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The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is investigating new reports of sudden unintended acceleration in three separate incidents, but not in Toyota vehicles. This time, the complaints involve acceleration incidents that have occurred in the 2010 Ford Fusion and Mercury Milan.
Yoshi Inaba, Toyota’s highest ranking executive in the United States, says that his company’s latest recall of millions of vehicles has taught Toyota some valuable lessons. Speaking to an audience gathered at the Automotive News World Congress in Detroit, Inaba seemed eager to hit the re-set button with the American public through admission of Toyota’s past errors.
Chrysler Group LLC, formed when Chrysler LLC reorganized under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last spring, changed its stance on lawsuits filed by or on behalf of drivers and passengers who were injured in pre-bankruptcy Chrysler model vehicles. The new Chrysler says it will now assume accountability for the older cars and trucks. The old Chrysler faced 160 lawsuits filed by people injured in defective Chrysler vehicles – lawsuits that the company originally intended to leave behind in bankruptcy court.
Passenger seat belts will soon be a requirement on commercial buses – a measure that the National Transportation Safety Board has long advocated but didn’t have the authority to enforce. Yesterday, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which has the legal authority to establish transportation safety standards, told Congress that it will require commercial motor coaches to have safety belts for their passengers.
For years, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers have resisted even the slightest boost in roof crush standards. Now, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has stepped in to raise the bar on roof strength standards.
In November, we reported that federal U.S. standards for vehicle roof safety were dangerously low, and that the decision to raise the standards, even just to a level still inferior to that of many foreign auto manufacturers, has been continually delayed. Then, just yesterday we speculated as to whether a bailout of the auto industry would mean better, safer American cars.
Unfortunately, it looks as if the Department of Transportation is just as dysfunctional as the American auto industry in its ability to do the right thing … or anything at all.
With the Big Three on such uncertain and unsteady ground, it’s anyone’s guess what the future of American auto manufacturing will look like a couple of years from now. Will our car companies still exist, and if so, what will they and the cars they manufacture look like? Will they be fuel efficient, cleaner, and any safer than they are now?
In June, we reported that the U.S. Senate panel reviewing a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) proposal for increased standards in roof strength had asked the agency to delay its decision, originally scheduled for July 1. The NHTSA agreed to further review of the policy, and set a new date for release on Oct. 1. Yesterday, the agency announced another delay, pushing the decision back to December, according to a report in the Detroit News.
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