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Today, we requested that the House Committee on Oversight & Government Reform undertake an "independent" investigation of the General Motors ignition switch recall delay, in light of newly obtained emails by lawyers suing GM. Those emails suggest that the Treasury may have timed its final sale of GM shares to precede public knowledge of the ignition switch fiasco. They also cast doubt on GM CEO Mary Barra's previous account of what she knew and when she knew it. Here is the text of a letter I sent today to Rep. Jason Chaffetz, in photo, the incoming Chairman of the...

Subaru last week announced a second recall for vehicles which are prone to brake line corrosion in "salt belt" states. This latest recall follows a 2013 recall for the same issue, which can cause brake failure from burst brake lines due to rust. As Subaru does the right thing by consumers and motorists regarding the safety concern, General Motors continues to claim that brake line rust is a normal maintenance issue and refuses to recall its vehicles with the same problem. The Subaru recall weakens GM's defense that rusting brake lines do not need to be addressed by manufacturers...

. June 22, 2014 Newt Gingrich Bureaucrats Should Keep Their Hands Off Our Smartphones Does a week go by without news of federal bureaucrats outrageously extending their tentacles of authority over more of society? Earlier this month it was the EPA, announcing its plan to introduce on its own the carbon dioxide limits that Congress specifically rejected. Then it was the FDA, insinuating itself into the centuries-old process of aging cheese. Last week it was the IRS trying to shed at last the inconvenience of congressional oversight. Now the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration is claiming sweeping authority over our...

Well, it looks like New GM is not much different than Old GM when it comes to addressing serious safety issues on its vehicles. The Associated Press reports that General Motors CEO, Mary Barra, claims that GM has not turned up any other major safety issues. I guess Ms. Barra feels that two tons of steel traveling at high speeds with brake lines that can burst at any moment is nothing to be concerned about. The continued denial by GM that there is no safety issue with their trucks that are prone to brake line corrosion proves that the...

GM (GM, Fortune 500) has raised the number of frontal-impact crashes linked to the problem ignitions to 47 from 32, according to company spokesman Greg Martin. Because of the flawed ignition, key rings holding more than one key could cause the ignition to suddenly switch to the off position. That can lead to a loss of power -- locking the steering wheel and interrupting airbags from deploying in an accident. GM says the number of deaths tied to front impact crashes stemming from this defect remains at 13. On Friday, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reportedly said the number...

There is a truism in Washington that was confirmed last week in Congress: Even less popular than government regulation is a regulator suspected of not doing its job. Not for the first time, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration — or N.H.T.S.A. (pronounced NITZ-ah) — was forced to answer for failing to protect consumers. In this case, the failure involved a defective General Motors ignition switch implicated in 13 deaths. While G.M.’s new chief executive, Mary T. Barra, took most of the heat in two days of House and Senate hearings last week, she shared the grill with the safety...

WASHINGTON – Years late, the Transportation Department issued a rule Monday that will require rearview technology in many new vehicles -- an effort to reduce deaths and serious injuries caused by backup accidents. The final rule issued by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration will require new vehicles under 10,000 pounds and built beginning May 1, 2018, to meet the new rear-visibility standards. The rule includes buses and trucks; motorcycles and trailers are exempt. The rearview cameras must give drivers a field of vision measuring at least 10 by 20 feet directly behind the vehicle. The system must also meet...

Feds To End Controversial Secret Alcohol Testing At Roadblocks After drawing considerable ire from the public over a program that tested drivers for drug and alcohol use — the latter secretly and without their consent — federal transportation officials today said they will no longer surreptitiously collect breath samples from drivers at roadblocks. The Associated Press reports that a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration official said roadblock testers will now get motorists' permission before using a passive alcohol sensor, which previously gathered breath samples before drivers could consent to the study. NHTSA has been conducting their National Roadside Survey of...

Former head of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), Joan Claybrook, has weighed in on the deadly delay by General Motors on a recall for a defect that is alleged to have resulted in 13 deaths and 33 accidents. Ms. Claybrook appeared on the Cavuto Show on Fox Business where she blasted both GM and NHTSA for waiting 10 years to recall the defective models and went as far as saying that there should be criminal charges brought against GM by the Justice Department. Congress was questioned for its response (or lack thereof) as Cavuto started the segment by...

For Laura Christian, July 29, 2005, was the worst kind of anniversary. One year earlier, Ms. Christian had been reunited with Amber Marie Rose, the daughter she gave up for adoption at birth. But Ms. Christian did not get to call her daughter a year later. In the predawn hours that day, Amber, 16, died after her 2005 Chevrolet Cobalt crashed and the air bag failed to deploy. Now, nearly nine years later, Ms. Christian knows that the air bag’s failure was the result of a defective car part. General Motors has recalled nearly 1.4 million cars in the United...

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is opening an investigation into General Motors' response to an ignition-switch defect that has been linked to 13 deaths, prompting a recall of 1.6 million vehicles. As I have previously reported, the ignition-switch problem has been known for years. What took NHTSA so long? NHTSA is an executive branch agency, part of the Transportation Department. According to its website, NHTSA "is dedicated to achieving the highest standards of excellence in motor vehicle and highway safety. It works daily [emphasis added] to help prevent crashes and their attendant costs, both human and financial." Five...

Following incidents in Washington state, Mexico andTennessee, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration announced it would probe fires that occurred recently over a six week period in Tesla Motors’ electric Model S. And this week, as revealed in a Detroit News story, the NHTSA looks like they’re serious – at least more serious than Germany’s transportation safety authority. Why bring up Germany? Because as the regulatory heat bears down in the U.S. on Tesla and high-profile CEO Elon Musk, they have trotted out the Eastern Europe nation to demonstrate that they’ve been absolved of any culpability in the fires. The...

Dozens of Texas drivers have been stopped at a police road block, where they were then directed into a parking lot and forced into surrendering blood, saliva and breath samples in a study that has upset civil liberties advocates. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration admitted it was attempting to conduct a government study meant to determine the number of drunk or drug-impaired drivers on the road at any given time.  “It just doesn’t seem right that you can be forced off the road when you’re not doing anything wrong,” Kim Cope, who said she was forced to the side...

Some drivers along a busy Fort Worth street on Friday were stopped at police roadblock and directed into a parking lot, where they were asked by federal contractors for samples of their breath, saliva and even blood. It was part of a government research study aimed at determining the number of drunken or drug-impaired drivers. "It just doesn't seem right that you can be forced off the road when you're not doing anything wrong," said Kim Cope, who said she was on her lunch break when she was forced to pull over at the roadblock on Beach Street in North...

(CNSNews.com) - Before the end of this year, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration will decide whether or not to begin the rulemaking process to mandate that newly manufactured cars include what is being called “vehicle-to-vehicle” (V2V) communications technology that constantly broadcasts via radio wave the car’s location, direction, speed and, possibly, even the number of passengers it is carrying. “NHTSA expects to make a decision on V2V technology by the end of the year,” a spokesman for the agency told CNSNews.com. That point was reaffirmed by NHTSA Administrator David Strickland in testimony in the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee...

Video at source. A proposed federal rule that would require black boxes or event data recorders (EDRs) in every U.S. automobile may mean “Big Brother” could be in your passenger seat for every drive. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration rule requires all light passenger vehicles be equipped with an EDR by Sep.1, 2014. Ninety-six percent of new cars already have them - measuring such inputs as speed, lateral acceleration, pedal effort, seat belt use, wheel spin, steering wheel turn and direction. Black box data retrieved from U.S. car accidents in a single day would provide more information than a...

Fuel economy standards for the year 2025 have now been set, as the government released the finalized CAFE regulations, in a massive tome totaling 1,994 pages in PDF form The full document is available here. I’d be lying if I said I had come anywhere close to completing it…think of the longest novel you’ve ever read and extract all the amazing prose, gripping scenes and moving themes, and that’s basically the CAFE regulation, with another 1,000 pages thrown on top of that. Anyone who has taken a peak is more than welcome to comment. In the mean time, I’ll be...

Nissan is refusing to honor and repair my 2004 Nissan Titan, the recall was by the NHTSA, due to a electrical safety violation, Nissan says that the safety recall campaign has ended, and they will not be responsible for my truck or any other 2004 Nissan Titans on the road today, which means that the passenger side airbag will not deploy in case of an accident.

The Department of Transportation and NHTSA have announced that a "technical symposium" will be held on May 18th "to discuss safety considerations for electric vehicles powered by lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries." In addition to NHTSA's presentations, the Department of Energy, automotive manufacturers and battery makers will participate. Given the bias of the participants, the symposium sounds like it is going to be less informational and more infomercial. The press release for the gathering states, "Electric vehicles show great promise as an innovative and fuel-efficient option for American drivers. Significant research and other activities related to the safety of these vehicles are...

Hasty feds accelerate new rules to combat imaginary problemThe Obama administration is so committed to redesigning the automobile that it’s taking over the way the gas and brake pedals are made to protect Americans from a nonexistent threat. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) on Monday formally proposed that all new cars have a “brake-throttle override” system installed to prevent unintended acceleration. Few issues have attracted media hype like the mysterious reports that automobiles rocketed away of their own accord while drivers futilely held their feet firmly on the brake pedal. Given the sensational headlines, it’s no surprise that...