Auto Safety

Statement of Jack Gillis, Consumer Federation of America, in Support of H.R. 1181 – Vehicle Safety Improvement Act of 2015

Consumer and Safety Advocates, Accident Victims Join Reps. Schakowsky and Pallone at 11:30 am Press Conference at the House Triangle

 |  Press Release

Washington D.C. — “HR 1181 gives NHTSA the power and resources it needs to actually carry out its lifesaving mission.  Passing this bill will save lives and significantly improve America’s public health and safety.  Setting it aside will lead to unnecessary deaths and injuries and leave families without the lifesaving protections they need and deserve. Consumers should not be left in the dark about life-or-death defects.  In short, HR 1181 will let NHTSA truly be the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and go about saving lives.”

This bill will give NHTSA the power to act quickly when a vehicle defect or non-compliance poses an imminent hazard; improve the transparency and quality of the information submitted to the NHTSA; increase NHTSA’s enforcement power by increasing civil penalties; eliminate dangerous regional recalls; and, provide the agency sufficient funding to accomplish its statutory mission.

The failures of GM and Takata to identify and report deadly vehicle safety defects and conduct timely recalls have clearly identified inadequacies with NHTSA’s investigation and recall process, corporate and agency transparency, and in penalties to deter intentional cover-ups.  As such, CFA joins with the nation’s leading auto safety organizations including Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, Center for Auto Safety, Consumers Union, Public Citizen, KidsAndCars, Trauma Foundation, Truck Safety Coalition, Consumers for Auto Reliability and Safety, Society for the Advancement of Violence and Injury Research, National Consumers League, and Citizens for Reliable and Safe Highways to urge the leaders of the House Energy and Commerce Committee to advance this legislation to prevent needless deaths and injuries and to protect the safety of America’s families.

Jack Gillis, Director of Public Affairs, Consumer Federation of America and author, The Car Book.

Contact: Jack Gillis, 202-737-0766

CFA is an association of more than 250 nonprofit consumer groups that was founded in 1968 to advance the consumer interest through research, advocacy and education.