Have Americans and the Corporate Controlled Media become so PROPAGANDIZED that NHTSA Flunkie David Friedman even makes sense?
The National Car Wash Association KNOWS which vehicles will SUDDENLY ACCELERATE!
REMEMBER THIS?
Bob Schrum, the owner of Flagstop Car Wash, said his employees are provided a list of cars, trucks and SUVs that have been proven prone to unintentional acceleration. In fact, he said the instances have been well documented by the National Car Wash Association.Schrum said about a month ago that all 120 of his employees took part in a safety seminar provided by his insurance company, which touched on sudden unintentional acceleration.
FROM:
Car Washes KNOW, but Consumers Don't?
REMEMBER THIS?
....+ 37,900 complaints ignored by Toyota
Where's the outrage?
NHTSA has been so busy snuggling with the Auto Industry, NHTSA HAS FAILED TO PROTECT THE PUBLIC!
Washington — The highest-ranking official at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said Monday he has met with executives at 12 major automakers in recent months to urge them to take defect issues more seriously.
In a 30-minute Detroit News interview ahead of his appearance Tuesday before the Senate Commerce Committee panel that oversees the auto safety agency, Deputy NHTSA Administrator David Friedman, who has run the agency since January, defended the auto safety agency in the face of criticism about the agency’s performance.
Friedman said the meetings with the automakers were “to send a clear message to them” that “there’s zero tolerance for a car company failing to find and fix defects, and report them to NHTSA.”
NHTSA has come under fire because of General Motors Co.’s delayed recall of 2.6 million cars now linked to at least 19 deaths. Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Missouri, who is leading Tuesday’s hearing, said the agency needs to answer questions. “I’m interested in the capability NHTSA has to get at problems. They’ve obviously missed some big ones,” McCaskill said.
Friedman said the other part of his message was “we need a new normal when it comes to recalls.”
He said most of the automaker meetings he had were with representatives from the senior vice president level. He said he thinks automakers heard his message and are aware of fines that could come from the Justice Department or NHTSA.
Friedman noted that after Toyota Motor Corp.’s sudden-acceleration recalls in 2009 and 2010, there was a spike in industry auto recalls, but then they faded.
“Right now, we’re seeing a spike in complaints and a spike in recalls.” He said the record-setting 44 million-plus vehicles recalled so far this year — including 26 million by GM in the United States — over the prior record of 30.8 million in 2004 would fade “some” as GM recalls decline.
“What we’ve seen over the last six months should be a new normal,” he said.
Friedman said the agency has made some changes and has been “talking internally” about improving processes. “What I don’t want is our folks spending a lot of time chasing ghosts,” Friedman said, noting that millions of dollars were spent to look at whether electronic glitches were to blame for Toyota defects and no evidence was found to support they were to blame.
Friedman said automakers need to “be spending more time with (NHTSA)” to discuss how systems interact and share information.
Critics say NHTSA hasn’t been tough enough with automakers.
“This supposed watchdog agency has shown neither bark nor bite. NHTSA has left consumers at the mercy of auto manufacturers more focused on protecting their bottom line than ensuring that their cars are safe,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Connecticut, said Monday. “NHTSA’s ratings system — an apparent service to the auto industry — has given consumers a false sense of security,”
In May, NHTSA imposed a $35 million fine against GM, the highest ever, and forced GM to agree to up to three years of intense oversight.
“We’ve also pushed (GM) to do additional recalls based on the data,” he said. “Car companies should not be fighting us over recalls. They should be embracing recalls to protect consumers, to protect their brand and follow the law.”
Friedman noted the agency has prodded automakers to issue 1,300 recalls over the last decade covering more than 95 million vehicles and pieces of equipment. “We have consistently held them accountable over the last five years,” Friedman said noting the agency has issued more than $140 million in fines. “We have pushed the industry and we continue to push the industry hard to put safety first.”
He said NHTSA is working to improve its processes, including special crash investigators in all defects panels to decide whether to launch, close or upgrade investigations. He said the agency is looking at other possible improvements.
Friedman disputed a New York Times front-page report that the agency failed to close 33 investigations that were opened in the 1990s, blaming the confusion on a “record-keeping” issue on the agency’s website. “We have closed these investigations,” he said.
He said it was not true that NHTSA hadn’t forced an automaker to conduct a recall in 35 years. He said in 1994 and 1996, NHTSA forced GM to recall vehicles through final determinations to recall vehicles.
Friedman defended the agency and the professionalism of the staff, saying the office “cares deeply about saving lives, and frankly they put in a lot of time in order to help find these defects and get automakers to address them. We use our tools and we use our tools aggressively,” Friedman said.
He said “we could do more — there’s just no doubt about that” if the agency had more resources. “Sadly, Congress hasn’t acted,” he said.
Friedman said the agency has about 52 employees in the office on average over the past 15 years, including 51 today. He said NHTSA was not allowed to shift money to defect investigations.
“We have consistently over the last three years been requesting additional staff for our Office of Defects Investigation,” Friedman said. He said he’d like more staff and more financial resources for more “advanced tools” to analyze the 40,000 annual complaints the agency gets.
“We could have more people to follow up on those defects and investigate car companies and hold them accountable when they fail to act.” He declined to say how many additional staff members he wants.
WHEN NHTSA PARROTS' INDUSTRY PROPAGANDA, WHERE IS CONSUMER PROTECTION?
He pointed out that of the more than 30,000 annual traffic deaths on U.S. roads, more than 90 percent are attributable to human error. “What I don’t want to do is necessarily be put in the position of saying, ‘You have to choose to reduce drunk driving or reduce defects.’ I want the resources to do both.’”
From The Detroit News: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20140915/AUTO01/309160018#ixzz3DbPRqGuL
CHECK OUT THE COMMENTS - MORE TACTFUL THAN MINE!
Charlene McCarthy Blake
Mr.
Friedman, you weren't looking for the ghost in Toyota's engines! You were trying
to cover it all up along with the automaker! Admit it, please!
What you really need is a real GHOSTBUSTERS...a.k.a. an embedded electronic throttle control expert...who can track down the glitch-prone bug on the complex engine software! Oh...yeah...Michael Barr, world renown software expert, did that already but you choose to turn the other way and act like this information doesn't exist.
You did the same thing with Laura Gipe's deadly ignition switch information years ago, didn't you? She tried to give you critical information which you chose to IGNORE!
Stop blowing blue smoke like engine oil sludging Toyota engines! Yeah...you denied two of my petitions to investigate that on-going issue (see pending class action lawsuit for "excessive eng...ine oil consumption" in Toyota engines) YEARS ago. You chose NOT to act even after you received a petition with over 3300 Toyota and Lexus owner signatures on it!
NOTHING seems to be changing at NHTSA! As Parris Boyd says, NHTSA = No Help To Solve Anything! You've been in the automakers' back pockets for decades. We, the public, know it! Stop assisting the automakers in the owner BLAME GAME! This "driver error" theory for ever-increasing electronic sudden unintended acceleration and resulting crashes (many into storefronts, buildings, and homes) is insulting to the vehicle owner's intelligence. It's NO GHOST but rather a complex electronic glitch than most certainly CAN be found if you employee the right experts AND you actually want to find it as opposed to shielding the automaker!
I was a spectator at the Senate hearing on 9/16/14. I was impressed with the bark of Senators McCaskill, Blumenthal, and Markey. I was UNIMPRESSED with your theatrical performance! You are in a state of deliberate denial and the public has real reason to be concerned! If you think we plan to drive vehicles with DEADLY defects another day, think again! Consumers are fed up with cover-up!
JAIL time is needed for ALL who have played dumb for decades!
What you really need is a real GHOSTBUSTERS...a.k.a. an embedded electronic throttle control expert...who can track down the glitch-prone bug on the complex engine software! Oh...yeah...Michael Barr, world renown software expert, did that already but you choose to turn the other way and act like this information doesn't exist.
You did the same thing with Laura Gipe's deadly ignition switch information years ago, didn't you? She tried to give you critical information which you chose to IGNORE!
Stop blowing blue smoke like engine oil sludging Toyota engines! Yeah...you denied two of my petitions to investigate that on-going issue (see pending class action lawsuit for "excessive eng...ine oil consumption" in Toyota engines) YEARS ago. You chose NOT to act even after you received a petition with over 3300 Toyota and Lexus owner signatures on it!
NOTHING seems to be changing at NHTSA! As Parris Boyd says, NHTSA = No Help To Solve Anything! You've been in the automakers' back pockets for decades. We, the public, know it! Stop assisting the automakers in the owner BLAME GAME! This "driver error" theory for ever-increasing electronic sudden unintended acceleration and resulting crashes (many into storefronts, buildings, and homes) is insulting to the vehicle owner's intelligence. It's NO GHOST but rather a complex electronic glitch than most certainly CAN be found if you employee the right experts AND you actually want to find it as opposed to shielding the automaker!
I was a spectator at the Senate hearing on 9/16/14. I was impressed with the bark of Senators McCaskill, Blumenthal, and Markey. I was UNIMPRESSED with your theatrical performance! You are in a state of deliberate denial and the public has real reason to be concerned! If you think we plan to drive vehicles with DEADLY defects another day, think again! Consumers are fed up with cover-up!
JAIL time is needed for ALL who have played dumb for decades!
Charlene McCarthy Blake
What's wrong with this picture? Toyota owners continue to
face out-of-control vehicles which kill, maim, and cause untold destruction as
the drivers are charged with vehicular homicide and thrown into JAIL!
Why is it that the head of NHTSA gets a "Get out of Jail FREE" card along with the too executives at Toyota (and other automakers) and the same language like "criminal negligence," "murder," and "manslaughter" are conveniently omitted from the discussion of NHTSA's horrific handling of the GM and Toyota cases? Why are the vehicle owners the ultimate scapegoats for the problem and the public at large the innocent victims in these major and deadly cover-ups?
Senators McCaskill, Blumenthal, and Markey were barking well at NHTSA. The problem is that the public victims will continue to pay the price until JAIL time is imposed on the automaker executives and their enabling partners-in-crime at NHTSA.
Why is it that the head of NHTSA gets a "Get out of Jail FREE" card along with the too executives at Toyota (and other automakers) and the same language like "criminal negligence," "murder," and "manslaughter" are conveniently omitted from the discussion of NHTSA's horrific handling of the GM and Toyota cases? Why are the vehicle owners the ultimate scapegoats for the problem and the public at large the innocent victims in these major and deadly cover-ups?
Senators McCaskill, Blumenthal, and Markey were barking well at NHTSA. The problem is that the public victims will continue to pay the price until JAIL time is imposed on the automaker executives and their enabling partners-in-crime at NHTSA.
Charlene McCarthy
Blake
Laura Gipe Christian, organizer of the Facebook group "GM
Recall Survivors" has this to say about the deadly ignition switch
cover-up:
"My primary comments is that to date, NHTSA refuses to qualify all unintentional vehicle stalls as a safety defect. How many lives would have been saved? NHTSA may need more funding, but they also should be able to do the work of a basic investigator.
GM unquestionably holds the lionshare of blame for the hundreds if not thousands of lives lost or irrevocably altered. Let’s face it. Their coverup worked. Too much time has past to ever know with certainty how many people died as a result."
Charlene McCarthy Blake
Toyota Owners Unite for Resolution Online
"My primary comments is that to date, NHTSA refuses to qualify all unintentional vehicle stalls as a safety defect. How many lives would have been saved? NHTSA may need more funding, but they also should be able to do the work of a basic investigator.
GM unquestionably holds the lionshare of blame for the hundreds if not thousands of lives lost or irrevocably altered. Let’s face it. Their coverup worked. Too much time has past to ever know with certainty how many people died as a result."
Charlene McCarthy Blake
Toyota Owners Unite for Resolution Online
