This month has been a sad one for safety advocates with the passing of two well-respected and pioneering engineers, who also happened to be friends and colleagues: Donald L. Friedman and Steven M. Forrest. Both were born in the Northeast, but made their homes in the Santa Barbara area; both were affiliated with General Motors.

Friedman died peacefully on July 16 just after his 88th birthday. Forrest, 59, died of injuries sustained in a motorcycle crash on July 19. Their deaths cap long and distinguished careers in advancing the causes of crashworthiness and occupant safety.

For decades, the tire makers and the tire sellers have been a couple with an uneasy relationship – mainly because more than the Rubber Manufacturers Association, which represents the former,  loves the people who buy and sell their products, it hates change. And the RMA has ably defended its member companies against all kinds of proposals making it easier for consumers to read the Tire Identification Number for recalls or to automate the process of identifying tires as they move through the distribution chain, all in the name of never altering one thing about the way they do business.

Today, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration levied the maximum penalty against Indiana-based heavy vehicle manufacturer Forest River – $35 million for failing to launch timely recalls and for failing to fulfill a host of reporting obligations to NHTSA.  (Spartan Motors, another manufacturer of heavy vehicles, also got dinged for $9 million yesterday for failing to file Technical Service Bulletins with the agency, and in six cases, failed to launch recalls on safety defects ranging from Tag Axle Wheel Bearing failures to engine cooling fans to sway bar end links.)