Senator Edward Markey Statement on CAS Report to DOT Inspector General

The Center for Auto Safety is the nation’s premier independent, member driven, non-profit consumer advocacy organization dedicated to improving vehicle safety, quality, and fuel economy on behalf of all drivers, passengers, and pedestrians.

 

6/10/14

Below is a statement from Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), a member of the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, reacting to today’s letter from the Center for Auto Safety to the Department of Transportation’s Inspector General that highlights a Center study that found multiple sources of information that NHTSA failed to use to open an investigation into the faulty GM ignition switch that led to at least 13 deaths and dozens of injuries.  Please let me know if you have any questions.

“NHTSA’s failure to properly implement, use and make publicly available information contained in the Early Warning Reporting System represents an abdication of its responsibility to public safety.  We need to understand why NHTSA turned a blind eye to countless warnings, reports and documents about GM’s faulty ignition switch that could have saved lives had they been made public. I will continue to work with Senator Blumenthal and my colleagues to push for enactment of my bill to ensure better disclosure from NHTSA and automakers of documents that could reveal potentially fatal defects in order to prevent a recurrence of this terrible tragedy.” 

More information about Senator Markey’s leadership on the GM recall can be found HERE, including information about the Early Warning Reporting System Improvement Act, legislation that Senators Markey and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) introduced in the wake of the recalls that would require more information to be reported to NHTSA’s public Early Warning Reporting database when auto manufacturers first become aware of incidents involving fatalities.

 

Giselle Barry

Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.)

202-224-2742