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Congress on Auto Safety & Money


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?


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.

###

 
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

 

Senate Commerce Committee’s New Report on Takata


Senate Commerce Committee’s New Report on Takata

June, 2015

Dear Care for Crash Victims Community Members:

“WASHINGTON, D.C. – Employee emails sounded dire warnings about safety and quality lapses years before Takata Corp. would fully acknowledge the threat posed by its defective airbags. 

The emails in question are among some 13,000 documents gathered by the Senate Commerce Committee as part of its ongoing investigation into defective airbags that so far have been linked to at least eight deaths and more than 100 injuries worldwide. 

They are cited by minority staff of the commerce panel who have produced a new report in the probe, as the full panel prepares to hear from Takata and federal regulators at a hearing tomorrow morning””

““The more evidence we see, the more it paints a troubling picture of a manufacturer that lacked concern,” said U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL), the top Democrat on the Commerce Committee.

Among the minority report’s other key findings: 

  • ·     An unknown number of replacement parts might be defective as well.
  • ·     Despite being in the midst of what would become the largest auto recall in U.S. history, an April 2011 email from a Takata senior vice president noted that “Global safety audits had stopped for financial reasons for last 2 years.” 
  • ·     Federal regulators failed to “promptly investigate” early reports of the defective airbags.

“Had Takata maintained a more robust culture of safety, it is likely that many of these defects could have been discovered much sooner,” the report concluded.  “Similarly, had NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration) promptly undertaken more aggressive steps to investigate the Takata airbag ruptures, it is possible that this defect could have been addressed years earlier.””  Source:

http://www.commerce.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?p=PressReleases&ContentRecord_id=1e0f311a-2ebb-4069-8332-f6b6f1e8a9cc

 

Clarence Ditlow Statement and Documents on DOT OIG Audit of NHTSA Safety Defects Program


Clarence Ditlow Statement and Documents on DOT OIG Audit of NHTSA Safety Defects Program

June, 2015

Dear Care for Crash Victims Community Members:

Clarence Ditlow, based on decades of safety research and advocacy, notes 3 NHTSA problems identified in OIG Report:

*  Lack of resources

*  Lack of Transparency and Accountability

*  Lack of NHTSA Will“Statement on DOT Inspector General Report on NHTSA’s Efforts to Identify & Investigate Vehicle Safety Concerns     The Inspector General’s stinging report on NHTSA’s Defect Investigation process reveals three fundamental flaws: lack of resources, lack of transparency and accountability, and lack of will to take on major defects.

  • Lack of resources appears in all too many areas: having just one person to initially screen all the complaints, a few seconds for each, amounts to nothing more than sorting the mail.  Not having funds for software that can read manufacturer EWR reports means defect data go unread.  Investigators must have training and training costs money the agency doesn’t have.  Although not pointed out by the IG, NHTSA doesn’t even have its own research facility like other agencies; instead it must rent space from Honda.
  • Lack of transparency and accountability means no one knows why investigations aren’t opened and no one is held accountable for not opening an investigation.  People die due to unopened investigations. NHTSA must be transparent and accountable both externally and internally.  Staff have to know when and why an investigation is opened or not.  The public can provide an important check and balance on agency action and inaction.
  • Lack of will to take on major defects means NHTSA doesn’t get the hard job done.  Instead the agency concentrates on small, inadequate investigations like the Equipment Query into Webasto sunroofs that generated over a hundred recalls by small shops over a defect with no known deaths or serious injuries.  Lack of will means settling for inadequate Service Campaigns or geographic recalls instead of needed national Safety Recalls when a manufacturer balks at doing anything more.

    NHTSA must be given adequate resources but it has to become a forceful regulator that is transparent and accountable to the public.  All the people who have died from safety defects in the past and all the people who can be saved from safety defects in the future deserve nothing less than an agency that is willing and able to take on any defect.”

See documents at

http://www.autosafety.org/statement-cas-executive-director-clarence-ditlow-dot-inspector-general-nhtsa-audit-report

Lou

 

Takata Airbag Recall Deaths – How many? And How many more?


Takata Airbag Recall Deaths – How many? And How many more?

June, 2015

Dear Care for Crash Victims Community Members:

Important questionsraised:  How many deaths have occurred and how many more will occur before all defective airbags are replaced?

A lawsuit has been filed on a recent tragedy.

“The mother of a Lafayette woman killed in an April accident on Johnston Street has filed suit against Honda Motor Company and the maker of an air bag installed in Kylan Rae Langlinais’ 2005 Civic, claiming the companies knew years ago the air bag was defective and prone to spraying deadly shrapnel during a crash.

Langlinais died April 9 in a Lafayette hospital, four days after she drove her Honda into a utility pole in the 2000 block of Johnston Street.

Langlinais, who was one month shy of turning 23, was the only person involved in the 4 a.m. accident.

Kenneth St. Pé, one of two attorneys for the Langlinais family, saidTuesday the death was made doubly tragic when the recall notice for the Takata Corporation air bag system arrived in Langlinais’ mailbox two days after the crash, while she was lying in a hospital bed. She died two days after getting the notice.

St. Pé said the only serious injury that doctors who examined Langlinais could find was a severed carotid artery. That injury was consistent with other victims whose Takata air bags exploded and sent bits of metal flying, he said.

Related Documents

  • Air bag lawsuit

“As a result, (Langlinais) sustained a penetrating injury to the right side of her neck, causing an immediate and profuse loss of blood,” the lawsuit states….

St. Pé said the number of deaths caused by the air bags might be more than the numbers cited in studies.

“It makes you wonder how many people have died at the scene of the accident from injuries like this that don’t get to the hospital. The doctors don’t look at them, and nobody does an autopsy.” St. Pé said. “They just figured they died in a car wreck.”  See

http://theadvocate.com/news/12603876-123/lafayette-mother-files-lawsuit-against

Lou

 

Changes at DOT & NHTSA


Changes at DOT & NHTSA

June, 2015

Dear Care for Crash Victims Community Members:

The NY Times reports:

Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx acknowledged on Friday that there were “deficits” in the investigative process at the safety agency and “room for self-improvement” in how the government regulates the safety of autos.

“We have taken a set of actions that will aid in improving the effectiveness of N.H.T.S.A.,” Mr. Foxx said in a conference call with reporters.

The admissions drew sharp responses from members of Congress who have been critical of the government’s inability for years to recognize that defective ignition switches in G.M. cars could suddenly cut engine power and disable airbags, putting occupants at risk of death or serious injury.

“There needs to be a complete overhaul of this failing agency,” said Senator Richard Blumenthal, Democrat of Connecticut. “The results of this report are long overdue.”….

“The agency will also adopt a “risk control” program that better aligns various departments and encourages more sharing of safety information.

It also proposed a formal process to reach out to lawyers who represent accident victims, partly to make government investigators aware of secret settlements between automakers and litigants on safety issues….

“One safety advocate argued that the changes made by safety agency did not go far enough, and urged the agency to open up investigative reports to the public.

“It still soft-pedals why they have gone from one defect crisis to another,” said Sean E. Kane of the consulting firm Safety Research and Strategies. “What is missing is any mention of the importance of transparency.”

Friday’s reports do not conclude scrutiny of the agency’s handling of the defect, however. The Transportation Department inspector general has been conducting its own examination and results are expected later this month.

For one family tragically affected by the G.M. defect, the reports did bring some sense of closure.

“From Day 1 I said, isn’t N.H.T.S.A. just as guilty as General Motors is?” said Ken Rimer, stepfather of Natasha Weigel, who died in the Wisconsin crash highlighted in the reports. “It’s terrific they are finally owning up to their mistakes.”  See  http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/06/business/nhtsa-admits-missing-clues-to-gm-ignition-defects.html?mabReward=CTM&moduleDetail=recommendations-2&action=click&contentCollection=Sports&region=Footer&module=WhatsNext&version=WhatsNext&contentID=WhatsNext&configSection=article&isLoggedIn=false&src=recg&pgtype=article

Consumer Affairs reports:

“The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) today released two reports outlining their,plans for tougher oversight and identifying shortcomings in its own efforts.

But nothing drew more gasps than the revelation that DOT and NHTSA would be consulting with personal injury lawyers, who often find and document safety hazards long before they come to NHTSA’s attention.

In fact, lawyers who specialize in auto accidents and product liability already have their own informal but highly sophisticated,networks that share data the attorneys collect as they build evidence against automakers. In many cases, records are sealed after a trial ends in an out-of-court settlement, especially those involving huge damage awards arising from injuries caused by safety defects, so the information is never made public….

“On Capitol Hill, Sens. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) said the NHTSA must resolve to prevent future tragedies like the GM ignition switch debacle.

“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,” the senators said in a joint statement.

“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.”

The two have introduced legislation that they say 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.”  

See 

http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news/feds-vow-tougher-scrutiny-of-automakers-safety-efforts-may-collaborate-with-personal-injury-lawyers-060515.html

NHTSA Release and Documents are attached

and at

http://www.nhtsa.gov/About+NHTSA/Press+Releases/nhtsa-forming-new-safety-teams

Lou

 

Failures at NHTSA, Tragedies Continue


Failures at NHTSA, Tragedies Continue

June, 2015

Dear Care for Crash Victims Community Members:

The NY Times has an excellent article on the forthcoming DOT IG Report on NHTSA failures.    

“Even as evidence poured into the nation’s top auto safety agency pointing to dangerous defects in millions of vehicles, regulators repeatedly failed for years to root out problems and hold carmakers accountable, according to a long-awaited internal audit by the Transportation Department.

The bluntly worded report, ordered last year after General Motors began recalling 2.6 million cars with a defective ignition switch, paints a bleak portrait of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the agency charged with overseeing safety in the auto industry.

The agency had weak management, undertrained staff and insufficient processes in place to properly review safety data submitted by automakers and complaints submitted by drivers, the report by the Transportation Department’s inspector general found. Repeatedly, investigators missed opportunities to identify that the ignition switch was prone to turn off, shutting down the engine and disabling systems like power steering and the airbags. At least 114 deaths have been linked to the defect. And the agency’s shortcomings extended to other problems as well.

Ultimately, the report said, the agency’s systemic failings “deter N.H.T.S.A. from successfully meeting the mandate to help prevent crashes and their attendant costs, both human and financial.””

See http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/20/business/federal-auditor-finds-broad-failures-at-nhtsa.html?ref=business

The public evidence of NHTSA captivity grows as tragedies mount.

 

See also:

Lou