In the fall of 2006 SRS learned that NHTSA Technical Information Services (TIS) Reading Room was planning to be shut down when the agency moved to a new building in 2007. The TIS library is a resource-often the only resource-for access to historical documents related to the agency’s regulatory, investigative, and policy history.  SRS, with support from other research, advocacy, and library organizations pressed for preservation of this important resource and in a March 16 2007 letter received word from Chief Information Officer Margaret O’Brien that the library will stay in operation. However, in a April 2, 2006 meeting with the CIO, the agency offered no guarantee that the Reading Room would stay open and that important resources and documents would be preserved.

For more details see below:

SRS April 6, 2007 Overview of NHTSA Technical Information Reading Room

March 16, 2007:  NHTSA promises to preserve library after Safety Research & Strategies spearheads efforts to prevent shutdown.  NHTSA March 16, 2007 letter to SRS

SRS January 27, 2007 Letter to NHTSA Margaret O’Brien, Chief Information Officer

SRS January 5, 2007 letter to NHTSA Margaret O’Brien, Chief Information Officer

SRS November 20, 2006 letter to NHTSA Kevin Mahoney, Corporate Customer Services

 

March 27, 2007:  Government Sued for Release of Secret Safety Data

Safety Research & Strategies, Inc. commissioned Quality Control Systems Corp. to examine the data on the continuing growth in Ford Explorer tire-related fatal crashes long after the well-known Firestone tire recalls. This study would examine tire-related death and injury claims involving Ford Explorers submitted by Ford Motor Company to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.  These data were required by the TREAD Act passed in October 2000 in response to Ford Explorer-Firestone tire-related rollover deaths.  While NHTSA has held that these claims data are not confidential, the agency has refused to release the information under FOIA.  As a result, QCS has filed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit in federal District Court to obtain the data in order to begin its work for Safety Research & Strategies.  Click here for more information on the study.