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September 29, 2006
PUBLIC CITIZEN LISTS NHTSA’S UNCOMPLETED AGENDA
Public Citizen has celebrated the fortieth anniversary of federal auto-safety regulation by publishing a list of NHTSA actions that it says are both needed and unfinished. Included in the list are the following:
• A dynamic roof crush standard;• ejection prevention requirements (pretension belts, laminated side windows, improved door latches);
• safety standards to reduce the rollover and roof-crush hazards of 15-passenger vans:
• greater efforts to require compatibility between the crash-contact structures of vehicles; improved seats that resist injurious collapse in rear impacts;
• seat belts integrated with seats to provide greater energy management in crashes;
• a conspicuity standard to increase the visibility of trucks to car drivers and thus reduce underride and other crashes;
• improved tire pressure monitoring system requirements;
• rulemaking to address the dangers of “tire aging” caused when new tires have languished in storage for years before being sold; rear seat belt use reminders;
• standards to make car exteriors more protective of impacts to pedestrians, along the lines required by Japan and some European countries;
• action to persuade Congress that NHTSA should have more power to press for state motorcycle helmet requirements;
• built-in child restraints and booster seats in new cars;
• power window switch designs that prevent inadvertent closing and resulting injury to small children;
• requirements to force design of new-car “backover” prevention systems to protect children from being run over;
• mandated Event Data Recorder systems for all new cars;
• release of Early Warning defect-indicating information provided by manufacturers but not disclosed to the public by NHTSA;
• efforts to persuade Congress to substantially increase NHTSA’s budget.
For more information on many of these issues, search this website with one or more of the keywords from an item on the Public Citizen list.
Posted by MVHAP at September 29, 2006 11:18 AM