Washington, DC - Congressman John Dingell (D-MI15) made the following remarks this morning at a Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection Hearing, “National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) Oversight: The Road Ahead”:
“Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and I commend your timely initiative in examining the sufficiency of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s authorities and resources in the wake of several recalls by Toyota Motor Company. NHTSA’s response to the safety defects implicated in these recalls has been sluggish at best. Likewise, NHTSA’s decisions to terminate several internal analyses related to defective Toyota vehicles since 2003 due to a purported lack of resources leave one with the impression that the agency lacks the appropriate level of personnel and appropriations with which to fulfill its mandate. Consequently, we must, for the safety of the American public, consider how best to ensure NHTSA will be able to perform its duties in the future.
“As was the case with its sister agency, the Consumer Product Safety Commission, NHTSA has suffered years of stagnation in funding and in many cases has endured a reduction in personnel levels, most notably in its important Office of Defects Investigation (ODI). Nevertheless, the agency possesses a number of powerful enforcement tools, many of them augmented under the Transportation Recall Enhancement, Accountability, and Documentation (TREAD) Act of 2000. In addition to being able to compel manufacturers to recall defective vehicles, NHTSA may impose civil penalties for non-compliance and criminal penalties for the falsification or withholding of information. This in mind, we must ask ourselves today why these authorities were not used in the case of the recent Toyota recalls. Put another way, are the problems with NHTSA’s response to the recalls better traced to a lack of authority, or rather ineptitude and a lack of resources? At present, I believe the latter to be more persuasive, although I will not discount the possibility that improvements can, must, and will be made to the statutes administered by NHTSA.
“Our discussion of NHTSA’s authorities and resources must not lose sight of what I believe to be malfeasance on the part of Toyota in properly addressing the problems that led to the recall of over eight million vehicles. To reauthorize NHTSA without a view toward compelling better behavior by automobile manufacturers would be a self-defeating exercise. Two weeks ago, my questioning of Mr. James Lentz, Toyota’s head of sales for North America, indicated that all of Toyota’s decisions related to recalls are made in Tokyo. More disquieting is the fact that U.S. officials had to fly to Japan to persuade Toyota to initiate recalls in the United States. In brief, we would do well to examine how best to oblige all automobile manufacturers that sell vehicles in the United States to comply quickly and fully with our regulations and laws.
“In closing, I suggest that my colleagues bear these comments in mind as we begin what will be the first of many conversations about improving federal oversight of transportation safety. Further, I ask that these discussions and their resultant legislation be bi-partisan, collegial, and subject to regular order, for those are the hallmarks of this Committee’s best work.”
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