U.S. Legislative Issues

 

 

 

Senate Committee Report Finds New Cars Being Sold With Defective Airbags

According to a troubling Senate Commerce Committee report released on June 1, at least four automakers are continuing to sell vehicles containing the defective Takata airbags that have been linked to 13 deaths and hundreds of injuries worldwide. Toyota, Volkswagen, Fiat Chrysler and Mitsubishi were identified in the report as those still selling or planning to sell new models with the defective airbags. Specifically, the report examines the effectiveness of the current recalls, including Takata, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), and automakers’ efforts to help consumers impacted by this crisis. Based on the information provided by the 14 automakers affected by the Takata recalls, Senate Commerce Committee Minority staff found: 

1) Recall completion rates across automakers remain unacceptably low. As of March 2016, the nationwide recall completion rates ranged from .04 percent to 39.5 percent. 

2) To date, the majority of replacement inflators that have been installed – approximately 4.6 million – are Takata ammonium-nitrate inflators. At least 2.1 million of these replacement inflators are non-desiccated – the very type of inflator that is now being recalled – and they will have to be replaced again in the future. 

3) Takata inflators, including non-desiccated inflators, continue to be produced and installed as replacement inflators in recalled vehicles.

4) Four automakers are still selling – or have plans to sell –new vehicles equipped with Takata non-desiccated ammonium-nitrate inflators, even though they will all be subject to recall by the end of 2018.

Automakers are not required to tell buyers about the problems with the airbags. Further, Toyota and Fiat Chrysler have refused to name the new models that contained the riskier airbags. Toyota told the Committee that it expected to produce about 175,000 cars for the U.S. with the riskier Takata airbags through July 2017. Fiat Chrysler said one of its current models contained a passenger-side airbag with the riskier Takata airbag model. Volkswagen also said that its 2016 Volkswagen CC, and its Audi brand’s 2016 Audi TT and 2017 Audi R8 models contained the riskier Takata airbags. Mitsubishi said that the 2016 and 2017 model years of its i-MiEV electric vehicle contained the riskier airbags.

Department of Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx admitted that the agency’s hands are tied when it comes to preventing automakers from selling cars that will eventually need to be recalled due to faulty Takata airbag inflators. "Based on the evidence we have today, we don't have a basis to prevent those airbags from going into new cars," Foxx said during a Senate Commerce hearing on FAST Act implementation. "But we do know that those airbags will be recalled at some point in the future."

FMCSA Issues Final CMV Seat Belt Rule 

 

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) issued a final rule on June 7 requiring passengers traveling in property-carrying commercial motor vehicles (CMVs) to wear seat belts. Effective August 8, 2016, the final rule revises Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations and holds motor carriers and drivers responsible for ensuring that passengers riding in large commercial trucks are using seat belts. According to FMCSA, occupants would include instructors, evaluators, or any other personnel who might be seated in a property-carrying CMV, regardless of their status. The final rule does not require the use of seat belts in passenger-carrying CMVs.

In 2014, 37 passengers traveling unrestrained in the cab of a large truck were killed in roadway crashes, according to the most recent data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Of this number, approximately one-third were ejected from the truck cab. FMCSA’s most recent Seat Belt Usage by Commercial Motor Vehicle Drivers Survey, published in March 2014, found that CMV passengers use seat belts at a lower rate (73 percent) than CMV drivers (84 percent). Federal rules have long required all commercial drivers to use seat belts.

On January 22, 2016, NAFA submitted official comments to FMCSA in support of this proposal stating that NAFA "prides itself on staying ahead of the safety curve, as evidenced by the fact that a majority of our members’ internal policies already require passengers riding in CMVs to be buckled in. Given this and our commitment to enhancing vehicle safety, NAFA supports this proposed rule and stands in agreement with FMCSA that requiring the use of seat belts by non-driver occupants will save lives."

Stakeholders Caution Delay In Federal Approval Of Hair Testing Dangerous 

 

Last month, the American Trucking Associations (ATA) sent a letter to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) requesting an update on the agency’s progress on meeting the legislative mandate to develop hair testing standards for federally mandated drug testing. The mandate, established as part of the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act, requires "the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to issue scientific and technical guidelines for hair testing as a method of detecting the use of controlled substances" within one year.

In the letter, the ATA questions the cause of the delay considering SAMHSA’s Drug Testing Advisory Board has been reviewing the technical and scientific issues surrounding hair testing for several years already. The ATA also cautions that the delayed development of hair testing standards for mandatory federal drug testing programs is dangerous because it has allowed hundreds of known drug users to continue driving commercial motor vehicles:

"Since hair testing is not an accepted Department of Transportation (DOT) testing method, companies that conduct hair tests are effectively prohibited from sharing these test results with other employers or from reporting them to the future commercial driver drug and alcohol clearinghouse being developed. As a result, drivers who fail pre-employment hair tests can simply seek employment with other carriers where they can more easily pass a pre-employment urine drug test, without fear that their positive hair test results will follow them. In other words, commercial drivers that have tested positive on hair tests are still on the road driving large trucks, but driving for other companies."

Kelly Osterlitz, Executive with commercial drug tester FirstLab, said that 3 to 5 percent of pre-employment hair tests conducted by the lab were positive for drugs, but only 0.5 percent of urine tests were positive. "It has always been a concern in the industry that information regarding drug users can’t be shared, thus putting the motoring public in danger," Osterlitz said.

Ronald Flegel, SAMHSA’S Director of Workplace Programs and Chairman of the agency’s drug testing advisory board, said it could be another two years before HHS issues hair testing standards.

NAFA Weighs In On Another Biofuel Tax Credit Proposal 

 

On June 7, 2016, NAFA sent a letter to members of the House Ways and Means Committee in opposition of H.R. 5240, the Biodiesel Tax Incentive Reform and Extension Act of 2016, legislation that would extend the $1-per-gallon tax credit for biodiesel through the end of 2019 and reform the credit so it is only used for fuel produced in the U.S. In the letter, NAFA writes, "Although we (NAFA) support an extension of the biodiesel tax credit, we oppose any change to the structure of the tax credit for biodiesel. Converting the tax credit to a producer's tax credit and denying its availability to all fuels will have a negative impact on the cost and availability of renewable diesel."