Federal Regulators Botch Oversight of GM’s Killer Cobalts, Demand More Money

The House Energy and Committee issued the findings of its
months-long investigation of NHTSA’s (National Highway Traffic and
Safety Administration) handling of GM’s ignition switch debacle and
they are damning!

It turns out the agency missed the true cause of why GM’s 2005
Cobalt and its sister cars were sometimes suddenly stopping and
crashing because it did not understand the workings of the advanced
airbag systems that it had itself mandated.

NHTSA is supposed to be command central for the auto industry.
It constantly monitors information about vehicles on the
road from multiple sources, launches investigations when it detects
a trend involving particular models, and orders remedies.

Because NHTSA is motivated neither by bottom-line considerations
nor hampered by informational gaps, the theory goes, it can monitor
automakers better than they can themselves, I note in my column in
The Week this morning. But the reality is that NHTSA is
way in over its head and the Congressional investigation
illustrates that perfectly. “NHTSA’s safety defect investigators’
understanding of the systems failed to keep pace with the evolution
of the technology,” the report said. Hence the agency for years
misinterpreted the data at its disposal. Meanwhile, according to
GM’s own admission 19 people were killed in 30-plus crashes.

Yet, instead, of dropping on the ground and genuflecting for its
manifest ineptitude in protecting the drivers in whose name it
exists, its chief went before Congress this week and demanded more
money for more staff.

Go
here to read the whole thing.