Issues
U.S. investigates rental-car companies over recall repairs
WASHINGTON (Bloomberg) — U.S. auto-safety investigators are looking into whether rental-car companies are completing repairs on recalled vehicles from General Motors Co., Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler Group LLC before renting or leasing them.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has been informed of “incidents involving allegations of personal injury and death” caused by defects and failure to conform to federal safety standards, the agency said on its Web site today.
Woman Asks U.S. to Investigate Honda Accord Hybrid
A little more than five years after a crash killed Lalitha Seetharaman’s husband, Gautam, she is hoping the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration will be able to confirm her contention that her Honda Accord Hybrid’s brakes were responsible for his death.
To obtain that information, she is employing a little-used and little-known federal regulation that requires the safety agency to consider carrying out a defect investigation.
U.S. Department of Transportation Releases Results from NHTSA-NASA Study of Unintended Acceleration in Toyota Vehicles
DOT 16-11
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Contact: Olivia Alair
Tel: (202) 366-4570
Popular police cars Crown Victorias prone to explode, tied to deaths
Click here to view the article and Video from the Palm Beach Post
By Pat Beall
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
The last minutes of trooper Patrick Ambroise’s short life were spent in a Crown Victoria Police Interceptor – a car praised for its strength, hailed for its durability and known to explode in high-speed rear-end crashes .
Inquiry Finds No Evidence of Undue Influence on Safety Agency
by Christopher Jensen
There is no evidence that safety investigations conducted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration have been influenced by former agency officials who now work for automakers or the former auto officials who work for the agency, said a report released on Thursday by the Office of the Inspector General for the Transportation Department, which oversees N.H.T.S.A.
Auto Safety in the Breakdown Lane
By Ben Kelley
2/2/11
Toyota fined $16,375,000 by NHTSA (Floor Mats)
On December 20, 2010 NHTSA fined Toyota $16,375,000 for lack of timeliness in issuing floor mat recalls.
Toyota fined $16,050,000 by NHTSA (4Runner, T100)
On December 20, 2010, NHTSA finedToyota $16,050,000 for not conducting recall 05V-389 in a timely manner.
Toyota Recalls 308,000 RAV4 and Highlanders for Faulty Air-Bag Sensors
by Christopher Jensen
4/22/11
More than three years after Toyota first learned that its curtain-shield air bags could deploy without a crash, the automaker is recalling almost 308,000 sport utility vehicles.
The recall covers about 214,000 RAV4s from the 2007-8 model years and 94,000 Highlander and Highlander hybrids from 2008, the automaker informed the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration on Thursday.