virsight hearing - Motor Vehicle Hazard Archive Project

110
Mrs. Colr.rNs. Wh;- is retrofitting not acceptable to tht, vast
number of car owneri'/
Mr..Dtwrr..Substrntiirl problr.ms exist, both al Ihe ntilnufacturer
and dealer levels. At tlrc nr nuiircturer level, sonte auto rnakers
don't even nrake shrruldt.r/lal' bclt retrofits available. We know for
t'xirnrple that lurd, Volksrrirgerr and Nissan don't currentlv offer
th(,m to consun)ers. At tlr(' dt'alership level, dealerships arrl reluctant
to put in belLs that are rrot offered bv the manufacturer such
as belts madc by alter market ruti' parts supplicrs.'l'hat's a reat
problem for the consumer as well,
_ Mr.s. Cor"r-rNs. Than} you. Mr. Sakayan, I was very interested in
l,he rllustratrons you have given us about how lupbr,lt-only caused
major injuries. Now, l'm sorry- | was not here for the opening part
of your testimony and had to leave because we were hivins a vote
in the Fnergy and Commerce Subcommittee that I needed io go to,
but did you by any chance mention the fact that you have inade
NHTSA aware of all of these thinss?
Mr. Snr.ly,c.r,r. Well, what we did, Madam Chairwoman. is we
filed ^a
petition.asking for a recall on the Escort because of a specific
defect in th.eir seatbelt system. The l20day period by which'they
were supposed to make the decision exoired on-Mav Il.
.. As of yesterday, they have still not made a decision nor will they
discuss the matter with us when we call them and ask what's haipened
to our petition. All I can say is that based on our experience
up until now, not much has happLned. They were prompt in sending
someone out who did an initial investieation ind rie thoueht
was impressed with what we had to offer but evel since it wEnt
beyond the hrst level, it's sort of sittins there in limbo at the
moment.
Yes, we have tried to make them aware with our specifrc cases
about these problems and whatever we can do to try a;d get some
relief weve attcmpred, but I can say. without succesi, this iar.
Mrs. C,ou-nrs. Well, ran anyone'tell me why NHTSA would req-ulre
companres t-o make anchor points for shoulder straps but not
the straps themselves?
Mr. Knu,ry. Well, Mrs. Collins, it was the clear intention of
NHTSA when it set the anchorage requirement that two things
would happen. One, that the agency itself within a year or so
would require new cars to have reai seat lap/shouldei belts and
second that it expected the car companies t6 begin - in good - faith
providing those retrofit kits for cars on the roads.
Neirher one of those things has happened and we are now close
to 20 years later. The agencv s exp&-tations were clearly spelled
out rn rts pollcy documents at the time. In fact, I was in the Department
of Transportation when some of those policy documenls
were prepared and somervhere along the way the'ball'has been totally
dropped and the car companies have failed to live up to that
exDectaf,lon.
Mrs. Cor,r,rNs. Mr. Dewey, do you think there's an institutional
bias against the back seat shoulder straps by NHTSA?
Mr. Dowry. I think ihe requirement is long overdue. The re.
quirement should have been promulgated in 1t)72 when shoulder
belts were required for front seats. I think the problem has onlv
become more acute in recent years as more peopie have worn reai
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