SRS has just released its comprehensive examination of Toyota SUA. Toyota Sudden Unintended Acceleration covers this continuing safety defect from its roots to the current crisis:
– The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s unsuccessful efforts to identify all the causes;
– Toyota’s ineffective and conflicting responses;
– Who knew what and when.
Click on the image below to download the report:
The tone was less adversarial and more collegial as the U.S. Product Safety Commission held its first public workshop (see The End of the World as We Know it!) on the establishment of a Public Consumer Product Safety Incident Database this week.
Perhaps that was because the Commissioners did not attend – nor did some of the database’s most strident opponents. Instead, what unfolded over two days was a work/brainstorming session, with CPSC staffers gathering the collective wisdom of the stakeholders.
Safety Research & Strategies President Sean Kane, who appeared at the behest of the Commission, was a frequent panelist. Manufacturers and public advocates (Consumers Union, Consumer Federation of America, Kids in Danger, and Public Citizen) alike hashed out what they’d like to see in the database. Adding to the mix was panelist George Rutherford, retired CPSC staffer, who offered some sorely needed reality checks.
Safety Research & Strategies continuing investigation into the “fleet delete” option that allowed GM fleet buyers to purchase vehicles without “standard” side curtain airbags reveals that bagless cars are still being sold to the public as having the feature. (SRS Investigation)
On September 2, 2009, SRS requested GM president and CEO Frederick Henderson change its advertising and marketing materials to reflect that the feature is not standard and alert all dealers and car buyer’s guide organizations of this anomaly on the 2006 through 2008 Impala, 2008 through 2009 Cobalt and any other vehicles that GM has marketed with “standard” side curtain airbags that were offered to fleet buyers without the feature.
SRS also asked NHTSA Acting Administrator Ron Medford to have the agency amend its side-impact crash-test rating information to reflect new information that has come to light regarding deleted “standard” side curtain airbags.
Below are links to the letters:
Letter to GM President and CEO, Frederick Henderson
Letter to NHTSA Acting Deputy Administrator Ron Medford
SRS President Sean E. Kane hailed the California state assembly vote yesterday on AB496 Tire Disclosure Age bill, which cleared the state assembly, 48-21. The bill requires retail tire dealers to disclose the age of a tire to consumers in writing before the sale or installation of a tire. Along with the tire age, dealers must provide the following statement about the increased hazards of aged tires: Continue reading
Bob Ulrich delivered a bouquet of compliments to Sean Kane in Modern Tire Dealer’s latest edition. Entitled, “Sean Kane’s Passion Trump’s the Industry’s Inaction,” Ulrich opines that Kane has been an amiable and effective, if misguided, advocate for tire aging. It opens thus:
“I like Sean Kane. Over the phone he comes across as a likeable guy with an admirable agenda: He wants to improve the tire purchasing experience for consumers.”
SACRAMENTO, CA – One of the nation’s first laws to require tire dealers to disclose the age of each tire prior to sale or installation cleared an important hurdle Tuesday, when the California state legislature’s Assembly Business and Professions committee passed it by a vote of 6 to 4. Continue reading
Reprinted from The Safety Record, V5, I5
Washington, D.C. – Less than two weeks after Safety Research & Strategies requested the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to open a defect investigation into Chinese tire valve stems used as OEM equipment in some Ford vehicles, the Office of Defects Investigation has complied.
On September 25, SRS President Sean Kane sent a letter to Daniel Smith, NHTSA’s Associate Administrator for Enforcement, asking him to widen the current probe on prematurely cracking rubber snap-in valve stems manufactured by Shanghai Baolong / Topseal Automotive to include Ford vehicles which also used the Topseal stems. On October 14, ODI opened a Preliminary Evaluation (PE08-060) into more than a million Topseal stems on Ford vehicles, citing the possibility that they may crack due to poor ozone resistance, leading to tire damage and a possible loss-of-control crash. Continue reading
Reprinted from The Safety Record, V3, Issue 3, Nov. / Dec. 2006
REHOBOTH, MA – Safety Research & Strategies has renewed its call for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to require tire makers to mold an easy-to-read date of manufacture on a tire’s sidewall.
SRS submitted comments on December 20 urging the agency to separate this proposal from the more complicated tire performance rulemaking. SRS President Sean Kane argued that now is the perfect time for NHTSA to consider implementing a new date of manufacture labeling regulation, while tire manufacturers gear up to meet their obligations in 2009 to mold the entire Tire Identification Number (TIN) on the intended outward sidewall of each tire. In November 2004, SRS petitioned the agency for a rulemaking to require that tire makers mold a non-coded date of manufacture on their products as a step toward reducing the number of aged tire failures. SRS argued that since the agency and the tire and vehicle manufacturers agree that tire age matters, consumers need an easy-to-read the date of manufacturer on the side of their tires. The agency denied the petition and instead chose to address the issue in its tire performance standards. Continue reading
June 21, 2006
Nicole Nason
Administrator
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
400 7th Street SW
Washington, DC 20597
RE: Recalled Firestone ATX and Wilderness Tires
Dear Ms. Nason:
We are writing to request NHTSA initiate a Recall Query to examine the Firestone ATX and Wilderness tire recalls and owner notification program (ONP) undertaken by Bridgestone-Firestone and Ford Motor Company in 2000 and 2001. Our request is based on growing evidence that recalled tires are still causing death and injury crashes. Further, recalled tires, particularly spares, are likely to be put into service in the future with equally devastating results.
Click here to view a PDF of the full letter.
