Issues
Late safety recalls cost Toyota record fines
Toyota Motor Corp. agreed Monday to pay $32.4 million in federal fines, settling two federal investigations that found the automaker delayed recalling nearly 6 million vehicles.
Toyota’s board of directors agreed to pay the maximum fine in two separate investigations by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
Ford Windstar Rear Axle Failure
After years of stonewalling, Ford has agreed to recall 1998-03 Windstars for rear axle that crack and can break in half. CAS began receiving complaints in 2008 and brought the failures to NHTSA’s attention. Yet it was not until after John Arout of Staten Island NY began a campaign for a recall and got the New York Times’ attention that
With highway deaths once again rising after a 4-year downturn, Congress’ failure to pass the Motor Vehicle Safety Act is a public health tragedy. In a year that began with runaway Toyota’s & ended with Windstar rear axle fractures, one thing is clear – NHTSA does not have the authority or resources to stand up to an auto industry that always has and always will place profits above safety.
Statement on Failure to Pass Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 2010 by Clarence M. Ditlow, Executive Director, Center for Auto Safety
BMW Crash-Severity Algorithm Tells Emergency Room Where it Hurts
By Bill Howard on June 20, 2011 at 1:00 pm
After Child Deaths, KidsAndCars.org Renews Challenge to G.M
By PAUL STENQUIST
KidsAndCars.org, a nonprofit organization that focuses on safety issues relating to children and automobiles, announced on Monday that it renewed demands for General Motors to voluntarily recall all 2000-1 model-year vehicles equipped with trunks to install internal trunk releases.
Former Arizona Congressman Dies In DC At Age 67
MESA, Ariz. (AP) — Former Arizona congressman Jay Rhodes has died in Washington, D.C., from complications following an automobile accident last year. He was 67. Family members say Rhodes died Thursday at the Veterans Administration Medical Center. They say he had been treated for three fractured vertebrae suffered in an October car crash and took a turn for the worse about 10 days ago. Born in Mesa, Rhodes was a Republican who served Arizona’s First Congressional District from 1987 to 1993.
Ashley Turton, former Hill aide, dead in burning car
The wife of a key White House aide was found dead early Monday in a sport-utility vehicle that was heavily damaged by fire in the garage of the couple’s Capitol Hill home, sources familiar with the incident said. The cause of her death is uncertain.
Ashley W. Turton, 37, an energy company lobbyist and former chief of staff to U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), was found dead shortly before 5 a.m. in a burning BMW, the back end of which was partly out of the garage, as if the vehicle had been entering or leaving when the fire started, authorities said.
NHTSA needs more reliable fire crash data
Automotive News
December 20, 2010
It’s a tragic story: Cassidy Jarmon, a 4-year-old Texas girl, died from burns in 2006 after the 1993 Jeep Grand Cherokee being driven by her mother was hit from behind by a car and burst into flames. Yet the accident never showed up in the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s database as a fiery crash.