members:

Please see the latest releases.

Statement on NHTSA’s Path Forward for Defect InvestigationsClarence M. Ditlow, Executive Director

June 5, 2015

NHTSA’s critical self-assessment of its defect investigation and recall process is a crucial first step toward restoring the integrity of the agency’s enforcement process and the ability to hold the auto industry accountable for defects that kill and injure. The assessment calls for a new paradigm in funding and resources to match the dramatic increase in the number of vehicles on the road and the increasing sophisticated technology in vehicles. The assessment also sets into motion new internal processes to correct deficiencies in agency procedures that missed defects like GM ignition switch, Jeep fuel tank and Takata airbag inflators.

Whether the Path Forward succeeds depends on two crucial factors. First, Congress must approve the funding and resources required for NHTSA’s New Paradigm. NHTSA can go only so far on ideals alone. Second, NHTSA must become transparent for the public to see the new reforms in action. NHTSA in the 1970’s with a more adequate budget and aggressive enforcement was much like the New Paradigm in the Path Forward. But as funding decreased and secrecy increased in the 1980’s and beyond, the agency became a weak enforcer and mass vehicle defects became common behind closed doors.

# # #

Markey, Blumenthal Statement on NHTSA’s “Path Forward”

· Transportation Sec. Foxx announces formation of new NHTSA safety teams

Clarence Ditlow

Executive Director

Center for Auto Safety

1825 Connecticut Ave NW #330

Washington DC 20009

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

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

Josh Zembik (Blumenthal) 202-224-6452

Markey, Blumenthal Statement on NHTSA’s “Path Forward”

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

Washington (June 5, 2015) – Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), members of the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, released the following joint statement after the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration today made public reports and initiatives that address failings in its GM ignition switch investigation and other safety efforts. Senators Markey and Blumenthal have been leading the Senate investigation into the GM ignition switch recall that has been linked to at least 100 deaths. GM has admitted to knowing for at least a decade about the ignition switch defect in Chevy Cobalts and Saturn Ions that led to the massive recall, and NHTSA failed to connect the dots using accident reports and other information it had to more quickly and aggressively investigate the defect.

“We are pleased that NHTSA has acknowledged neglecting critical information that should have moved it to take action much earlier on faulty GM ignition switches that were killing drivers and passengers for years. Unfortunately, for more than a decade, NHTSA failed to address the information and evidence it had in its own database linking defective ignition switch to fatal accidents. It is incumbent upon Administrator Rosekind to put in place permanent measures necessary to prevent another tragedy like this from ever happening again. Those measures must include a requirement that the types of secret documents that NHTSA had access to are made public, and the enactment of our legislation that requires more information to be reported to NHTSA’s Early Warning Reporting database when auto manufacturers first become aware of incidents involving fatalities.”

In one of the reports released today, NHTSA acknowledged that it had requested a Death Inquiry (DI) document from GM related to the death of two Wisconsin teenagers. That document, which was received by NHTSA in 2007 but kept secret by both GM and NHTSA, was first made public by Senator Markey on May 7, 2014. It included a report by the Wisconsin State Patrol Academy that highlighted the ignition switch defect as preventing the airbags from deploying. The report also references other reports of similar problems that the Wisconsin investigators uncovered and noted that these investigators had obtained the 2005 GM Technical Service Bulletin that described the ignition switch problem to GM dealers.

Last year, GM CEO Mary T. Barra expressed her support for components of legislation introduced by Senators Markey and Blumenthal that would ensure more transparency and earlier reporting of safety issues to prevent auto injuries and fatalities. The legislation, the Early Warning Reporting System Improvement Act, would require NHTSA make the information it receives from auto manufacturers publicly available in a searchable, user-friendly format so that consumers and independent safety experts can evaluate potential safety defects themselves.

Root Cause of Recalls & Remedies

June, 2015

Dear Care for Crash Victims Community Members:

The NY Times reports ahead of the June 2, 2015 House Hearing on Takata airbag recalls. “Those results contributed to Takata’s decision to stop manufacturing inflaters with the batwing-shaped propellant, the company said. But Takata maintains that it still has not pinned down a definitive root cause of the ruptures.

The problems with the airbags date to almost 15 years ago when drivers began lodging complaints about them with federal regulators. In November, The Times reported that Takata had ordered tests on the airbags in 2004 and found signs of defects, but did not convey the results to the regulators. Takata has disputed that report.

The first recall for the airbag issue came in November 2008 when Honda recalled 4,205 vehicles, a small number, with the Takata products. The company recalled an additional 510,000 cars six months later after a teenager was killed by an exploding airbag.

Those two recalls prompted regulators at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to open an investigation in 2009 into the two companies’ handling of the defect. Six months later, it closed the investigation without requiring that Takata turn over all of the documents that had been requested.

In the document officially closing the inquiry, the agency wrote that there was “insufficient information to suggest that Honda failed to make timely defect decisions on information it was provided….

“What concerns me today are multiyear safety investigations where we can identify a problem but a solution is nowhere in sight; where the preferred approaches are Band-Aids instead of an effective cure,” said Representative Fred Upton, the Republican from Michigan who is chairman of the committee.” See

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/02/business/takata-says-it-will-no-longer-make-side-inflater-linked-to-airbag-defect.html?ref=business&_r=0

As for the root cause of failures to protect the public in corporations and government regulatory agencies, consider money.

“For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.” 1 Timothy 6:10

Whether it be relentless cost cutting demands by OEMs or the corruption of government regulatory policy the root cause is money.

Whether it be airbags exploding dangerously, or airbags not deploying when needed examination will find money at the root of corporate and governmental failures to protect. See report of June 2014 at

https://www.careforcrashvictims.com/blog-nhtsaexec2004.php

We can and must do better than this at protecting people before profits.

Lou

Child Safety Still A Problem – How Did NHTSA Fail To Protect American Children?

June, 2015

Dear Care for Crash Victims Community Members:

The NY Times reports on good work by the IIHS:

“Installing a child safety seat in a vehicle has been a confusing, sometimes difficult task for many parents. A new study released on Thursday has backed up many parents’ complaints, finding that only a handful of vehicles deserved the highest rating for ease of installation.

The study, conducted by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, rated 102 vehicles for how easily a child safety seat could be installed. It focused on the vehicles’ so-called Latch system, which consists of three anchors that the seat is secured to.

Only three models received the highest rating of Good: the BMW 5 Series, Mercedes-Benz GL-Class and the Volkswagen Passat.” See

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/19/business/few-vehicles-equipped-for-easy-child-safety-seat-installation-study-finds.html?emc=edit_tnt_20150618&nlid=37926955&tntemail0=y

NHTSA data on deaths of children in crashes restrained and unrestrained in fatal crashes (413 under age 8 in 2013) is at

http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/Pubs/812154.pdf

For more than a century children have been dying in crashes restrained and unrestrained.

In 1980 NHTSA published a report on Automobile Occupant Crash Protection. (Disclosure: I edited this report that was cited by the Supreme Court in overturning the Reagan Administration’s rescission of the airbag rule.) That report listed models of cars that had problems with child restraints. See https://www.careforcrashvictims.com/assets/1980fullreport.pdf

When will NHTSA require all auto companies to design vehicles to better protect children? Will it happen while the NHTSA Office of Crashworthiness Research and its Human Injury Research Program are both headed by former GM officials?

Lou

Congress on Auto Safety & Money

June, 2015

Dear Care for Crash Victims Community Members:

The Detroit News reports:“In a notice sent to Senate offices late Tuesday, the Senate Commerce Committee said it will hold a June 23hearing titled, “Update on the Recalls of Defective Takata Air Bags and NHTSA’s Vehicle Safety Efforts.”….

The committee’s chairman, Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., said in a Detroit News interview last week he is considering legislative proposals to reform NHTSA, but said he is still not convinced the auto safety agency needs more funding.

Thune said “the White House has not been very visible” on the NHTSA request for more funding.

In an interview Tuesday, Rep. Fred Upton, R-St. Joseph, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said he hasn’t made any decisions about whether he will propose auto safety legislation. He backed an amendment to the House Transportation budget last week that would add $4 million to NHTSA’s budget.

“We want to make sure that (NHTSA) is able to deliver,” Upton said.” See

http://www.detroitnews.com/story/business/autos/2015/06/16/senate-panel-set-hold-hearing-defective-airbags/28846129/

How does $4 million compare with the DOT Policy Guidance value of a statistical life? That value is $9.1 million. See attached DOT policy.

How does $4 million compare with 32,675 Americans dying of crash injuries in 2014? That value would be nearly $300 Billion in 2014. And that includes zero dollars for an estimated 2 million Americans injured each year. See http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/Pubs/812139.pdf

Hopefully, the American people will make sure that Congress delivers safety — not just a few more dollars. Here in America, please!

Lou

Will Congress Fix Auto Safety?

June, 2015

Dear Care for Crash Victims Community Members:

Legislation Being Considered in CongressThe Detroit News reports Senator Thune, Republican from South Dakota, is considering legislation.

“Washington — The head of the Senate Commerce Committee is considering legislative proposals to reform the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, but said he is still not convinced the auto safety agency needs more funding.

Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., chair of the committee that oversees NHTSA, told The Detroit News on Tuesday the agency needs to make changes in the wake of General Motors’ delayed ignition recall linked to 111 deaths and the recall of 33.8 million vehicles with potentially defective Takata air bags.

“Part of the issue for NHTSA is just reforming and doing some things differently, and they could actually accomplish their mission — and it’s not necessarily an issue of money,” Thune said, adding he would be willing to listen to requests for more money. “We’ve looked at some reforms (for NHTSA),” he said.

He said he could introduce NHTSA reform legislation.”

http://www.detroitnews.com/story/business/autos/2015/06/09/gop-senator-considering-nhtsa-reform-bill/28774117/

How concerned should Senator Thune (and others) be?

* About two or three times each week people die of crash injuries in SD year after year after year. See data from 2002 athttp://www.arcgis.com/home/webmap/viewer.html?webmap=71c3bb8008ae4682ab0a36f090a2b443&extent=-161.4739,21.4327,-63.388,54.2524

* In 2013, the number of States that had lower fatality rates than South Dakota was 41 States. See table attached.

Bipartisan Legislation Introduced

U.S. Senators Heller and Markey Team with U.S. Reps. Rokita and Blumenauer to Introduce Bill on Both Sides of Hill

(Washington, DC) – U.S. Senators Dean Heller (R-NV) and Edward Markey (D-MA) joined with U.S. Representatives Todd Rokita (R-IN) and Earl Blumenauer (D-WA) to introduce the Safety Through Informed Consumers Act (STICRS) Act, S. 1535, legislation that is both bipartisan and bicameral. The legislation requires the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to integrate active safety technology into its crashworthiness rating system.

“The Safety Through Informed Consumers Act is a necessary piece of legislation to ensure American families are well-versed on whether vehicles they are looking to purchase are equipped with the newest, state-of-the-art safety technology. Given recent issues surrounding ignition switch defects, airbag defects, and numerous vehicle recalls, this bipartisan-bicameral legislation will help restore consumers’ confidence in the safety of their vehicles. I look forward to working with Senator Markey and Congressmen Rokita and Blumenauer in order to move this legislation through Congress,” saidSenator Dean Heller.

“Consumers trust auto window-sticker safety ratings when they compare vehicles. Today’s 5-star safety rating system only tells them how safe they are in the vehicle once a crash occurs, ignoring any features like collision warning and automatic emergency braking, that can help avoid that crash in the first place. With new safety technology standard in many cars, we need a 21st century 5-star safety rating system that tells consumers how safe their vehicles really are,” stated Senator Edward Markey.

Representative Todd Rokita continued, “In a free market, informed consumers are one of the greatest drivers of advancement. The Safety Through Informed Consumers Act ensures that the latest safety technologies are integrated into the 5-star rating system, arming new car buyers with potentially life-saving information. This is a common-sense, bipartisan bill that promotes innovation, empowers consumers, and protects lives. I thank my colleagues for their support and look forward to working with them to advance this important legislation.”

Representative Earl Blumenauer added, “Active safety technologies, such as blind spot warning and assisted breaking, improve the safety of cars and save lives. Making consumers aware of such cutting-edge technology is a big step toward safer roadways for all users, regardless of how they choose to travel. People should clearly and easily understand the critical safety features in any vehicle they are considering buying.”

BACKGROUND:

The 5-Star Safety Ratings System was created by the NHTSA to provide consumers with information about the crash protection and rollover safety of new vehicles. The program encourages manufacturers to voluntarily design safer vehicles by giving them safety ratings that can be used by consumers to compare vehicles when shopping for a new car. The safety ratings are posted prominently on the window stickers required to be displayed on all new vehicles.

Innovative and safety technologies, such as lane departure warning, forward collision warning, blind spot detection, and assisted breaking, are rapidly being developed, improved, and deployed on new automobiles. These types of technologies can save lives by preventing accidents altogether. The sponsors of the STICRS legislation believe it is important that consumers are aware of this available vehicle safety technology.

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Will the Fix Be Commensurate With The Need?

Nationally the number of people dying of crash injuries amounts to nearly 100 each day, and nearly 400 serious injuries each day, and nearly $2 Billion each day in losses. See https://www.careforcrashvictims.com/clock.php