Category: Blog

The Detroit News reports: 

“Last week, a senior administration official told reporters NHTSA’s handling of the recall was “suboptimal.”

Foxx told The Detroit News on Friday that NHTSA’s handling of the recall “wasn’t flawless in the sense” that there were mistakes in press releases — some wrong cars and the wrong number of vehicles were listed in releases on successive days last week. And the website at which car owners could check to see if the vehicles were recalled wasn’t working for much of the week.

“That’s what was suboptimal,” Foxx said. He praised NHTSA’s “incredible track record” over the last decade.”  See 

http://www.detroitnews.com/story/business/autos/foreign/2014/10/31/nissan-air-bag-recall/18234493/

So what was this praiseworthy “incredible track record” of NHTSA over the past decade of Bush/Obama?

Dear Care for Crash Victims Community Members:

It is a rare day when crash victims receive justice.  Justice for crash victims is too often, too little, too late, for too many people.

The NY Times has just reported on a rare Justice “Success Story” for crash victims:

“Candice Anderson received the bittersweet news Monday in a Texas courtroom, fighting back tears, and her arm around the mother of the boyfriend she had felt responsible for killing in a car crash 10 years ago.

The judge cleared Ms. Anderson in the death of the boyfriend, Gene Mikale Erickson, even though she had pleaded guilty to criminally negligent homicide in the case years ago.

Ms. Anderson, 21 at the time of the crash, was driving her car when she inexplicably lost control and crashed into a tree. Mr. Erickson, her passenger, died at the scene, and Ms. Anderson has been racked with guilt ever since.

In getting her record cleared, Ms. Anderson benefited from an extraordinary — and long delayed — admission by General Motors, which on Monday for the first time publicly linked Mr. Erickson’s death to an ignition switch defect in millions of its small cars….”  

“Ms. Anderson’s Saturn Ion was among the cars equipped by G.M. with the defective switch, which can cause a loss of power, disabling power brakes, power steering and airbags. At least 35 deaths have been linked to the defect, which went unreported by G.M. for more than a decade.

In May 2007, five months before Ms. Anderson entered her guilty plea, G.M. had conducted an internal review of the crash and quietly ruled its car was to blame, but never let Ms. Anderson or local law enforcement officials know.

After the crash on Nov. 15, 2004, Ms. Anderson’s parents liquidated their 401(k) to retain a lawyer to defend her. While a deal with prosecutors spared her jail time, she was on probation for five years and paid more than $10,000 in fines and restitution.”  See 

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/25/business/woman-cleared-in-death-caused-by-gms-faulty-ignition-switch.html?emc=edit_tnt_20141124&nlid=37926955&tntemail0=y

This article illustrates the importance of media attention to the plight of crash victims. Thanks to trial lawyers, engineers, consumer advocates, congressional pressure, government agencies and officials, and citizens doing their parts, some justice can be achieved for some crash victims.

But as we are all crash victims in so many ways, we need to achieve both justice and safety to prevent injuries to all future crash victims.  Both “success” stories and “suffering” stories of crash victims help move us as a society to achieve greater safety.  With about 100 crash deaths per day, plus 400 serious crash injuries per day, and costs of about $2 Billion per day occurring in the U.S.A. today — we have a great need for crash victim justice and safety.  See

NHTSA Report on Economic and Societal Costs at http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/Pubs/812013.pdf

Lou

Dear Care for Crash Victims Community Members:

Bloomberg interviews Ralph Nader:http://www.bloomberg.com/video/ralph-nader-automakers-should-ve-caught-bad-air-bags-BGtvtqyBSEmXlu7BwHx3HA.html

Busy times in the difficult struggle for good over evil.

NY Times editorial notes “Three Bills to Curb Corporate Wrongdoing”:“When it was learned this year that General Motors had long failed to notify regulators and the public about fatal ignition-switch defects, theoutrage in Congress was bipartisan. Recent reports in The New York Times that the Japanese manufacturer Takata hid deadly airbag defects are also sure to inspire rebukes from members of both parties. Takata has rebutted the reports, but lawmakers have appropriately scheduled a hearing for Thursday and called for a criminal inquiry by the Justice Department.…new laws are needed to deter corporations from covering up safety defects and punish those individuals and companies that do. Three bills introduced by Senator Richard Blumenthal, Democrat of Connecticut and a former state attorney general, would cover many of the prominent issues.”  See http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/20/opinion/three-bills-to-curb-corporate-wrongdoing.html?emc=edit_tnt_20141119&nlid=37926955&tntemail0=y

NHTSA Nominee Mark R. Rosekind, Currently of NTSB

Reuters reports:

“According to the NTSB’s biography of Rosekind, he is “one of the world’s foremost human fatigue experts” and a founder of Alertness Solutions, a consulting firm that specializes in fatigue management.

Clarence Ditlow, executive director of the Center for Auto Safety, said he was surprised the nominee didn’t have a background in auto safety.

“Given the GM ignition switch and now Takata I would have expected someone with more of a hands-on experience in vehicle safety,” Ditlow said.

Senator John Thune, the top Republican on the committee that will consider the nomination, said he looked forward to hearing Rosekind’s “plans to address the rising number of motor vehicle safety recalls.”

See http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/11/19/usa-autos-nhtsa-idUSL2N0T931D20141119

AZ Attorney General Sues GM“The attorney general of Arizona said on Wednesday that the state had filed suit against General Motors, claiming that the automaker had defrauded the state’s consumers of an estimated $3 billion…. “In filing suit, Arizona has broken from a group of 48 state attorneys general that has been pursuing a multistate investigation into G.M. for its handling of the ignition-switch defect. The state had been on the executive committee of that multistate inquiry, led by South Carolina and Ohio.

“We’re proceeding with our own suit because it’s the best way to protect the citizens of Arizona,” Attorney General Thomas C. Horne, a Republican, said in an interview. “General Motors represented that it was taking care of the safety of its cars, and in fact there were serious defects that it did not disclose to the public for years.”  See

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/20/business/arizona-sues-gm-for-3-billion-over-recalls.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=second-column-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0

Who Will Win, What, Where, How, Why & When? Congressional Leaders Boehner and McConnell wrote about their Republican goals as reforming:

“• Excessive regulations and frivolous lawsuits that are driving up costs for families and preventing the economy from growing;

• An antiquated government bureaucracy ill-equipped to serve a citizenry facing 21st-century challenges, from disease control to caring for veterans;”  Seehttp://online.wsj.com/articles/john-boehner-and-mitch-mcconnell-now-we-can-get-congress-going-1415232759

As my mother taught me “Next time better.”  Hopefully, in your remaining days at NHTSA you can do better.  The American people certainly need you to do better.  Many more lives and livelihoods depend on it.

Dear Care for Crash Victims Community Members:

The Search Too Slow for Too Many 

In May, The Times reported the identities of 12 of the 13 victims identified by G.M. through interviews, accident databases and communications from federal regulators. In those cases as well, the families said G.M. did not inform them that it had included their lost family member in its internal tally.

Ms. Averill’s relatives said it never crossed their minds to sue G.M. after the crash because nothing was known publicly then about the ignition-switch defect.

“We feel bad that we couldn’t have thought of doing something way back then,” Sam Averill said, “and it might have saved a lot of other lives.””  See 

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/11/business/11-years-later-death-is-tied-to-gm-defect.html?emc=edit_ws_20141111&nl=automobiles&nlid=37926955&_r=0

Actions Urged

On November 12, 2014, Center for Auto Safety (CAS) advocate Clarence Ditlow urged GM’s Feinberg to do more, faster, and better to identify crash victims.  See attached letters to Feinberg.

• Feinberg June 2, 2014
• Feinberg Novembr 12, 2014 (corrected)

Bloomberg reported on Feinberg’s reaction to the Ditlow letter as follows:“Feinberg disagreed with Ditlow’s statement that claims are being handled too slowly, saying he has so far processed more than 800 requests for payment.

“We have processed every single claim that has been submitted to us with documentation,” Feinberg said. “All remaining claims –- in the hundreds -– have absolutely no documentation whatsoever.”…

“Our mandate is to do all we can to reach out to legitimate victims and help them to file claims,” Feinberg said in the e-mail. “We are not passively standing by and waiting for claims.”  Seehttp://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-11-12/gm-claims-czar-may-seek-switch-related-cases-in-records.html

On November 12, 2014, Senators Markey, Blumenthal, and Nelson urged President Obama to act.  See attached letter.

GM Crash Victims?  

How many are there?   Tens as Feinberg reports 32 crash deaths he deems eligible as of Nov. 7, 2014?  See current GM Feinberg statistics attached. Hundreds as CAS reports 303 crash deaths (airbag non deployment)? Thousands as NHTSA FARS contains 1,751 occupant deaths in recalled vehicles in GM?  (Not all due to ignition GM defect.)   Or many more?  During the period 2000 to 2012, more than 130,000 people lost their lives due to crash injuries suffered as occupants of all GM vehicles — about 20 people per day.   This does not include pedestrians and others involved in fatal crashes with GM vehicles.  See https://www.careforcrashvictims.com/assets/MonthlyReport-June-July-2014.pdfWho are the GM Crash Victims?  

When asked, the GM Feinberg program responded:

“The only public information regarding eligible claimants is what appears on our website.

For obvious privacy and confidentiality issues – we cannot provide or make public any claimant’s personal information.”

When asked what if victims granted permission?The response was:

If the claimant wants to provide their own personal information to you or to the media or whomever  – they may certainly do so.

We will not provide it.“

For more info on the GM Feinberg program see http://www.gmignitioncompensation.com/

Time, Information, Money, Expertise, and Resources are needed.  

Time:  The GM Feinberg program set a deadline of December 31, 2014 for crash victims to submit claims to be evaluated for eligibility.  Not much time left.

Information:  Families of crash victims will have to find and document information on their crash and their injuries and consequences.  

Money:  Crash victims may not have much money to explore whether or not they can make a claim.

Expertise:  Crash victims often do not have access to the expertise needed to advocate for themselves.

Resources:  Crash victims do not have the organizational resources to find and join with others to build a political coalition for justice and safety.

Imagine if the NHTSA were not a captive agency.  Imagine if President Obama wanted to direct NHTSA to create a Task Force for Auto Safety and Justice.   Time, Information, Money, Expertise, and Resources:  Such a NHTSA Task Force would not be bound by an artificial deadline of December 2014.  It could analyze the information on the 130,000 GM fatal crashes in their databases as well as GM’s databases. It could work on behalf of all GM crash victims with the Justice Department and State Attorney Generals nationwide.  The limitations that crash victims face as individuals up against GM could be overcome by a NHTSA that was not captive.  See https://www.careforcrashvictims.com/assets/CFCV-MonthlyReport-March2014.pdf

President Obama can come out on the side of crash victims for both Safety and Justice.  

Lou