Fwd: ATLA Protecting Your Rights: Highway Safety Agency Rolls Over for Auto Industry

[Guest guest]

Lack of $43 Improvement Left Young Woman in Alabama a Widow

 

Gary Skinner of Graysville, Alabama was an avid fisherman with a love

for music, says his wife Angela. But on July 28, 2005, Angela lost her

48-year-old husband in a rollover accident when his 1999 Ford Ranger

blew a tire, causing Gary to lose control of the vehicle. As Gary's

car rolled over, the roof crushed in on him, causing a fatal head

injury.

 

Now public internal documents show that the auto industry knew as

early as 1966 that their roof design was so weak that in rollover

accidents it crushed occupants to death. Ford could have fixed this

defect for as little as $43.13, says Public Citizen. Instead, they

chose to hide this information and continue selling dangerous

vehicles.

 

On the Hill

 

Now, a power grab by an unelected federal agency could eliminate the

ability of any family in a similar situation as Mrs. Skinner to hold

an automobile manufacturer accountable for ignoring safety. That

agency—the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)—was

specifically directed by Congress in the Transportation Equity Act of

2005 to increase the strength of a vehicle's roof, making passengers

better protected if their vehicle rolls over during an accident.

 

Instead, NHTSA proposed a rule that makes only minimal changes to the

current standard and goes a huge step further to prevent lawsuits

against manufacturers who ignore their own safety researchers in order

to save money. NHTSA's decision to ignore their Congressional mandate

has prompted bipartisan congressional opposition to portions of the

rule and puts Americans' health and safety at further risk.

 

 

10,000: Number of people who die in rollover accidents annually.

 

13-44: Number of lives the proposed NHTSA rule will save annually,

according to NHTSA's own estimates.

 

 

Agencies' Rules Quietly Enable Tort Reform

Washington Post, September 27, 2005

" On Aug. 19, NHTSA issued a long-awaited proposal to improve the

strength of vehicle roofs, which have been known to cave in during

rollovers, causing serious injuries and fatalities. Auto-safety groups

denounced the proposal as weak and predicted it would do little to

save lives. The proposal is an update of a 1971 standard. More

troubling to safety groups was a provision that would, in effect, make

it more difficult for consumers to sue auto companies for defective

roofs... "

 

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