jruhi4

Much has been written about perceived foot-dragging by Toyota resisting the gas pedal recall, but GM, Ford and BMW have also resisted recalls in the past. Here's an interesting and informative article:

Auto recall rules may be tightened by NHTSA
Safety advocates predict NHTSA will tighten rules in light of Toyota acceleration issues
David Shepardson / Detroit News Washington Bureau



Safety advocates say government regulators may take a more urgent and tougher position on recalls, following Toyota's callback of millions of vehicles.

Automakers have often resisted recalls, acting only when the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is poised to order them. At other times, they have fought them off completely or argued to scale them back.

But after Toyota's two recalls linked to sudden acceleration -- 5.4 million vehicles linked to floor mats and 2.3 million to sticky gas pedals -- things may change for good for NHTSA as well as for the automakers.

NHTSA is considering issuing civil penalties in Toyota's handling of the back-to-back recalls. It also is likely that the agency will act more quickly to enforce future "stop sales," like the one ordered by Toyota, if automakers don't have a fix.

"I think that NHTSA has been stung by (the Toyota recalls) and they should be. They have been behind the eight ball and haven't used the authority given to them," said former NHTSA administrator Joan Claybrook.

Nicole Nason, who was NHTSA administrator from 2006-08, said "this one recall can have dramatic, long-term repercussions" for the relationship between NHTSA and the auto industry.

That relationship, she said, has in recent years been "built on trust." Nason noted that automakers have tried to get ahead of problems by recalling problems earlier.

"It's been in automakers' best interest to get information to NHTSA as quickly as possible," she said. "How can the government not be less likely to trust everyone at this point?"

While Toyota maintains it acted promptly, NHTSA may be less willing to accept what automakers say at face value, next time.

If President Obama gets his way, the agency will get a 15 percent increase in the number of administrators, from about 60 now to 68.

Playing defense
NHTSA is in the position of playing defense, as well as offense. Two congressional committees are scrutinizing its handling of the reported sudden acceleration in some Toyotas.

Among the questions likely to be raised by Congress: Did Toyota, and NHTSA, act promptly?

Toyota said it first received a sticky pedal complaint in 2007, but determined after a year of review that it was a "drivability issue" -- not a safety issue.

Last October, however, the automaker said it received three complaints on sticky pedals, which ultimately led to its decision Jan. 21 -- three months later -- to recall 2.3 million vehicles, without a fix in place.

Sean Kane, head of Safety Research & Strategies, has collected more than 2,000 complaints linked to sudden acceleration. He believes this case will change NHTSA.

"When the dust settles, there is going to be some significant shakeups of how things happen within the defects realm at NHTSA," Kane predicted.

NHTSA defends its efforts and says automakers must work with it. "Our expectation as an agency is that all manufacturers need to address automotive safety issues quickly and in a forthright manner," said NHTSA administrator David Strickland.

Avoiding recalls
Automakers have pushed back against other recalls:

• In October 1994, NHTSA said 1973-87 GM pickups posed a serious fire hazard because of the side-saddle gas tanks. For GM, it was a problem that could have cost $1 billion to correct.

But just two months later, the government dropped its recall investigation of the pickups in exchange for GM's $51 million donation for safety programs.

• In 1980, Ford agreed to send notices to 20 million owners of cars and trucks, warning them their automatic transmissions could slip from park into reverse. The action allowed Ford to avoid a recall.

After a three-year investigation, NHTSA had wanted to force Ford to mount a recall, but was overruled by Transportation Secretary Neil Goldschmidt.

• Ford also reluctantly agreed to recall 1.7 million 1995-2003 Windstar vans after reports of engine fires -- some 17 months after the initial prodding from NHTSA. That was part of a recall of 4.5 million vehicles in October.

• In 2008, BMW AG refused NHTSA's request to recall its 2007-08 Mini Cooper S over fears that the tailpipes would burn people since they were placed in the center of the vehicle.

BMW said its service campaign was enough and a change in design would correct future vehicles.

Just before NHTSA's scheduled public hearing in December, 2008, however, BMW agreed to recall 28,450 Mini Cooper S vehicles -- even though it called NHTSA's determination "factually unsupported and legally unsound."

Auto recall rules may be tightened by NHTSA | detnews.com | The Detroit News

Evitzee

It is no coincidence that this action is happening just as our US Governement is firmly in control of GM and Chrysler. This is just another populist theme of this administration who owes the Unions and the Trial Lawyers big time. This coziness does not bode well for the free market system in the auto industry. And the media will just ignore this, worse they will continue to bait and slam Toyota even though Toyota overall builds the most reliable and safe cars on the planet.

encore888

It would help also if the NHTSA got its ducks in order. Some recent news reports suggest that reporting potential defects to Toyota was easier than trying to get a hold of NHTSA (although others seem to have reported alright). However, what is irksome are the requests media officials have made to NHTSA for documentation of their tests showing that electronic throttles are not to blame in the recent recall; for some reason, the NHTSA cannot find them--not to mention they had no administrator until December of last year.

LexFather

qft.........

spwolf

well I am waiting for LaHood to urge Ford to recall their F150 issue they fixed in production in 2006 or GM to recall their Cobalt for issues they fixed in production in 2009.

anyone thinks that is coming? lol.

lobuxracer

iTrader: (2)

Any article quoting Joan Claybrook instantly gets filed in the utter rubbish folder. She was the most incompetent person in Carter's Administration. She's also the primary reason the whole airbag scam has been perpetuated. Total waste of human flesh IMNSHO.