Word: nhtsa
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...Meanwhile, until February of this year, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) had received fewer than 50 complaints, compiled over the better part of a decade, about the suspect tires, in addition to tips from State Farm that it was seeing an unusually high number of insurance claims for the models. (This year, according to a State Farm document examined by TIME, the number of cases has been even higher, with 12 appearing in the first four months alone.) In March, though, 30 to 40 more complaints flooded in after a report on tread-separation accidents aired on Houston...
Injured motorists or their families have brought more than 100 suits against Ford and Firestone since 1992, including at least 10 complaints about tread separation that the companies have settled. The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) had been hearing complaints about the tires since 1991 but didn't act until last May, when the numbers spiked following an investigative report by TV station KHOU in Houston. Says Jon Goldberg, director of crisis management for the Edelman Worldwide p.r. firm: "As the evidence mounted, they [Firestone] could have moved much more quickly to take action...
Firestone decided on the recall last week after poring over accident reports with Ford and huddling with NHTSA officials. Gary Crigger, Firestone's executive vice president, phoned his bosses in Tokyo to advise them of the decision. That seemed to catch the Japanese company flat-footed, although it publicly took credit for the order. Just two weeks ago, Bridgestone chief executive Yoichiro Kaizaki forecast rising profits for the rest of 2000. But last week Bridgestone said the recall at Firestone--which accounted for some 40% of Bridgestone's $20.4 billion in 1999 revenues--could cost the Japanese company as much...
...last week notified automakers that rear-seat side air bags pose a possible safety risk to children. The agency is concerned that such air bags can hurt or kill children who are sitting too close to them when they inflate. Even though no such injuries have been reported, the NHTSA suggests that the bags be deactivated when cars are shipped to dealers. Once there, dealers can turn air bags back on if the owners request...
Sources: U.S. Congress, NHTSA, U.S. DOE, Southern Poverty Law Center