Congress Considers NHTSA's Future in Light of Recalls

Just the Facts:

• House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee will look into NHTSA's operations.
• Committee Chairman Waxman says NHTSA neglected its responsibilities.
• The congressional hearings into the Toyota recalls have brought many potential issues to light.

WASHINGTON — It's another day on the hot seat for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which has been reeling in the wake of Toyota's massive recalls. A House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee will take a deep dive into NHTSA's operations on Thursday in a hearing entitled NHTSA Oversight: The Road Ahead.

In a previous hearing, committee chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) slapped the automaker and the government watchdog, saying "Toyota failed its customers and NHTSA neglected its responsibilities."

NHTSA, which was set up in 1970, has broad jurisdiction relating to motor vehicles, including the responsibility for collecting consumer complaint data and investigating potential vehicle defects.

In a congressional memorandum on March 9, the committee said that during previous hearings "concerns were raised about whether NHTSA has the resources and the capability to conduct in-depth investigations into new and complex systems in vehicles, and to evaluate manufacturer's claims about the operations of their vehicles."

The committee says it is worried that while the NHTSA budget has grown in recent years, "the portion of the agency dedicated to vehicle safety has remained stagnant for ten years," the memo said. NHTSA's 2011 budget for vehicle safety is $238.3 million, approximately $5 million lower than the 2010 budget request.

NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation (ODI), which is responsible for screening consumer complaints and conducting investigations of possible safety defects, has a flat budget request for 2011, "remaining below $10 million," the memo said.

The congressional hearings into the Toyota recalls may be a precursor to a new round of regulations proposed by safety advocates. The witnesses for Thursday's hearing include David Strickland, NHTSA administrator; Joan Claybrook, former NHTSA administrator; Ami Gadhia, the policy counsel for Consumers Union, and Dave McCurdy, president and CEO of the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers.

Toyota executives are not expected to testify at this hearing.

Claybrook is expected to call for tougher penalties on manufacturers that fail to recall defective vehicles.

In the meantime, the U.S. Department of Transportation on Thursday reported that the number of overall traffic fatalities reported at the end of 2009 reached the lowest level since 1954, for the 15th consecutive quarter. "According to early projections, the fatality rate, which takes into account the number of miles traveled, reached the lowest level ever recorded," it said in a statement.

The projected fatality data for 2009 pegs the highway death count at 33,963, a drop of 8.9 percent as compared with the 37,261 deaths reported in 2008.

About 95 percent of auto accidents are caused by driver error, according to a 2005 NHTSA study. About 2 percent of accidents are caused by problems with the vehicle, the study said.

Inside Line says: Can NHTSA really be in that much hot water — and in that much need of more funding — if the current regulatory system has resulted in a steady decrease in highway fatalities? — Anita Lienert, Correspondent