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August 23, 2006
COURT SAYS INDUSTRY CRASH DATA MUST BE RELEASED
In a suit brought by Public Citizen, a federal court has held that information submitted by automobile and tire manufacturers to the government about crashes resulting in death, injury and property damage should be released to the public under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). The U.S. Court for the District of Columbia rejected the tire industry’s claim that the data cannot be released under FOIA. Relying on the “plain meaning” of the TREAD Act, the court held that it “does not qualify” as a statutory exception to FOIA’s command that government records be released to the public on request.
“Manufacturers were required to submit the information, referred to as ‘early warning data,’ under the Transportation Recall Enhancement, Accountability and Documentation (TREAD) Act since 2003, but the U.S. Department of Transportation kept the information secret from the public because tire manufacturers claimed that the TREAD Act forbade its release under FOIA,” Public Citizen said, adding that other information collected under the rule will be the subject of a new rulemaking by the federal auto safety agency. It noted that the new ruling followed a March ruling in the same case that struck down a DOT regulation purporting to exempt from FOIA certain other categories of early warning data that it considered “commercially sensitive” (involving production numbers, warranty claims, consumer reports, field data, vehicle identification numbers and information about generic tires).
Posted by MVHAP at August 23, 2006 09:40 PM