An excellent article describes tragedies. See “Mom Takes on Truckers After Highway Wreck Kills Daughters” at http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-10-01/mom-takes-on-truckers-after-highway-wreck-kills-daughters.html
Lou
October, 2014
Another good article from the NY Times covering the GM saga. “Lawyers in sweeping class-action litigation against General Motors have significantly broadened their case against the embattled automaker, claiming that the company disregarded and concealed safety issues far beyond the defective ignition switch that is now linked to 27 deaths.”
Notes to NY Times: Why not add a Comment section? And help readers by giving them a link to the Master Complaint.
October, 2014
More NY Times good reporting – including documents – on airbag defects.
“Takata was alerted to the problem as early as 2004, when the airbag in a 2002 Honda Accord ruptured in Alabama, but neither Takata nor Honda told regulators, a New York Times investigationhas shown. The first recall for the airbags was issued by Honda in 2008, for about 4,200 vehicles.
“We are compelling Takata to produce documents and answer questions under oath relevant to our ongoing investigation into defective airbags they have produced,” David J. Friedman, the N.H.T.S.A.’s deputy administrator, said in a statement.” See
So will NHTSA now compel automakers “to produce documents and answer questions under oath”? Will NHTSA make the documents and answers public? Will NHTSA hold public hearings?
When will we see a grand jury investigation that puts NHTSA and auto company officials officials under oath for more than a decade of defective policies?
Just one example of NHTSA malfeasance. See attached FY 2013 NHTSA Budget Request authorized by former Administrator Strickland seeking a decrease in Defects Investigation budget. See pp 54, 59 – 61. Note: Mr. Strickland is now a lobbyist working for a company that represents Chrysler.
Other examples of “responsible” officials who have gone through the NHTSA and other governmental Revolving doors into and out of NHTSA are at https://www.careforcrashvictims.com/assets/CFCV-MonthlyReport-March2014.pdf
The American people can, and must, get to the bottom of this death and disability producing mess to protect themselves.
Lou
October, 2014
Finally! After 6 years in Office, the Obama Administration will conduct a review of NHTSA. This is after nearly 200,000 crash deaths, about 800,000 serious crash injuries, and $5 Trillion in losses in the U.S.A. under the Obama Administration. For data sources see http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/Pubs/812013.pdf and http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/Pubs/812055.pdf
Note: This was announced by a unnamed official, not President Obama.
But it remains to be seen whether or not we now get the hope and change we were promised and voted for in 2008 and 2012? Lou
October, 2014
Sean Kane has published additional important information.“Among the damning evidence in the trial were five test videos showing the re-designed ET-Plus end terminal catastrophically failing and a November 9, 2004 email authored by a retired Trinity vice-president, Steven Brown. He proposed changing the guide channel from five inches to four to make the terminal eight pounds lighter and save $2 a unit, without telling the FHWA, as it is required to do: “If [the Texas Transportation Institute] agrees, I’m feeling that we could make the change with no announcement.” TTI, an arm of Texas A & M University, invented the ET-2000 and the ET-Plus, and was responsible for conducting the testing that would be submitted to the federal government in support of its application for approval. TTI agreed to the change without telling the government, and drafted a test report that failed to reference the change to the guide channel and other changes to the original design, first approved in 1999….
William Boynton, a spokesman for the New Hampshire DOT, noted that “at this time, the NHDOT has no direct evidence that the terminal is ‘flawed.’”
On June 8, an Ohio couple was southbound on I-93 in Ashland New Hampshire, when the sedan left the roadway and struck an ET-Plus guardrail, which penetrated the Subaru Impreza at the passenger side wheel well, slicing the driver and her companion in the legs and knees. Both sustained serious injuries, requiring long hospitalizations and have undergone multiple surgeries to repair the damage.
Boynton said the NHDOT was aware of that crash.”
October, 2014
The NY Times has identified and mapped the 13 States that have banned dangerous guardrails. Current status: 9 Blue States: MA, CT, NH, OR, CO, NV, VA, VT, HI
Lou
October, 2014
“More than 1 million GM vehicles recalled are still not fixed….
There has been at least one fatal accident involving a recalled car since the recall was announced. Lara Gass, 27, was killed in an accident on Interstate 81 in Virginia on March 18 when her Saturn crashed into a tractor trailer on a snowy road. The fire that consumed the car made it impossible to know how many keys were on her key ring, according to the state police.”
And that’s just GM recalled vehicles for the ignition switch defect.
An excellent article by Rachel Cohen addresses the larger “recalled but not repaired” problem of vehicles endangering us all – and known about by NHTSA and auto companies for years.“In the United States, about one in every six cars on the road, or 37 million vehicles, has an unfixed safety recall. These are not minor problems; in safety recalls, the manufacturer or the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has determined that a car or piece of motor vehicle equipment poses an unreasonable risk to safety or fails to meet minimum safety standards. When a recall is in effect, manufacturers are legally obligated to do the repairs for free. Consumers, however, are not required to fix their car, regardless of the defect’s severity. In 2011, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) found the annual recall compliance rate in the United States averages 65 percent.”
See http://prospect.org/article/road-hazard-millions-autos-us-highways-recalled-not-repaired
Lou
