Recalls
Questions raised about General Motors, government action in recall over thousands of car fires
DETROIT – Shortly after Elizabeth Berry parked her bright yellow 2003 Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS on the street in front of her family’s home in May 2014, flames engulfed the engine, destroying the car and scorching her mailbox.
“I was hysterical. That was like my third baby,” she says of the car.
Compounding the shock was the fact that five years earlier, Berry had answered a recall notice from General Motors for a repair that was supposed to prevent engine fires.
Evenflo child restraint false latching
Evenflo child restraint false latching
After Battling Safety Agency, Recaro Changes Course on Car Seat Recall
The recall seemed to be straightforward enough: Recaro Child Safety needed to fix some of its car seats so that they would not break free during a crash.
But the path to that announcement, made last week, was anything but.
After more than 18 months of resistance by Recaro, about 173,000 child seats are being recalled, illustrating how long and fraught the recall process can become. The case follows another wide-ranging child seat recall, for models made by Graco Children’s Products, that was also fought by its company.
Volkswagen Emissions Defeat Devices Violate EPA Emissions Rules
VW is a recidivist emission control violator using defeat devices to turn off emission controls used only in emission testing. Under former Administrator Bill Ruckelshaus, EPA warned VW in 1972 about defeat devices and then sued it in 1973 when VW failed to heed the warning. VW paid a $120,000 fine and promised to comply with the Clean Air Act in the future. So much for promises to obey the law. The only way to change auto company behavior is to put the responsible executives in jail.
AutoNation grounds vehicles under recall
9/6/15
AutoNation Inc. will no longer sell any vehicle, used or new, with an open safety recall.
The new policy will be costly, AutoNation CEO Mike Jackson says, but it’s the right thing to do for customers. Jackson declined to estimate the expense but noted that 5 to 10 percent of AutoNation’s inventory would be deemed unsellable at any given time under the new policy.
CAS Statement on NHTSA $105 Million Fine of Fiat Chrysler for Violations of Federal Recall Laws
July 27, 2015
Fiat Chrysler Record Fine is Poster Child of Inadequate Enforcement Authority
NHTSA Policy Memo on Responding to Defect Petitions Within 120 Days
Click here to view: NHTSA Policy Memo on Responding to Defect Petitions Within 120 Days – 5/15/78
NHTSA blocks former chief from Toyota testimony
Washington — The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration blocked the agency’s former chief from testifying as a witness for Toyota Motor Corp. in a California civil suit, saying it could put the agency at risk.
In a July 1 letter obtained by The Detroit News, a NHTSA lawyer told former Administrator David Strickland that he could not testify in a class-action lawsuit against Toyota. The case involves Toyota’s Smart Key push-button ignition system, and whether it violates a federal regulation designed to prevent theft and roll-away risk.