Category: Blog

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.”

 

Criminal Prosecution of Fiat Chrysler Called For by CAS


Criminal Prosecution of Fiat Chrysler Called For by CAS

April, 2015

Dear Care for Crash Victims Community Members:

Clarence Ditlow, CAS Executive Director said:

 

“People are dying and Chrysler is stalling.  This is the recall Chrysler never wanted to do and now refuses to do as required by law.  NHTSA should impose the maximum possible civil fine under the law.  The Justice Department should prosecute Chrysler and its responsible executives for criminal homicide for any deaths due to the delay in carrying out this recall. “

 

http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/acms/cs/jaxrs/download/doc/UCM476309/RCORRD-13V252-0198.pdf

  

Lou

 

Are Auto Dealers Against Safety?


Are Auto Dealers Against Safety?

April, 2015

Dear Care for Crash Victims Community Members:
CBS reports:
“Consumer advocates have spent years trying to force used car dealers to fix recalled cars before selling them, but bills with that requirement have repeatedly failed to pass….”“These are issues that affect human life and safety,” said Calley Houck, a vocal opponent of the bill.

Houck knows firsthand about the dangers of recalled cars that don’t fall into that do not drive category. Both of her daughters were killed in a crash directly related to an open recall in their rented Chrysler PT Cruiser.

Like dealers, the bill allows a rental car company to rent you a recalled vehicle as long as they tell you about it.”  See

http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2015/04/14/consumer-groups-fighting-bill-that-discloses-used-recalled-cars/

Automotive News reports “Jim Click says he’s “all in” for Jeb Bush in 2016.

The co-managing partner of Southern California’s Tuttle-Click Automotive Group says he already has raised “a substantial” six-figure sum for Right to Rise, a super PAC expected to back the former Florida governor’s presumed candidacy for the White House in 2016.

And Click says he’s just getting started.

“I’d like to raise him a million dollars,” Click told Automotive News. “I’d like to raise as much as possible.”

See which political party dealers give most to

If politics is war by other means, who are the victims of this war?
Lou

 

Discount on “Car Safety Wars” + Federal Revolving Door Solution Proposed by NY Times Editors


Discount on “Car Safety Wars” + Federal Revolving Door Solution Proposed by NY Times Editors

April, 2015

Dear Care for Crash Victims Community Members:

Good News for our community.   After I posted my April Monthly Report yesterday reviewing “Car Safety Wars” I learned that I can attach for your use a 30% discount coupon for “Car Safety Wars” by Michael R. Lemov.  The discount only applies to purchases from the publisher Rowman & Littlefield.  See attached discount form.  My Book Review post is now up athttps://www.careforcrashvictims.com/assets/MonthlyReportforApril2015.pdf

Good news on the growing recognition of Regulatory Capture is a new NY Times Editorial that concludes: 

“But consumer advocates are surely right that putting the industry in charge of supplement regulation is like appointing the fox to guard the henhouse. Clearly, the F.D.A. should not allow industry insiders to fill key positions. A permanent solution is for Congress to enact conflict-of-interest laws forcing employees above a certain grade level at any agency to recuse themselves from official actions that affect a former employer or client, including trade associations and their members.”

While this example was a FDA scandal, the Revolving Door – Conflict of Interest problem is pervasive in Washington regulatory agencies today with tragic consequences for the American people.  
A year ago I noted some of the high positions held – previously and presently – by former industry officials at the White House, OMB, DOT, NHTSA and CDC.  Titled “On the Trail of Responsibilities for Crash Deaths and Serious Injuries” it documented a widespread problem of life or death importance to all Americans. See https://www.careforcrashvictims.com/assets/CFCV-MonthlyReport-March2014.pdf 
Later in the year the NY Times carried an Op Ed by Clarence Ditlow and Ralph Nader that called for  “Only a complete overhaul of the agency’s culture will prevent future recalls, since automakers will always place sales and profits over safety and innovation. This should start with closing the revolving door, adopting criminal penalties and increasing funding. All auto companies should have an independent, government-certified safety ombudsman to investigate complaints from whistle-blowers and to report defects directly to the chief executive and the agency.”
Hopefully this will all help Americans get the protection they need and pay for every day as taxpayers and consumers.
Your comments on the new book and my review are welcome.
Lou

 

Will GM Deduct Payments to Crash Victims?


Will GM Deduct Payments to Crash Victims?

April, 2015

Dear Care for Crash Victims Community Members:

A mother who lost her daughter in a GM crash has asked this important question on behalf of all American taxpayers.  

“Our kids dying should not be a tax deduction.”

That’s the message from Laura Christian, mother of Amber Marie Rose the teen who was killed in July 2005 in an accident while driving a GM (GM) car outfitted with a defective ignition switch .”

Source: http://money.cnn.com/2015/04/09/news/companies/gm-airbag-tax-break/

See letter to GM and “response” attached.

Taxpayers should also know how GM valued the lives lost.  Was it the $9.1 million used in the DOT Policy Guidance? See attached DOT Policy.

If GM were required to pay the DOT value and it not be tax deductible, then all Americans would benefit.   GM would have a greater incentive to provide safer vehicles to their customers and to the protection of us all from uncontrolled vehicles.

Lou