Issues
Feds open probe into rental cars
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has opened an investigation into how quickly rental car companies get recalled vehicles repaired.
NHTSA said in a statement posted on its website today that it is looking at nearly 3 million recalled vehicles, from General Motors Co., Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler Group LLC, that were sold to rental car companies. The review covers 29 separate models built between 2000 and 2010.
Feds probe car rental agencies on safety recall repairs
Are rental car agencies dragging their feet in taking in their fleets for safety recall repairs before letting customers get hold of the cars? Federal regulators want to find out.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has launched an investigation into the issue, the agency says on its website. Bloomberg News says NHTSA is looking into “incidents involving allegations of personal injury and death” caused by defects and failure to conform to federal safety standards. The probe involves recalled vehicles from Detroit’s Big 3: Ford, Chrysler and General Motors.
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.