The Opinion Pages Op-Ed Contributors
Weak Oversight, Deadly Cars
By Clarence Ditlow and Ralph Nader October 28, 2014
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/29/opinion/weak-oversight-deadly-cars.html?_r=0
WHEN regulators sleep and auto companies place profits over safety, safety defects pile up. A record number of vehicles — more than 50 million — have been recalled this year, a result of congressional hearings and Justice Department prosecutions, which exposed a mass of deadly defects that the auto industry had concealed.
Showing posts with label cover-up. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cover-up. Show all posts
Sunday, February 8, 2015
Wednesday, January 28, 2015
Sunday, January 18, 2015
Friday, January 9, 2015
Honda hit with $70M in fines by feds
By Todd Spangler, Detroit Free Press
2:37 p.m. EST January 8, 2015
Thursday, January 8, 2015
Ford Slams Bid For Emails In Acceleration Defect Row
By Lisa Ryan
Law360, New York (January 07, 2015, 2:27 PM ET)
Law360, New York (January 07, 2015, 2:27 PM ET) -- Ford Motor Co. on Tuesday urged a West Virginia federal judge to reject a bid to compel the automaker to produce emails involving at least 34 vehicles over a 10-year period in a putative class action over an alleged unintended acceleration defect, saying it has already handed over thousands of documents.
The automaker slammed the lead plaintiffs’ assertion that Ford has been dragging its feet in producing the requested emails, telling the court that the “scope and breadth of discovery” sought in the suit is “exceedingly...
Wednesday, October 29, 2014
Weak Oversight, Deadly Cars
From the Ford Explorer rollovers in the 1990s and Toyotas’ issue with unintended acceleration in the 2000s to the recent fatal consequences of defective General Motors ignition switches and Takata airbags, the auto companies hid defects to avoid recalls and save money. These and other major defects were first exposed by safety advocates who petitioned the government and by reporters in the tradition of Bob Irvin of The Detroit News, who wrote over 35 articles on Chevrolet engine mounts until General Motors agreed to recall 6.7 million vehicles in 1971.
These campaigners did the job the regulator should have done. Congress gave the Department of Transportation authority to regulate the auto industry through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration — including subpoena authority to find defects. But it used this authority so infrequently after the ’70s that its acting administrator, David J. Friedman, told Congress this year that he didn’t even know it had the power. The N.H.T.S.A. also failed to require companies to disclose death-claim records in civil lawsuits over the Toyota accelerations, G.M. ignition switches and Takata airbags.
In order to prevent the risk of death or serious injury, Congress empowered the agency to oblige auto companies to use alternate suppliers and independent repair shops to manufacture parts and make repairs to expedite a recall fix. Yet the N.H.T.S.A. has never used this authority — even though it took General Motors from February to October to get enough parts to dealers to repair all the recalled ignition switches.
Only after a lengthy delay was the agency prodded, in 2009, into opening an investigation into whether the first two Honda recalls of Takata airbags were adequate. Although the agency asked tough questions, it quickly closed the investigation after Takata hired a former senior N.H.T.S.A. official to represent the company. The agency’s attitude, in short, was: Don’t bother us with the facts.
More facts did come out when BMW, Honda, Nissan and Toyota recalled millions of Takata airbags from 2010 to 2013. Still, the N.H.T.S.A. opened no investigations and ordered no recalls on the airbags. Honda also failed to disclose death and injury claims on Takata airbags, as required by law. Even now — after reports of a third death in the United States associated with the airbags — the N.H.T.S.A. refuses to order a national recall, as Senators Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut and Edward Markey of Massachusetts have urged.
What explains this neglect? Over time, the N.H.T.S.A. has been captured by the industry it regulates. Through the ’70s, it aggressively litigated cases to force recalls, and it caught most defects early in the life of a vehicle. Beginning in the ’80s, however, numerous officials — including Diane K. Steed, Jerry Ralph Curry, Sue Bailey and David L. Strickland, who all served as head of the agency, and Erika Z. Jones, Jacqueline S. Glassman and Paul Jackson Rice, who all served as chief counsel to the agency — have gone on to become consultants, lawyers or expert witnesses for auto companies.
What’s more, the agency is heavily populated by former industry employees. Ms. Glassman, for example, had been a lawyer for Chrysler before working at the agency (and is now at a law firm that represents auto companies). The agency’s last non-acting administrator, Mr. Strickland, went to work in January of 2014 for a firm representing Chrysler — the same month the agency approved an inadequate recall of Chrysler Jeeps with fuel tanks liable to explode as a result of rear impacts.
Although Congress has given the N.H.T.S.A. regulatory tools that the agency failed to use, Congress has not given it the two things it needs most: sufficient funding, and the power to bring criminal penalties against auto companies. The agency’s annual vehicle safety budget is a puny $134 million. Unlike other federal regulators, the N.H.T.S.A. does not have its own research and test facility.
Since the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act was enacted in 1966, the industry has blocked any meaningful provision for criminal penalties that would make company executives who concealed defects or decided not to recall dangerous vehicles subject to prison sentences. No single reform would change corporate behavior as much as this.
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.
Above all, the agency’s leaders must have proven transportation safety expertise. They must demonstrate that they see auto companies as an industry to be regulated, rather than partners whose profits and sales must be protected at the public’s expense.
Tuesday, October 7, 2014
CENSORSHIP: Toyota Camry Sudden Unintended Acceleration
http://miami.cbslocal.com/2014/10/04/witnesses-out-of-control-car-slammed-into-outdoor-diners/
Sunday, October 5, 2014
Toyota Camry 2003 Out-of-Control Slams into Outdoor Diner
Witnesses: Out-Of-Control Car Slammed Into Outdoor Diners
October 4, 2014 11:38 PM
Maggie Newland mnewland@cbs.com
(with 2:30 min video segment)
(excerpts):
Officials said 10 people were injured and were transported to local hospitals including Jackson Memorial Hospital, the hospital’s Ryder Trauma Center and Mount Sinai Hospital.
All of the victims were conscious during the transports.
Three were considered trauma patients, officials said and a Miami Police spokeswoman said one patient was extremely critical.
Captain Carroll said two of the injured are pregnant.
The driver of the car wasn’t injured and he said he sat in his car in shock.
“I don’t know, just accident,” the driver told CBS4’s Maggie Newland Saturday night.
Through a translator, Belony Alterma said he was driving home from the laundromat with his wife and niece when the crash happened.
“When he pushed on the brakes he felt the vehicle losing control,” a translator said for Alterma.
Miami Fire Rescue reported the car hit a pole before ending up on sidewalk and that impact may have slowed the car.
“That very light post may have saved all these people’s lives,” said Officer Kenia Fallat with the Miami Police Department. “That is what took the severe impact.”
Speed may have played a role in the crash, officials said. Investigators are still looking into the circumstances of the crash.
“He doesn’t drive aggressively at all, very law-abiding,” a neighbor told CBS4 News of the driver’s character.
Police said Alterma received two citations in connection with the crash.
Alterma said he is traumatized by what happened.
“It really hurts him what happened and he’s really sad and sorry for the incident that occurred,” the translator said.
©2014 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All rights reserved
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10 hurt after car strikes diners outside Miami pizza shop
Car strikes light pole, then patrons outside Lemoni Cafe & Lemoni Pizzeria
Published On: Oct 04 2014 04:40:50 PM EDT Updated On: Oct 05 2014 12:58:53 AM EDT
(with 2:20 min video segment)
(excerpts):
MIAMI - One person is in extremely critical condition after several people, including two children, were struck by a car outside a pizza shop, according to Miami Fire Rescue.
Two passengers inside the Camry were taken to the hospital. The driver didn't appear to be hurt, but stayed at the scene to talk with investigators.
"They are talking to the driver of the vehicle to see what happened and how this could've been prevented," said Carroll.
Eight others were taken to the hospital; three went to Ryder Trauma Center. A 41-year-old woman and a 61-year-old woman suffered head injuries. Two children were also hurt, but did not suffer any serious injuries.
© 2014 WPLG - Miami
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10 hospitalized after diners struck outside Miami cafe
Posted: Oct 05, 2014 12:01 AM EDT
Updated: Oct 05, 2014 12:01 AM EDT
http://www.wsvn.com/story/26706632/10-hospitalized-after-diners-struck-outside-miami-café
(with 2:15 min video segment) (2003 Toyota Camry)
(with 2:15 min video segment) (2003 Toyota Camry)
(66-year-old Belony Alterma – speaks Creole)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
(excerpt):
Speaking in Creole at his home, Alterma told 7News he
is still shaken up and feels bad about the accident. "He
said he was driving and pressed the brakes of the vehicle,
and it just shifted, and [he] lost control," said Alterma's
neighbor, who translated for him.
All content © Copyright 2000 - 2014 WorldNow and WSVN. All Rights Reserved.
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Car crashes into Miami sidewalk cafe, injuring at least 10
10/04/2014 5:36 PM
10/04/2014 6:55 PM
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10 hurt after car strikes diners outside Miami pizza shop
Published on Oct 4, 2014
(1:06 min video)
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Published on Oct 4, 2014
One person is in extremely critical condition after
several people, including two children, were struck
by a car outside a pizza shop, according to Miami
Fire Rescue.
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