The Senate Commerce Committee held a nomination hearing on May 16, which included Heidi King, nominee for the position of NHTSA Administrator. Senator Nelson (D-FL), Ranking Member, gave some opening remarks, including:
During today’s hearing, I hope Ms. King will provide a detailed plan on how she will demand accountability from those involved in the Takata fiasco and finally implement a real strategy to help drivers get safe airbags in their vehicles as soon as possible.
NHTSA also needs to do more to increase highway safety, including truck safety.
One way to do this is to have more use of underride guards on trucks so that cars don’t slide underneath during collisions.
The addition of this safety shield could have helped saved the lives of many, including Lois Durso’s daughter Roya. Lois is here today, along with other tireless advocates.
And I hope Ms. King has some answers for the Durso family on that issue. They certainly deserve it.
Heidi King was grilled extensively about NHTSA’s inaction on several auto safety issues. I only wish that she had been asked to address the ongoing underride problem.
Keep pushing for progress.