Pray for an important meeting on Friday at IIHS in Arlington, VA. We will be discussing details for underride regulations and hearing a presentation from an Australian on their proposed underride rule.
Also, here is a draft of the “Visualizing Rulemaking” law review article (to be published in the fall). See pp. 43-44 and 65 for reference to AnnaLeah & Mary and our safety advocacy efforts.
http://ssrn.com/abstract=2799334
FairWarning.org’s reporter, Paul Feldman, reports on the deadly underride problem and the controversy over how to solve it:
Critics Say Underride Fix Will Do Little to Curb Deadly Hazard by Paul Feldman, June 23, 2016
Meanwhile, as the discussion continues, people all over the world die every day because their vehicle is not prevented from riding under a truck. Just like AnnaLeah. Just like Mary.
There will be a meeting on June 24, at IIHS in Arlington, VA, with some of the participants from the Underride Roundtable, attempting to hammer out a better solution.
An excellent article in the NY Times reports:
“The death of the actor Anton Yelchin, killed when his Jeep Grand Cherokee rolled backward down a driveway and crushed him against a mailbox pillar last weekend, has cast a public spotlight on a problem with some models of Jeeps and other Fiat Chrysler vehicles.
But for the company, there is nothing new about the issue — which federal regulators first flagged last August.
The question is why, nearly a year later, Fiat Chrysler has still not come up with a fix for the problem, which has now been linked to hundreds of accidents, dozens of injuries and now — potentially — a well-publicized death.
The company, which issued a recall notice on more than one million affected vehicles in April, will say only it is still working on a solution, there was no decision about a recall until this year and there has been no delay. It has written to federal regulators that the remedy will include a software change and “an additional mechanism to mitigate the effect of operator error.”
That solution is expected no later than July or August, a Fiat Chrysler spokesman, Eric Mayne, said on Tuesday in an email.
And yet, as far back as March, Fiat Chrysler was telling federal investigators that it already had “potential solutions.”
The problem involves an electronic gearshift, whose operation is similar to that of a video-game joystick. It has confused many drivers, who thought they had left their cars in park, only to find they were in neutral, and started rolling away after the drivers stepped out.
Rollaway accidents are particularly dangerous, and the investigation and recall are taking too long, Clarence Ditlow, executive director of the Center for Auto Safety, a consumer advocacy group, said on Tuesday.
“There was no sense of urgency on Chrysler’s part or N.H.T.S.A.’s part given the potential for death or injury,” he said in an interview, referring to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.” See http://www.nytimes.com/2016/
Lou
What would I do if I were the National Traffic Safety Ombudsman?
The recent death due to an auto safety defect is just the latest and most visible of the millions of reasons why we need to make Traffic Safety a National Priority!
Millions of good reasons to adopt a National Vision Zero Goal & Appoint a Traffic Safety Ombudsman
What are we waiting for, America?!
From Lou Lombardo, Care for Crash Victims:
Dear Care for Crash Victims Community Members:
The Center for Auto Safety issues release on latest Jeep fatality.
June 20, 2016
Actor’s Death is Latest Example of Inadequate Recall Response; CAS Lays Out Action Plan for Chrysler to Prevent Further Deaths and Injuries due to Transmission Defect
Star Trek actor Anton Yelchin was killed June 18 when his 2015 Jeep Grand Cherokee pinned him against his mailbox in a rollaway incident. Yelchin’s death is unfortunately the latest example of industry and government incompetence in the face of vehicle safety defects.
On April 22, 2016, Chrysler issued a recall of 2014-2015 Grand Cherokees, as well as 2012-14 Chrysler 300s and Dodge Chargers, in order to add an additional part to enhance the Jeeps’ monostable gear selector. The design of the monostable gear selector has been the source of much confusion for Chrysler owners, resulting in hundreds of rollaway incidents reported to both Chrysler and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Chrysler notes in its chronology that as of April 12, 2016 “FCA US has identified approximately 700 field reports potentially related to this issue which includes 212 crashes, 308 claims of property damage and 41 injuries.”
The vehicles involved had been under investigation by NHTSA since August 20, 2015, when the agency opened PE15-030. When NHTSA upgraded the investigation to EA16-002 on February 3, 2016, the agency noted 121 crashes and 30 injury incidents in its opening memo.
Despite a clear defect affecting hundreds of owners with injury and potential death, Chrysler issued a Part 577 interim notification letter to owners promising to develop a fix by the 4th quarter of 2016. Just how quickly this fix would be available to owners is unknown, and given Chrysler’s recent recall efforts in fire-prone Jeeps, owners would be potentially subject to lengthy delays when seeking a remedy.
In a letter to Fiat Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne, CAS Executive Director wrote:
The Center for Auto Safety calls on Chrysler to:
· Notify owners not to drive these vehicles until repaired under the safety recall.
· Provide free loaner or rental cars of comparable value to all owners until the vehicles are repaired under the safety recall.
· For owners who cannot wait until a recall repair is available, buy the recalled vehicles by at original purchase or lease cost with deduction for use as is done under state lemon laws where the defect exists on the day the vehicle was bought.
· Provide a detailed public timeline within 10 days of what is being done to make a recall remedy available, when parts will be available for all vehicles and who is doing the engineering for the recall.
· Sergio Marchionne should publicly go and apologize to the family of Anton Yelchin.
# # #
CAS Letter to Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne
CAS Letter to NHTSA Administrator Rosekind
16V-240 Amended Part 573 Chronology
Redacted Chrysler PowerPoint Presentation to NHTSA
Chrysler Consent Agreement with NHTSA on Recall Performance
Anton Yelchin Death: Jeep Grand Cherokees Were Recalled for Rollaway Risk – 6/19/16
CAS FOIA: Missing Chrysler PE15-030 Documents
CAS FOIA: Missing Chrysler EA16-002 Documents
List of Chrysler Transmission Rollaway Recalls
Clarence Ditlow
Executive Director
Center for Auto Safety
1825 Connecticut Ave NW #330
Washington DC 20009
Letter of Support for ALMFTS Vision Zero Petition
Dear Care for Crash Victims Community Members:
Gun Violence Statistics
Brady Campaign reports:
Every day, 297 people in America are shot in murders, assaults, suicides & suicide attempts, unintentional shootings, and police intervention.
Every day, 89 people die from gun violence:
Every day, 208 people are shot and survive:
See http://www.bradycampaign.org/
Vehicle Violence Statistics
See http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/
President Obama’s Views Concern Crash Victims
Why?
So why does the President, that I voted for twice, continue to miss talking about vehicle violence after nearly 250,000 vehicle deaths and 1 million serious vehicle injuries under his administration?
We need an end to this strange indifference to vehicle violence.
See http://www.fairwarning.org/
Underride regulations from the UN, Number 58:
E/ECE/324 E/ECE/TRANS/505 } Rev.1/Add.57/Rev.2 Regulation No. 58 page 3 Regulation No. 58 UNIFORM PROVISIONS CONCERNING THE APPROVAL OF:
I. REAR UNDERRUN PROTECTIVE DEVICES (RUPDs)
II. VEHICLES WITH REGARD TO THE INSTALLATION OF AN RUPD OF AN APPROVED TYPE
III. VEHICLES WITH REGARD TO THEIR REAR UNDERRUN PROTECTION (RUP
REAR UNDERRUN PROTECTIVE DEVICES (RUPDS)
This will take some careful review to understand the relevance and significance of this United Nations underride regulation.
This is what John Creamer told me today:
There is a UN Regulation (No. 58) on rear underrun protection. In fact, a German-sponsored amendment to increase the stringency of this regulation (the 03 series of amendments) entered into force today, having been adopted by WP.29 last November. The new requirements become mandatory starting from September 2019.
However, UN R58 is a type approval regulation not applicable under the US system. For a regulation to be established that could apply outside the type approval world, a signatory to the 1998 Agreement would have to propose working on one. In principle, the United States could make such a proposal to WP.29.
I still have difficult moments periodically when I beg God to make it not be true — because how can it be that AnnaLeah and Mary are really and true not alive anymore?
Dawn King, a friend-because-she-also-lost-a-loved-one-to-a-truck-crash, wrote about the hard time she has had with Father’s Day this year. She wrote about her dad,
I should be able to give him a call, send him a card, even go for a visit. A couple weeks ago I did an interview and at the end the reporter asked me to send her pictures of me and dad. I realized I didn’t really have any of him and me together, just the two of us. I thought to myself that I should get a few taken next time I was home.
And then I remembered. Again. I have to keep remembering over and over and it’s just as painful each time. Nothing left to add this Father’s Day
Dawn was interviewed for this video while at a Truck Safety Coalition conference in May 2013 (while our crash took place):
Sen. Chris Murphy: a “second layer of grief” is experienced by survivors who realize that those who expressed sympathy won’t take action.
— Jennifer de Guzman Strikes Again🪲 (@Jennifer_deG) June 15, 2016
When I saw a Tweet the other day quoting Senator Chris Murphy as saying that survivors of the Orlando mass shooting experienced a “second layer of grief” “when they realize that those who expressed sympathy won’t take action,” I could relate to it.
Sen. Chris Murphy: a “second layer of grief” is experienced by survivors who realize that those who expressed sympathy won’t take action.
— Jennifer de Guzman Strikes Again🪲 (@Jennifer_deG) June 15, 2016
Indeed, despite decades of safety advocacy efforts to draw attention to the problem of traffic crash fatalities, too little too late is being done to move us toward zero crash deaths and serious injuries.
I have asked Senator Murphy and Senator Booker to address this problem by championing the cause and setting a national vision zero goal as well as establishing an office of national traffic safety ombudsman (advocate).
Will they do it?
Last December 8, the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) announced plans for a major upgrade to its 5-Star Safety Ratings new car assessment program, effective for vehicles manufactured after January 1, 2019. A major driver behind this announcement has been the heavy criticism from the US Congress following the failure of NHTSA to remedy the GM ignition and Takata airbag defect before they resulted in the deaths of 133 people.
NHTSA Administrator Mark Rosekind took up his post in December 2014 and quickly found himself playing defense against an assault of accusations, especially following the release of the NHTSA Inspector General’s report detailing shortcomings in the agency’s Office of Defects Investigations. In an effort to get ahead of this criticism, Rosekind has moved aggressively to assuage congressional concerns. . .
. . . the new NCAP would incorporate a number of collision avoidance technologies into the five-star rating (rather than listed as recommendations) described as: (1) forward collision warning, (2) crash imminent braking, (3) dynamic brake support, (4) lower beam headlight performance, (5) semi-automatic headlamp beam switching, (6) amber rear turn signal lamps, (7) lane departure warning, (8) rollover resistance, and (9) blind spot detection. NHTSA also plans to include pedestrian collision avoidance and rear automatic braking within its pedestrian safety rating under the NCAP.
INSIGHTS: HOW AND WHY U.S. NCAP IS CHANGING? by John Creamer
The author mentions this possible concern with the process:
Nonetheless, rapid advances in vehicle safety technologies have challenged NHTSA capabilities, especially since the US rulemaking system requires NHTSA to clear a series of high hurdles before any new regulation can be enacted. Unable to rapidly issue changes to the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS), NHTSA has resorted to a voluntary agreement with automakers on automatic braking and the upgrade to its consumer information NCAP to reassure Congress that it is on the job and up to the challenge of new technologies.
Save Lives Not Dollars: Urge DOT to Adopt a Vision Zero Policy
John Creamer is the founder of GlobalAutoRegs.com and a partner in The Potomac Alliance, a Washington-based international regulatory affairs consultancy. In his client advisory role, Mr. Creamer is regularly involved with meetings of the UN World Forum for the Harmonization of Vehicle Regulations (WP.29). Previously, he has held positions with the US International Trade Commission and the Motor & Equipment Manufacturers Association (representing the US automotive supplier industry), as the representative of the US auto parts industry in Japan, and with TRW Inc. (a leading global automotive safety systems supplier).
