For most of the country, the final few weeks of summer are muggy and sticky and often drive us inside to air conditioners or cold drinks. So, in that spirit, please take a break from the heat, take off your mask, grab a beverage and let us tell you about how we’ve been turning up the temperatures on shady government car sales and corporate secrecy this month.
Soon enough you may be back on the road carpooling with kids for the first time since March, driving to work on a regular basis, or going on one last socially-distanced beach weekend. Since we know you’ll be in your car we never stop working to keep you safe and sound on the road:
Did you know the Federal Government is selling dangerous cars to the public? Through the General Services Administration (GSA) your government sells over 30,000 vehicles every year. Based on analysis of information made public by GSA, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), and industry trends, the Center for Auto Safety believes as many as 20% of those vehicles are subject to unrepaired recalls at the time of sale. This means as many as 6,000 defective vehicles are being sold to the public annually.
Which is why we were pleased to support a provision passed by the House of Representatives, which stops GSA from continuing to fail to ensure the vehicles the agency sells to the public are in safe operating condition. In other words, it is taking an act of Congress to stop the sale of used government vehicles with deadly safety defects at auction, putting all road users at risk.
We're looking forward to the Senate quickly taking up this measure in order to protect consumers, followed by GSA making permanent changes to its procedures in the interest of public safety.
The government's 5 Star crash rating program, NCAP, isn’t supposed to be about giving participation trophies – it's about rating safety features of new cars to allow consumers to make informed safety choices. In other words, the program could help consumers by incentivizing manufacturers to improve advanced driver assist systems like automatic emergency braking and forward-collision warning both of which have been proven to save lives. NCAP should be making existing ADAS features better and drive out the failures with market pressure. But, NHTSA still does nothing.
"The agency gives 98% of all new cars either four or five stars for their new vehicles, as if they are all participants getting orange slices after a kindergarten soccer game no matter the score. Instead of being horrified at NCAP’s lack of useful comparative crash data, NHTSA has apparently decided press releases alone will protect people in car crashes." - Jason Levine, Executive Director, Center for Auto Safety
UPDATE: Regular newsletter readers may remember in 2019, when the Center petitioned NHTSA to recall Nissan Rogue vehicles for “phantom braking” by their automatic emergency braking system. We discovered 87 complaints of consumers who had their vehicle just stop for no reason on train tracks, highways, and in parking lots. Eventually, NHTSA opened an investigation into this clear safety hazard but we never heard anything more.
But you know that wasn’t going to be good enough for us. We submitted a Freedom of Information Act request and appealed an unsatisfactory response and lo and behold, there were over 1,400 complaints for this very issue. NHTSA continues its investigation and we’ll continue our oversight and demand for a recall.
Vehicle safety progress is possible when the Center for Auto Safety community pulls together. We are so grateful for your help fighting for every driver, passenger, and pedestrian. Please help us continue the fight by renewing your support.
Wishing you a safe Sunday!
Best,
Jason Levine
Executive Director
Our Contact Information
Center for Auto Safety
1825 Connecticut Ave. NW
Suite 330
Washington, DC 20009
(202) 328-7700
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