NHTSA changes

bwilson4web · Jan 22, 2010

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has a new administrator, "David Strickland" who came from the Senate Commerce staff. But along with that is this article:

Auto safety agency labors to keep pace - Los Angeles Times

. . . In its first few years, the agency imposed dozens of safety standards. But since that burst of activity, the agency's rule making has slowed amid stiff opposition from automakers and an anti-regulatory fervor in Washington.

A review of NHTSA rule making over the last decade indicates that most proposed rules that actually pass have been required by an act of Congress, and regulations drafted by the agency or outside petitioners often are rejected.

In 2004, for example, the agency withdrew a proposed rule it had considered for 12 years to improve the safety of radiator caps after it found that about 15,000 people had been scalded in a single year it studied.

A safer radiator cap was estimated to cost 65 cents, according to an outside engineering firm. But the auto industry opposed the rule, contending that it had already made radiator systems safer and that the new caps would cost more than claimed.

NHTSA dropped its effort, saying that the scaldings had fallen to just 5,000 in a subsequent year and that the decrease was probably attributable to the industry improvements.Similarly, the agency has abandoned proposed rules since the late 1990s requiring safer truck fuel systems, stronger truck brakes and improved window visibility, among others.
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Next week will be the SAE Automotive-Government conference in Wash DC. It will coincide with the Washington Auto Show. Thursday is when the likely sessions of interest are scheduled to occur addressing pedestrian safety.

Bob Wilson

NHTSA changes

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NHTSA changes

bwilson4web BMW i3 and Model 3