LISmama810
Admin - CPS Technician
I started to post this in the Toyota recall thread, but I realized I was going to get way too off-topic so thought it best to start a new thread.
I want to know why we bother having NHTSA.
Taking politics out of it (I have many reasons not to like bureaucracies), what is the point of having an agency that can't or won't do what it's supposed to do?
I posted this article about NHTSA couple weeks ago, but in light of the current situation, I think it bears reposting (especially since no one seemed to read it the first time around
)
This agency is supposed to oversee vehicle and car seat issues, make sure the things meet certain standards, and ensure that they're not safety hazards themselves. Yet NHTSA seems to be twiddling its thumbs.
I'm all for companies self-regulating themselves. I don't want the government to swoop in at every problem and issue a recall. But NHTSA needs to have some kind of teeth if it's going to exist.
How many problems with car seats have gone un-recalled? I can think of several. Or take the recent Dorel recall of expired seats from 2000-2001. I don't know the whole history, but from what was released, it looks like Dorel had been fighting with NHTSA over issuing a recall since 2002. Why did it take 8 more years to actually do anything about it?
And while we're all waiting for improved testing standards and methods, what has NHTSA done in recent years to improve car seat safety? Promote the LATCH system? Yeah, that's nice and all. But the crash test information from the late 1970's that classicseats posted a couple months ago contained some recommendations that we're STILL ASKING FOR TODAY.
Then you look at the fact that NHTSA has known about problems with Toyota's accelerators since 2003, and has known about other safety issues but has dragged its feet...what is it doing instead?
What other problems are lurking out there? What other safety hazards does NHTSA know about? What if there's a fatal flaw in some car seat out there RIGHT NOW that NHTSA might eventually get around to investigating at some point in the future, and then might kindly suggest should be recalled, and then might finally convince the company to recall 12 years from now?
Maybe they really are understaffed and overworked. Maybe they really are underfunded. Maybe they're just completely incompetent. Maybe their hands are tied by other realities. But other than issuing grants (which could easily be issued in other ways), I don't see what they're doing that's of much value.
I want to know why we bother having NHTSA.
Taking politics out of it (I have many reasons not to like bureaucracies), what is the point of having an agency that can't or won't do what it's supposed to do?
I posted this article about NHTSA couple weeks ago, but in light of the current situation, I think it bears reposting (especially since no one seemed to read it the first time around
) This agency is supposed to oversee vehicle and car seat issues, make sure the things meet certain standards, and ensure that they're not safety hazards themselves. Yet NHTSA seems to be twiddling its thumbs.
I'm all for companies self-regulating themselves. I don't want the government to swoop in at every problem and issue a recall. But NHTSA needs to have some kind of teeth if it's going to exist.
How many problems with car seats have gone un-recalled? I can think of several. Or take the recent Dorel recall of expired seats from 2000-2001. I don't know the whole history, but from what was released, it looks like Dorel had been fighting with NHTSA over issuing a recall since 2002. Why did it take 8 more years to actually do anything about it?
And while we're all waiting for improved testing standards and methods, what has NHTSA done in recent years to improve car seat safety? Promote the LATCH system? Yeah, that's nice and all. But the crash test information from the late 1970's that classicseats posted a couple months ago contained some recommendations that we're STILL ASKING FOR TODAY.
Then you look at the fact that NHTSA has known about problems with Toyota's accelerators since 2003, and has known about other safety issues but has dragged its feet...what is it doing instead?
What other problems are lurking out there? What other safety hazards does NHTSA know about? What if there's a fatal flaw in some car seat out there RIGHT NOW that NHTSA might eventually get around to investigating at some point in the future, and then might kindly suggest should be recalled, and then might finally convince the company to recall 12 years from now?
Maybe they really are understaffed and overworked. Maybe they really are underfunded. Maybe they're just completely incompetent. Maybe their hands are tied by other realities. But other than issuing grants (which could easily be issued in other ways), I don't see what they're doing that's of much value.
