NHTSA's Dirty Little Secrets
 

**sigh** :sly:

So much for the "Safety" in the title :razz:

NHTSA's Dirty Little Secrets

Safety Regulators Keep Consumer Complaints Secret

November 21, 2006
Federal regulators at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) are sitting on more than 150 million consumer complaints, keeping them secret and away from the prying eyes of consumers and the press, The Washington Post reported.

U.S. automakers want the safety agency to keep it that way.

The information is part of an early warning system Congress ordered more than five years ago to prevent another public safety debacle like the Firestone tire episode that cost the lives of hundreds of consumers.

Safety groups have repeatedly challenged NHTSA's decision to cooperate with automakers. At stake is public access to almost eight million consumer complaints, approximately 138 million warranty claims and as many as 5 million field reports on product malfunctions.

NHTSA has now proposed a set of rules covering the complaints to comply with a federal court order after the judge accused the agency of deliberately deleting language that would insure the information would be available to the public.

NHTSA, arguing the automakers' case for them, claims that releasing the information will cause "substantial competitive harm and will impair the government's ability to obtain this information in the future."

Big money is at stake for automotive industry. Firestone recalled 10 million tires because of tread separations and other failures that were linked to at least 271 deaths.

Automakers claim consumers would use the complaint data base to file class-action suits if the information is part of the public record and they have lobbied long and to keep the reports labeled as confidential business information.

NHTSA insists the information is worth collecting and storing at taxpayers' expense, even if only federal regulators, whose salaries are paid by those same taxpayers, are the only ones allowed to see it.

LINK: http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news0...a_secrets.html

The worst part is that I'm not surprised.:sad:

+1:nod: :sad: :impatient :roll:

There's actually an interesting issue behind this...
 

for most products, there's no law that says companies have to report warranty issues. So what's in it for the manufacturer if they give up the info the greater good? Since the answer is nothing, one has to resort to legislative solutions. Collecting and acting, but not sharing, is better than not collecting and not acting, but worse than collecting, acting and sharing.

Too bad the consumer advocates don't have the lobbying budget of big companies. Think of the corporate calculus.... They'd have to do SOMETHING, otherwise the bying public would be pissed. So I'm sure they spent their dollars making sure that what they did would have the least impact on how they currently do business.... Anything else would be to "outside the box" to be contemplated......

Matt

encouraging update
 

Feds Asked to Reverse Auto Safety "Secrets" Rule

January 3, 2007
A proposed set of new federal rules endangers consumer safety and restricts the rights of consumers to educate themselves on the safety of future car purchases, the American Association for Justice (AAJ) charged. It urged the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) to withdraw the rule.

"These unwarranted rule changes by the federal agency charged with ensuring the public's safety allow the automobile industry to hide information about the safety of their vehicles and ultimately evade responsibility for negligence," said Jon Haber, CEO of the AAJ.

NHTSA's proposed rules exempt the auto industry from revealing crucial safety information on their vehicles. The exemption includes the divulging of consumer complaints, which have consistently proven to be the most effective method of keeping dangerous vehicles off the roads, Haber said.

In a letter to Michael Kido, Chief Counsel at the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration, AAJ noted that the proposed rule changes violate both the Freedom of Information Act and its subsequent common law interpretations.

Specifically, the new rules decrease public access to records (including documents that previously had been readily available to the public) and foster administrative secrecy for the benefit of the auto industry.

Under the newly proposed rules, consumer complaints and individual companies' safety data would be classified as "trade secrets" -- and thus be made unavailable to the public.

This data -- gathered and maintained by public employees at taxpayer expense -- is crucial for consumers making important decisions about such an expensive purchase, and one which potentially could be life-changing in the event of an accident, AAJ said.

Haber said that restricting consumers from accessing this data only serves the interest of the auto industry -- not the lives of the over 200 million US motorists on the roads. He said keeping the rules as they are now would alternatively signal an agency commitment to strict safety standards and industry accountability.

AAJ sent the letter in response to the NHTSA's Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) regarding the confidentiality of information submitted by motor vehicle and equipment manufacturers.

AAJ was formerly known as the American Trial Lawyers Association.



http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news0...aaj_nhtsa.html

If the new rules pass, I guess there is no further need for NHTSA? I could do with a few less tax-dollar sucking Federal Agencies.

I'd just like the info we've paid for to be available so we can make informed purchases and/or know how to deal with or prevent potential issues.

Another article:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...&type=business

If they are allowed to hide all of the auto issues we will be up a creek trying to get anything fixed. If we hadn't had TSBs and other peoples experiences available to us in the past we wouldn't have been able to have countless things fixed. In addition I am certain the dealers would have tried to charge us for many fixes.

The sad part is that even as it stands the reported info is not complete, I've been at BMW/MINI service when they don't even check a car in or enter complaints in the system before denying it. I guess it is a way of controlling the statistics :(

I'm actually a bit confliced about this...
 

it's every consumers right to say "if you won't let me know your warranty statistics I won't buy your car" and as such, there is no real requirement that car manufacterers divulge the quality or lack thereof of the cars they make.

But realistically, auto transport is subsidized, and pretty much a requirement for living in most of the US, so there is an argument to be made that one could require that this info be given out.

What is a much bigger area of consern is that you can't get any information about doctor lawsuits (unless they make it far enough to be in the public domain) or sanctions. There's an industry that's good at keeping the dirty little secrets under wraps! And the arguement for disclosure is even more compelling in medical care!

Matt

I agree of course, but the big difference is that the auto manufacturers know what is specifically wrong with their vehicles and are intentionally attempting to hide it and have their network of dealers avoid it too, whereas people are all different with different problems and doctors are not interconnected. Last time I checked I don't think I had any TSBs :grin:

It seems more akin the the pharmaceutical companies wanting to not divulge negative info, which is terrible as well. In any case consumers, people, should have access to information to protect themselves. We need the tools to cover our own butts since industry cannot be relied on to do that.

I wonder how long...
 

until YELP-like sites of self assembled information will make this all obsolete....

Maybe a progressive Mini enthusiast site would step up to start a database for our cars!:wink:

Matt