Category: Blog

NHTSA Administrator Rosekind: Wants Recall Solutions – As Do the American People


NHTSA Administrator Rosekind: Wants Recall Solutions – As Do the American People

April, 2015

Dear Care for Crash Victims Community Members:

Automotive News reports:

“Everyone absolutely agrees that there are problems with notifications, parts availability and the timeliness of getting these done,” Rosekind said. “By the end of the day, we want solutions.”  
Yesterday the Center for Auto Safety posted important documents on the Walden tragedy involving a defective Chrysler Jeep made public by the plaintiff attorneys father and son team of Jim and Jeb Butler.
Thanks to the Butlers, their team, and the Walden family these documents are landmarks in the continuing work of Justice and now can be used to advance safety for all Americans.  See

Important Documents from Walden v. Chrysler

 Walden page: http://www.autosafety.org/walden-v-chrysler-trial

Americans and NHTSA Administrator Rosekind now face the life or death question:  How many more tragedies must we suffer before the endangerment of American lives is ended?
Lou

 

15 Passenger Van Florida Crash That Killed 8 To Be Investigated by NTSB


15 Passenger Van Florida Crash That Killed 8 To Be Investigated by NTSB

April, 2015

Dear Care for Crash Victims Community Members:
Tragedy Triggers Probe

“Probes into the accident in Glades County are underway by the Florida Highway Patrol as well as the National Transportation Safety Board, which sent two investigators to the scene.

Peter Knudson, an NTSB spokesman, said investigators will look at whether the unlit T-intersection set amid farmland had a history of accidents, whether the van’s safety features worked as they should have, the 18 occupants’ use of seatbelts and any factors affecting the driver.

The driver, 58-year-old Volsaint Marsaille, was among those killed in the crash. He was a longtime St. Lucie County school bus driver with a good record who had driven for the Independent Haitian Assembly of God for many years, his son-in-law Philippe Dorce said.”….

“Some insurance companies refuse to insure them because it’s so dangerous,” said Joan Claybrook, who headed the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration under President Jimmy Carter and is a past president of the consumer advocacy group Public Citizen. Though Marsaille went through a stop sign and his vehicle had too many people on board, Claybrook said such vans have inherent safety issues that make them more prone to tragedy.

Claybrook and other safety advocates have pointed to numerous issues in the vans that make them more susceptible to fatal accidents, from the height and width of the vehicles, to the structural integrity of seats and seatbelt availability and quality. Older models are particularly maligned, lacking stability controls and tire pressure monitoring features of newer vans.

Federal transportation officials have warned about the potential instability of 15-passenger vans for over a decade. The NHTSA has warned colleges and church groups, among others, that overloading the vans increases the risk of rollover and makes the vehicles difficult to maneuver in emergencies. Officials also urge all occupants in the vans to wear seatbelts and all owners to check the tire pressure for every trip.

Some 521 people died in crashes involving 15-passenger vans from 2004 through 2010, according to federal statistics.”  (Emphasis added).

See http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/safety-vans-questioned-wake-florida-crash-30098577

More Probes Needed

Nice that NTSB will investigate this crash.  But who will investigate the agencies and companies that have let these, and many other, tragedies to continue without end?   Where have the leaders of NHTSA, the NTSB, and the CEOs of the auto industry been?   Have they had their eyes on the safety problems or the Revolving Door and maximizing profits in the next quarter?

NTSB counted 34,678 transportation fatalities in 2013.  32,718 deaths (94%) were Highway fatalities and 443 (1.3%) were Aviation fatalities.

See  http://www.ntsb.gov/investigations/data/Pages/Data_Stats.aspx

NTSB’s Statement of Net Cost for 2013 Operations was $104 million.   *  $53 million (51%) was for Aviation Safety.  

*  $30 million (29%) was for Surface Transportation Safety which included Highway (32,718 deaths), Rail (891 deaths), Pipeline (10 deaths), and Marine (615 deaths).

*  $21 million (20%) was for Research and Engineering.
Taxpayers should be interested at this time in how their money is being spent on protecting their lives.
Strange Indifference to Highway Carnage Continues
With Americans continuing to die and seriously injured at the rate of several hundred each day, leaders including President Obama and Vice President Biden continue to be strangely indifferent.  “President Clinton’s biological father died after being ejected in a car crash in the 1940s. As a teenage driver in the 1960s, Laura Bush struck and killed a family neighbor in a crash.  President Obama’s father died in a car wreck in 1982. In 1972, Vice President (then U.S. Senator)Joseph Biden’s wife and infant child were killed in a car-truck collision. Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, as a young Mormon missionary, was severely injured in a collision in France that killed another passenger.”   See  http://www.fairwarning.org/2012/09/a-strange-indifference-to-highway-carnage/ And https://www.careforcrashvictims.com/clock.php
How many more tragedies will be counted in the U.S.A. before the nation’s priorities are changed on behalf of the people?
Lou

 


Victims Lose Again to GM – First Safety Then Justice

April, 2015

Dear Care for Crash Victims Community Members: “This ruling padlocks the courthouse doors,” said Robert C. Hilliard, a lead plaintiffs’ lawyer. “Hundreds of victims and their families will go to bed tonight forever deprived of justice. G.M., bathing in billions, may now turn its back on the dead and injured, worry-free.”

The public needs to keep its eye on members of the Judicial branch as much as members of the Executive and Legislative branches of government.  

See http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/16/business/general-motors-wins-ruling-shielding-it-from-most-claims-over-ignition-flaw.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=second-column-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0

Lou

 

5 Nursing Students Die of Crash Injuries Suffered by Heavy Truck That Did Not Stop


5 Nursing Students Die of Crash Injuries Suffered by Heavy Truck That Did Not Stop

April, 2015

Dear Care for Crash Victims Community Members:

Think about the losses of the promising lives of these nurses — and the lives they would have gone on to save.  See

Ask what might have prevented such tragedies.  Safety groups have been working to prevent such tragedies.  See petitionhttp://www.autosafety.org/safety-advocates-call-us-dot-issue-rule-requiring-crash-avoidance-technology-large-trucks
Watch videos of technologies by Mercedes and Volvo that might have prevented or ameliorated this crash.  SeeVideos: Heavy Truck Emergency Braking (Mercedes and Volvo)
Ask what might President Obama do to prevent future tragedies that he has not done in 6 years in Office.  Seehttp://www.fairwarning.org/2012/09/a-strange-indifference-to-highway-carnage/
Ask what we can do to produce the protection that Americans need and deserve but do not get.
Lou

 

White House Auto Legislation & Auto Industry Lobbying: Who Will Win?


White House Auto Legislation & Auto Industry Lobbying: Who Will Win?

April, 2015

Dear Care for Crash Victims Community Members:

International Business Times reports in a good article: “The U.S. auto safety regulator would get power to unilaterally demand automakers stop selling vehicles it says have safety related defects under the White House’s multiyear transportation funding bill that went to Congress this week. But the move to reform the way car safety is regulated will likely face stiff opposition from manufacturers who succeeded in weakening legislative efforts in 2010 that would have bolstered federal oversight and increased noncompliance penalties….”““The fine is too small for these multinational corporations,” said Claybrook. “We don’t think there should be a cap.”

Attempts to lift the cap on penalties were struck down in 2010 after aggressive lobbying by the automakers, dealers and trade groups, who spent more than $40 million that year on congressional lobbying. The bill to increase penalties against automakers and to boost safety standards for automotive electronics was watered down after it passed Congress. The industry spent $40.1 million in lobbying efforts last year, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, down from its all-time high of $58 million in 2007.”  See

http://www.ibtimes.com/auto-recalls-us-regulator-would-gain-stop-sale-authority-over-carmakers-if-white-1865452

Compare the $40.1 million spent by the auto industry last year on lobbying with the $9.1 million value that DOT policy guidance places on just one “statistical life” (copy attached).

Compare the $40.1 million the auto industry may spend on lobbying in each of the next 6 years (~$240 million) with the estimated 192,000 crash deaths expected over the next 6 years.  At $9.1 million per life the expected costs are $1.7 trillion.

Lobbyists are a good deal for the auto industry.  A bad deal for the American people.

A good bet is that the auto industry lobbyists will win — again.

Lou

 

Center for Auto Safety Statement on $150 Million Walden Jeep Fire Judgement


Center for Auto Safety Statement on $150 Million Walden Jeep Fire Judgement

April, 2015

Dear Care for Crash Victims Community Members:“CAS STATEMENT ON $150 MILLION WALDEN JEEP FIRE JUDGMENT The $150 million verdict in Walden vs Chrysler rebukes the deal cut by former DOT Secretary Ray LaHood, former NHTSA Administrator David Strickland and Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne in a secret meeting in Chicago to conduct a sham recall using a fake trailer hitch that can’t even tow. Strickland, who arranged the deadly meeting in a series of 23 emails that excluded NHTSA professional staff from participating, is now a lawyer with a law firm that represents Chrysler and failed to recuse himself from the Jeep investigation even though he planned to join the law firm. CAS Executive Director Clarence Ditlow said: “The $150 million verdict will not bring back 4­ year old Remi Walden who burned to death in a child booster seat or any of the other victims in the 395 fatal fire crashes of the 1993­-2004 Jeep Grand Cherokee, 1993­2001 Jeep Cherokee and 2002-­2007 Jeep Liberty covered by NHTSA’s now closed investigation. The Center for Auto Safety calls on new NHTSA Administrator Mark Rosekind and DOT Secretary Anthony Foxx to reopen the Jeep Fuel Tank investigation closed under the influence of a former NHTSA Administrator headed for a law firm representing Chrysler in a secret meeting without the participation of NHTSA professional staff.”