Car Makers Continue Push Back Against Auto Safety Bill

I wrote in May about how car makers – through the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers – were lobbying against a bill designed to make NHTSA stronger and vehicles safer.

Christopher Jensen at The New York Times wrote yesterday that additional consumer groups had joined to criticize automakers for their continued opposition to the auto safety bill. According to Jensen’s report, the following groups have joined to urge Congress to pass the Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 2010:

• Consumer Federation of America
• Public Citizen
• Center for Auto Safety
• Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety
• Consumers Union

Both the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers and the Association of International Automobile Manufacturers have opposed the safety bill. Car makers want to remove a provision that would allow fines of up to $300 million for failing to promptly notifying NHTSA about a safety problem. The top fine under currently law stands at $16.4 million, which Toyota was required to pay recently for failing to notify safety regulators about its "sticky" pedal acceleration defect.

Even in these dire economic times, Ford Motor Company announced a 2.1 billion quarterly profit in April 2010. The current maximum fine represents less than 1% of what Ford earned as profit in just the first three months of this year. For a fine to have any effect, it must effectively persuade compliance.

Car companies also oppose a $3 fee for each vehicle sold. (The fee would rise to $6 in the second year and $9 in the third). The fee would fund expansion of NHTSA’s work and improve NHTSA’s oversight and safety protection capabilities.

Is $3 (or even $9) really too much to ask in order to improve the safety of the vehicles we drive every day? On a $30,000 new car, $3 amounts to 0.01% (0.0001) of the cost of the vehicle. The maximum fee amount to 0.03% (0.0003). In a world where aftermarket "rust protection" costs hundreds of dollars and dealers routinely charge "delivery charges" of several hundred dollars, why is the industry so concerned about $3.00? It seems like a small price to pay for better safety.

Read More:

• Behind the wheel: What the Motor Vehicle Safety Act means to consumers at ConsumerReports.org
• Industry, Safety Groups Collide Over Auto Safety Legislation by Elise Craig at FairWarning.com
• "No Time To Waste" on Toyota Reform Bill Says Coalition of Victims, Safety & Consumer Groups, Former Agency Administrators [press release]
• Don’t Gut "Toyota Reform Bill," Toyota Accident Survivors, Families Tell Congress at ABC News