Push for Tire Sensors
Auto industry scrutinized Tire recall inspires lawmakers to act
September 25, 2000 BY JANET L. FIX
DETROIT FREE PRESS WASHINGTON STAFF WASHINGTON -- The fallout from the Firestone tire recall caught the entire auto industry in a tidal wave of bad luck this week.
With an eye on November elections, lawmakers dealt a series of blows to automakers to show voters that they share their outrage over 101 deaths linked to bad Firestone tires on Ford Explorers.
Rep. Billy Tauzin, R-La., then shattered any hope the industry had of seeing the political uproar fade by early October, when Congress recesses. Tauzin said Thursday during his second hearing this month that he would hold more hearings next year on the recall and the consumer protection issues it has raised.
It doesn't help Ford Motor Co. and Bridgestone/Firestone Inc. that so many on Capitol Hill own Explorers or seem to know someone hurt in one. Clearly, like Rep. Barbara Cubin, R-Wyo., whose son was in a tire-tread accident in an Explorer, lawmakers are more galvanized than they have been in years over an auto safety issue.
The sentiment could leave a lasting dent in the industry's clout.
"Unfortunately, it took a crisis and many tragic deaths and injuries to get Congress' attention," said Sally Greenberg, senior product safety counsel for Consumers Union, publisher of Consumer Reports magazine.
"But Congress is finally restoring the balance that has been lacking over the past decade between the interests of consumers and the interests of the auto industry, which everyone in Washington knows is a very powerful force."
Evidence of the shift came fast and furious this week as lawmakers favored everything from jail time for those who knowingly make defective vehicles to a consumer rating system for vehicle rollovers. Some of the actions:Tauzin, Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich., and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, have introduced or are redrafting legislation to give the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration greater regulatory powers and use of penalties over automakers and tire makers.
Automakers will soon see their sport-utility vehicles graded on their rollover potential by a consumer rating system that will be available on NHTSA's Web site at www.nhtsa.gov. The long-delayed launch of the rating system was made possible Wednesday when Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, dropped his support for a prohibition that had blocked NHTSA's progress.
The agency has tried for more than two decades to come up with a way to judge the rollover potential of vehicles. Before the Aug. 9 recall of 14.4 million Firestone tires, automakers had convinced Shelby and other congressional supporters that the five-star rating system NHTSA has proposed is too simplistic to be worthwhile to consumers.
Shelby has given the National Academy of Science nine months and $500,000 to study NHTSA's rollover rating system. NHTSA has agreed to make changes, if necessary.
Automakers say no sport-utility vehicle can get five stars because NHTSA's rating is based on a mathematical formula that considers a vehicle's height and width. Because sport-utility vehicles are taller than cars, they are likely to get no more than three stars.Automakers face the possibility that, for the first time, their work and decisions might result in criminal penalties. The Senate Commerce Committee approved a bill Wednesday that calls for up to 15 years in prison for anyone who knowingly makes or sells a defective vehicle. It also calls for a civil penalty of $15 million in cases where defects are not disclosed.Automakers are horrified. "There is no bright line," said Gloria Bergquist, spokeswoman for the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, which represents Ford and General Motors Corp., in any legislation that can tell automakers when they "crossed the line."
Identifying defects is never easy. After nearly a dozen hearings and hours of testimony, Congress still does not know what caused the defect in the Firestone tires. NHTSA typically takes 16 months to determine if a product is defective and to do something about it.
Auto and tire manufacturers will face new testing demands that could force them to test 2-year-old tires and a push to put air pressure inflation gauges on dashboards. NHTSA administrator Sue Bailey promised to work with Congress to revise the agency's tire standards and testing methods, which have not been updated since 1968.
In other developments Friday:NHTSA is considering an investigation of Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. after becoming aware of lawsuits asserting that dozens of deaths and serious injuries had been caused by premature tread separations on Cooper's tires, the New York Times reported Friday.Cooper Tire, based in Findlay, Ohio, has not been contacted by NHTSA or Congress and it is not aware of any investigation, the company said.
Bailey said the agency was still examining data and had not decided whether to begin a formal inquiry, which could lead to a recall.The Wilderness tires Bridgestone/Firestone recalled last month have a better safety record than many of those that have not been recalled, a research group said Friday. Safetyforum.com, repeating its calls for expansion of the recall, said its analysis of the 2,226 tire failures reported to NHTSA showed that 58 percent of the 267 complaints that identified tire size and source involved tires not made in Decatur, Ill., where most of the recalled tires were made.
These other tires were made at Firestone's plants in Wilson, N.C.; Aiken, S.C., or at a plant in Joliette, Quebec, said the Arlington, Va.-based group, which works with plaintiffs' attorneys.
Safetyforum.com wants to see Firestone expand its recall to all 15- and 16-inch Wilderness AT tires. The group's head, Ralph Hoar, said he did not yet know how many more tires would be involved if the recall were expanded.
Contact JANET FIX at 202-383-6053 or jfix@krwashington.com |
