Former Administrator: NHTSA Needs R-E-S-P-E-C-T
March 12, 2010
Former National Highway Traffic Safety Administration chief and longtime auto-safety 
advocate Joan Claybrook called for a doubling of the agency's investigational budget in order to equip NHTSA to more effectively police an increasingly technical and complex auto industry.
Claybrook was one of a number of witnesses at hearings held Thursday by the U.S. House of Representatives examining the NHTSA's response to the recent high-profile recalls of Toyota Motor Corp. vehicles for reports of unintended acceleration,
Claybrook and Ami Gadhia, policy counsel for Consumers Union and another witness in the House hearings, also called for Congress to consider drastically hiking the limit on civil penalties NHTSA can impose to help sharpen respect for the agency's rules.
In recent prior Congressional hearings in the House and Senate, NHTSA and the government department that controls it, the U.S. Department of Transportation, faced often heated questions and criticism for what has been characterized as a lack of aggressiveness in forcing automakers to address consumer complaints - as well as NHTSA's own directives.
Critics also accuse the agency of being too cozy with the automakers it polices, and damaging documents presented in the prior hearings showed Toyota boasted of redirecting the agency from forcing recalls. Former NHTSA employees also left the agency only to work for Toyota, the obvious implication being the former NHTSA employees could give Toyota insider information and favorable influence with the regulatory agency for which the once worked.
NHTSA Works
Meanwhile, newly appointed NHTSA administrator David Strickland repeatedly insisted in Thursday's hearings that NHTSA is doing its job and "is succeeding in its mission."
He also said it is "not accurate at all" to say NHTSA is too easy on the automakers it polices, pointing to numerous NHTSA investigations of automakers during the last decade.
He also confirmed testimony in past weeks from DOT Secretary Ray LaHood, who has said Toyota had become "safety deaf" in recent years, suggesting Toyota management was dismissive of customer safety complaints - and NHTSA's determination in investigating them.
"Toyota has been slow (to respond to reports of possible safety defects) in years past," Strickland said. "Since I have been in office, they have been responsive."
Strickland was confirmed as NHTSA's administrator in late December.
Michigan Rep. John Dingell asked Strickland if he thinks Toyota needs to empower U.S. executives to make decisions that affect safety and recall actions - a foible of Toyota's Japan-based management hierarchy LaHood and even Toyota itself have claimed is partial explanation for Toyota's slow reactions to customer complaints and NHTSA requests for information.
"The system Toyota uses could be more efficient," Strickland said, reiterating that for its part, NHTSA responded effectively to the Toyota situation.
"Count me as skeptical," countered Rep. Bruce Bradley of Iowa, regarding whether automakers have been completely respectful of NHTSA's authority throughout the agency's 31-year history.
Former Boss Calls For NHTSA Empowerment
Claybrook indicated that if NHTSA has been ineffective, one reason could be lack of funding - and lack of teeth.
She joined Gadhia of Consumers Union (publisher of the influential Consumer Reports) in calling for NHTSA to be empowered to inflict larger civil fines on non-compliant or recalcitrant automakers than the current limit of just more than $16 million.
Claybrook said 16 million effectively is pocket change to large automakers and the maximum penalty should be raised to $100 million.
"That's something they (automakers) would pay attention to," Claybrook announced.
Presumably talking only about the portion of NHTSA's nearly $900-million budget devoted to enforcing recall compliance, Claybrook said NHTSA's budget "should be doubled."
BusinessWeek reported NHTSA currently spends only about 2 percent of its budget on enforcement and compliance with safety rules. And Claybrook claimed of the much-discussed 66 new employees authorized for NHTSA in President Obama's proposed budget, only about half are full-time positions.
Another Mandate?
One major point that came from the House hearing regarding NHTSA's effectiveness is the possibility the agency will mandate all vehicles sold in the U.S. be fitted with event data recorders, the "black boxes" that record onboard vehicle information and could be extremely useful in deconstructing serious or questionable accidents.
Strickland would not rule out the possibility of mandating EDRs, which currently are not mandated, although many automakers install the device, which can record a number of vehicle parameters for the few seconds prior to a crash.
Toyota has come under fire for requiring a proprietary tool to download information from EDRs, while the devices themselves are the topic of frequent discussions regarding who actually "owns" and should have access to the information, particularly under controversial circumstances. - Bill Visnic, Senior Editor
Photo
Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers' president and CEO Dave McCurdy testifies before House of Representatives subcommittee.
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 3:50 AM under Companies , Featured , Technology , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | Seed Newsvine
Leave a comment