Without Government, Who Will Claim to Protect Your Safety and Fail Miserably (GM Edition)?

GM has recalled millions of
cars over an ignition problem that could cut electricity to the
steering and air bag while the car is in operation. The problem has
been attributed as the cause of death for at least 19 people.

And the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)
should have known about it by 2007, according to a new House
committee report. The Wall Street Journal got a copy of
the report and
discovered that the report is possibly even harsher to the
government agency for failing to do the job that is the reason it
exists than it is to General Motors. And in the wake of GM’s safety
problems, the car company has made significant changes, while the
NHTSA did not:

The agency was also faulted for not making any changes to its
internal structure while GM has taken many steps including hiring a
safety chief and intensifying its reporting process when a vehicle
problem and potential recall is discovered.

“Five months later, there is no evidence, at least publicly,
that anything has changed at the agency,” according to the report.
“No one has been held accountable and no substantial changes have
been made. NHTSA and its employees admit they made mistakes but the
lack of urgency in identifying and resolving those shortcomings
raises questions about the agency’s commitment to learning from
this recall.”

A state trooper in Wisconsin tracked down the ignition problem
as the cause of a Chevy Cobalt crash back in 2006, but according to
the report, the NHTSA paid no attention to his information (and a
bulletin from GM about the ability to accidentally turn the car
off) and instead focused on the airbags, “based on outdated
perceptions of how air bag systems functioned.” That’s another
criticism of the NHTSA in the House report—that they don’t know how
the safety systems they’re supposed to be regulating actually
work.

Read The Wall Street Journal story
here. Shikha Dalmia has noted how NHTSA has used the recall and
the problems with their own investigation to
lobby for more money rather than reform.