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By Maj. Gen. Jerry R. Curry (ret'd)
CurryforAmerica.com
Between 40 and 50 thousand people are killed in crashes on the nation’s roads and highways each year. The number of deaths caused by the Toyota “sticking accelerator” problem is set at close to 3.5 deaths a year. Three and a half deaths per year is cause for concern, but it is not a crisis.
Each year more children are run over and killed by school busses at school bus stops than are killed by Toyota’s safety defect problem. The point is we need to keep our eyes on what’s important and not get diverted down a rabbit trail to nowhere. The focus should be on identifying and fixing existing safety defects, not on having dueling press conferences and Capitol Hill Theatric productions.
The National Safety Law of 1966 charges the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to “protect the American public against unreasonable risk of accidents occurring as a result of the design, construction or performance of motor vehicles and to protect (the public) against unreasonable risk of death or injury to persons in the event accidents do occur, to provide a minimum standard for motor vehicle performance or motor vehicle equipment performance, which is practicable, which meets the need for motor vehicle safety and which provides objective (decision making) criteria.”
NHTSA’s only reason to exist is to save lives on the nation’s roads and highways and to protect the American public by identifying and correcting motor vehicle safety defects – including Toyota’s sticking accelerators and sudden and uncontrolled acceleration problems.
It does this by “compiling and analyzing safety statistics and information; and by conducting supportive safety research and development.” It is NHTSA’s job to monitor accident trends, to identify safety defects and to require the manufacturer to recall defective vehicles and correct their faults at no cost to the customer. The manufacturer’s job is to correct the defects when and how NHTSA tells them to; NHTSA, not the manufacturer, is responsible for identifying safety defects.
The way the defect system worked when I was NHTSA Administrator was that anytime a manufacture suspected or had proof that a safety defect had developed -- within five working days -- he must notify NHTSA. In cooperation with the manufacturer NHTSA determined whether or not a real safety defect existed. If one did exist the manufacturer and NHTSA followed an established protocol. First they jointly clarified the problem, designed a program to fix the defect and they were instructed and order the repair parts. Then, the vehicle owners were notified that a safety defect existed and they were instructed to bring their vehicles into a dealership to be fixed.
Ideally NHTSA discovers that a safety defect exists about the same time as the manufacturer. NHTSA receives hundreds of thousands of customer complaints each month over its Traffic Safety Telephone Hotline. If there is a serious safety defect, NHTSA quickly identifies it and starts looking for safety trends.
Every time there is a nonfatal crash the state where the crash occurred notifies NHTSA. This may take several weeks. When there is a crash resulting in a fatality, State Police immediately notify NHTSA who immediately starts evaluating the accident for any indications of a safety trend. Additionally NHTSA has other sources of information such as insurance companies and their claims adjustors.
Right now our nation doesn’t need a publicity war with Japan, nor do we want to see Toyota’s assembly plants in the US falling silent and their workers unemployed. In the past NHTSA and the motor vehicle manufacturers have cooperated in fixing safety defects without resorting to making it a publicity crisis or circus. That’s what needs to be done with the current problem.
This is not the great crisis it has been portrayed
to be and it is neither the first nor the last time that a manufacturer will
fail to promptly notify NHTSA of the discovery of a safety defect. The problem
needs to be handled firmly, but also with calm assurance that working together
the manufacturer and the government will do what’s right to protect the American
public.