Category: Blog

Obama Investigating NHTSA

“WASHINGTON (AP) — A senior Obama administration official says the “safety culture” of the federal agency that oversees auto recalls is being reviewed.

The agency has been criticized for not acting aggressively enough regarding recalls of millions of vehicles with defective air bags or faulty ignition switches.

The Obama official says a team is examining risk management and the safety posture in general at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.”  See

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/cars/2014/10/24/nhtsa-recalls-airbags-obama-probe-culture/17851283/

And See October 2014 NHTSA Organization Chart attached.

Criminal Investigation SoughtOn Nov. 7, 2014 the NY Times reported:

“Three senators are calling for a criminal investigation of the airbag maker Takata after two former employees reported that it had carried out tests on airbags over a decade ago and found signs of defects, yet erased computer files containing data and threw away tested airbags.

“The Justice Department needs to get involved here and begin a criminal investigation,” Senator Richard Blumenthal, Democrat of Connecticut, said in an interview. His comments came in response to an article in The New York Times on Friday that reported the employees’ disclosure….

The safety agency has been under pressure from lawmakers to order automakers to expand recent airbag recalls, some of which have been limited to regions with high humidity because Takata says moisture could play a role in the defect. But in the face of continued uncertainty over the cause of the ruptures, lawmakers have called for nationwide recalls.

In a partial response to those requests, Honda said on Thursday that it would now formally recall cars that the automaker had previously included in what it calls “safety improvement campaigns.” Chris Martin, a Honda spokesman, said that testing of some of the passenger airbag inflaters it had retrieved from dealers in areas with high humidity showed enough risks to warrant a formal recall.

Safety regulators have already referred to those campaigns as recalls, however, making Honda’s announcement largely moot. The automaker is still limiting the United States recall to 13 states and territories that it says “consistently experience high absolute humidity.”

Cars affected include certain model year 2001-6 Honda and Acura vehicles sold in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, Texas, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Saipan, Guam and American Samoa, according to Honda.” 

See http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/08/business/criminal-inquiry-into-takata-airbag-allegations-is-sought.html

Note: DC, MD, and VA are not yet included by Honda.

Honda said Thursday it is expanding its Takata-related recalls after a driver in Malaysia died in an air bag-linked accident in July.

The latest Honda/Takata fatality brings to five the number of deaths possibly caused by faulty Takata bags. Honda says three definitely are linked, and is probing two others.

Takata confirmed in Tokyo Thursday that it is being investigated in the U.S. for possible criminal activities.

A federal grand jury in New York has subpoenaed Takata’s unit in the United States to produce documents on the air bag defects, a Tokyo-based Takata spokesman said.”  See

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/cars/2014/11/13/takata-airbags-honda-death-five/18963827/

Thanks to the “generosity” of the GM Feinberg “Compensation” current plan, crash victims have been “given” an extension of 1 month until the end of January 2015 to just apply to be deemed eligible.  (Is there a connection between that date and the control of the Senate?)

Kenneth R. Feinberg, who administers the compensation fund, has decided to extend the deadline to Jan. 31 to give more time to families who might not be aware of the program.

The extension comes a week after The New York Times revealed the identity of Jean P. Averill, who was killed in a 2003 crash of a Saturn Ion at the age of 81. Hers was the earliest fatality G.M. connected with the ignition defect. Until informed by The Times, the family had not known of the company’s compensation program or that it was eligible to receive a minimum of $1 million from the fund. At that time, the family said it had never been contacted by the automaker.”  See

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/17/business/deadline-extended-for-gm-accident-claims.html?mabReward=RI%3A10&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&region=CColumn&module=Recommendation&src=rechp&WT.nav=RecEngine&_r=0

And for a peek into how the GM Feinberg program currently operates:

“WASHINGTON — If this Monday is like almost every other one this fall, the death toll from General Motors’ defective ignition switch will rise.” See 

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/16/business/-cold-numbers-on-gm-crisis-a-peek-inside.html?action=click&contentCollection=Business%20Day&module=RelatedCoverage&region=Marginalia&pgtype=article

Crash victims will continue to be identified.  As will the efforts by GM to limit their payouts to victims – and the need to drastically improve safety for their customers and the public.

Too slowly, but the public is at least now learning what has been happening and who is responsible for all this preventable suffering.

Lou

See http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/11/03/health/bracing-for-the-falls-of-an-aging-nation.html?module=Search&mabReward=relbias%3Aw%2C{%221%22%3A%22RI%3A8%22}http://www.cdc.gov/homeandrecreationalsafety/falls/adultfalls.html

Too Little Too Late For Too Many Crash Victims

One of the unrepaired vehicles was a red 2006 Chevrolet Cobalt that crashed here the night of Oct. 9, killing its 25-year-old driver, Brittany Alfarone. Her mother, Dierdre Betancourt, said she had tried to fix the car twice, but two dealers turned her away….

Joseph Brini was driving behind Ms. Alfarone the night of the accident. He said it seemed as if the driver was wrestling with the car. “My feeling is she was trying to get some control,” he said. “The poor girl had no control of the car.”

The vehicle slammed into a guardrail and erupted in flames. The county medical examiner listed the cause of death as thermal burns, asphyxiation because of carbon monoxide and laceration of the liver, a condition that some auto engineering experts say suggests, based on Ms. Alfarone’s slight build, the airbag did not deploy.”  See

The tragic truth continues to emerge.   The Obama Administration’s feckless failures to protect Americans continues to produce tragedies.  Shameful, willful, repeated inaction and actions putting and keeping corporate servants in positions of power and influence over people’s lives.  Not what the American people voted for but what corporate lobbyists pay for.  Picture the $4 billion to influence just this year’s election.  

And please comment.

Treasury to America:  No you cannot see what the Federal government knew and when it knew it when we gave billions of your dollars to GM.