NHTSA and the Auto Industry: Too Friendly?

A House subcommittee met Thursday to examine whether the federal agency that oversees automotive safety has become too cozy with the industry it is charged with regulating.

Sharp criticism of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration - including from former NHTSA administrator Joan Claybrook - has gone hand-in-hand with condemnations of Toyota's deteriorating safety record following the recall of more than 8 million Toyota vehicles worldwide.

Safety groups have accused NHTSA of being too friendly with Toyota in particular and carmakers generally, while lacking the resources to test for vehicle problems that could be electronic, not mechanical.

"NHTSA has been viewed by the motor vehicle industry for years as a lapdog, not a watchdog," Claybrook said in prepared testimony.

Claybrook criticized the "revolving door" by which NHTSA officials leave the government and immediately work for the companies they had been charged with regulating - often violating a mandatory two-year waiting period.

"Auto companies, including Toyota, treat the agency with contempt," she said in prepared testimony.

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Current NHTSA administrator David Strickland said in prepared remarks the agency takes its "responsibility to protect consumers very seriously and will continue to ensure that manufacturers fulfill their obligations to identify and remedy safety defects in vehicles and equipment."

Congress is considering new auto industry reforms following Toyota's recalls to fix problems with accelerator pedals and brakes. NHTSA has tied 52 deaths to crashes allegedly caused by the accelerator problems, and the agency has received new complaints from owners who had their cars fixed and said their vehicles suddenly accelerated afterward.

A panel of the House Energy and Commerce Committee was to hear from Democratic former Rep. David McCurdy, president of the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, a trade group which represents 11 vehicle manufacturers; Ami Gadhia, policy counsel with Consumers Union; Claybrook, who is also the former head of watchdog group Public Citizen, and Strickland.

Rep. Bobby Rush, D-Ill., who chairs the subcommittee, said in prepared remarks the hearing would focus on the agency, not Toyota's troubled safety record. He urged his fellow lawmakers not to veer from scrutinizing NHTSA's performance on vehicle safety.

The Transportation Department has defended its work in policing the auto industry, noting that it dispatched safety officials to Japan late last year to urge the company to take safety concerns seriously. Toyota president Akio Toyoda recently met with Transportation Secretary LaHood and told him the company would "advance safety to the next level."

Strickland, in prepared testimony, said NHTSA receives more than 30,000 complaints a year and has a staff of 57 people to investigate potential defects. He said the "defects program has functioned extremely well over the years in identifying defects that create unreasonable risks."

Claybrook, in a hearing Feb. 24, had criticized the NHTSA Office of Defect Investigation as being too small. Of the 57 employees, only 18 are investigators.

NHTSA's budget is only about 15 percent of the Department of Transportation budget, even though highway and road accidents account for the vast majority of transportation deaths in the United States.

"It has a meager budget and needs $100 million more," Claybrook recently said, citing funding gaps in research, standard-setting, and investigations. NHTSA's current budget is about $850 million.

The agency has been investigating potential electronic problems in Toyota cars and trucks. Toyota has said it has found no evidence of problems with its vehicles' electronic throttle controls but is also studying the issue.

Automakers point to declines in highway fatalities and the use of safety technology such as anti-rollover electronic stability control as signs of safety improvements on the road. "This is not an industrywide crisis," McCurdy said in an interview.

Crisis or not, Congress is considering several reforms that could bring the biggest auto safety changes since the TREAD Act, which was approved in 2000 to help the government spot safety defects more quickly following the massive Firestone tire recall.

Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., who leads a Senate committee with oversight of the industry, has expressed interest in "strong legislative action," including requiring a brake override system on all vehicles. Toyota is bringing the system to new vehicles and many of the cars and trucks under recall to provide an additional safety precaution.

LaHood told lawmakers his agency may recommend every new vehicle sold in the United States be equipped with the brake overrides, something that would require a relatively inexpensive software upgrade.

Other potential reforms include raising penalties on automakers who fail to recall defective vehicles in a timely manner, requiring car executives to certify the information they provide to NHTSA and mandating car makers provide hardware that dealers need to read electronic data recorders. The "black box" information could help investigators make their own judgments about what has been going wrong.

NHTSA could also receive more funding. Many lawmakers question whether the agency has enough skilled engineers who can understand the complicated electronics of modern cars and trucks.

President Barack Obama has recommended 66 new jobs for NHTSA in his 2011 budget.

More on Toyota's Troubles:
Toyota's Prius Recall Coming "Soon"
Toyota Fires Away at Acceleration Theory
House Panel Seeks Details on Toyota Recall
New Reports of Post-Recall Toyota Troubles
No Fix? Trouble with Some Repaired Toyotas
Senate Committee Members' Toyota Links
NYT: Troubles Predate Recalled Toyotas