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Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 2015

Jul 14, 2015

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On July 9, 2015 Sen. Nelson (D-FL) introduced the Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 2015, S.1743 designed to improve vehicle safety in response to recent national recalls. Most notably the bill would make covering up safety violations and failure to report dangerous defects punishable by fines and up to five years in prison. S.1743 requires auto manufacturers to install warning lights on vehicle dashboards to notify owners of safety recalls, lifts the cap on delayed recall fines, and requires crash-avoidance technologies. This bill is in competition with a Republican Auto Safety Bill S.1732 introduced by Sen. Thune (R-SD).

Below is a more detailed section-by-section summary:

TITLE I – Transparency and Accountability

Sec. 101. Public Availability of Early Warning Data: Changes the presumption of disclosure under the TREAD Act to require that information submitted by manufacturers to NHTSA through the Early Warning Reporting system be disclosed unless it is exempt from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). This section further requires NHTSA to rewrite the rule on “Confidential Business Information” with a presumption in favor of maximum public availability of Early Warning information.

Sec. 102. Additional Early Warning Reporting Requirements: Requires motor vehicle and equipment manufacturers to automatically submit the accident report or other document that first alerted them to a fatality involving their vehicle or equipment to NHTSA’s Early Warning Reporting database. NHTSA is then required to automatically make those documents public unless they are exempted from public disclosure under FOIA or are subject to attorney-client privilege. The section also requires NHTSA to consider Early Warning Reporting information when it is investigating potential safety defects and when it is evaluating citizen petitions for motor vehicle safety standards or enforcement actions.

Sec. 103. Improved NHTSA Databases: Requires NHTSA to upgrade its online databases to improve searchability, integrate its different databases, and ensure that documents obtained or created by NHTSA related to a safety incident are made both publicly available and keyword searchable in its databases. The section also requires NHTSA to provide public, searchable notices of all inspection and investigation activities it undertakes.

Sec. 104. Corporate Responsibility for NHTSA Reports: Requires that a manufacturer designate a senior executive in the United States to certify the accuracy and completeness of all responses to NHTSA’s requests for information relating to safety investigations.

Sec. 105. Reports to Congress: This section requires DOT OIG to issue follow-up reports to Congress on NHTSA’s implementation of 17 reforms it recommended in its recent report that highlighted severe deficiencies within the ODI.

TITLE II – Enhanced Safety Authority and Consumer Protection

Sec. 201. Civil Penalties: Removes the cap on NHTSA’s civil penalty authority, which is currently at $35 million.

Sec. 202. Criminal Penalties: Makes it a crime, punishable by fines and up to five years in prison, for a corporate officer to knowingly conceal the fact that a corporate action or product poses a danger of death or serious physical injury. Federal agencies must be verbally informed within 24 hours of the entity or person acquiring actual knowledge of a serious danger, and they must be further informed by writing within 15 days. Any affected employees of the business entity must be informed in writing as soon as practicable, as well as any other identifiable individual who may be exposed to the serious danger. In addition, the section would create a safe harbor from that criminal liability in cases where that corporate officer notifies a federal regulatory agency and individuals subject to the danger. This section also clarifies NHTSA’s enforcement authority against persons who use electronic devices to affect the performance of a motor vehicle or motor vehicle equipment of which they are not the individual owner. Section 202 further includes criminal penalties for violations by persons who knowingly use these devices to endanger public safety or with reckless disregard for the safety of human life.

Sec. 203. Cooperation with Foreign Governments: Directs NHTSA to engage in cooperative agreements with its foreign counterparts in order to better monitor and address safety defects in globally manufactured and sold vehicles. The agency currently is limited in its ability to collaborate with its foreign counterparts on transportation matters, and certain research projects would benefit from the ability to also share resources and funding.

Sec. 204. Imminent Hazard Authority: Provides NHTSA with the authority to expedite a recall order in the case of a substantial likelihood of death or serious injury to the public.

Sec. 205. Used Passenger Motor Vehicle Consumer Protection: Prohibits the sale or lease of a used vehicle that has an unrepaired safety defect or does not comply with an applicable motor vehicle safety standard. The prohibition does not apply to circumstances where recall information is not available or accessible at the time the vehicle is sold or leased.

Sec. 206. Unattended Children Warning System: Calls on NHTSA to conduct a safety research initiative into possible technological means for preventing deaths of children who are accidentally left behind in vehicles by caretakers. The section directs NHTSA to either commence a rulemaking within a year of completing the two-year research initiative or to submit a report to Congress on its reasons for not commencing such a rulemaking.

Sec. 207. Collision Avoidance Technologies: Requires the Secretary of Transportation to initiate a rulemaking process within two years to require vehicles with a gross weight greater than 26,000 pounds be equipped with crash mitigation and avoidance technologies. The regulations are to establish standards for equipment that prevents collisions with moving and stationary vehicles, pedestrians, cyclists, and road users.

Sec. 208. Pedestrian Safety:  Requires NHTSA to establish standards for vehicle hoods and bumpers in order to reduce pedestrian fatalities and injuries.

TITLE III – Funding

Sec. 301. Authorization of Appropriations:  Authorizes increased resources for NHTSA at the same levels proposed in the Administration’s Grow America Act.

TITLE IV – Recall Process Improvements

Sec. 401. Recall Obligations under Bankruptcy: Preserves all recall obligations for manufacturers that are subject to Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings.

Sec. 402. Dealer Requirement to Check for and Remedy Recall: Requires authorized dealers to check for and fix safety defects subject to open recalls when consumers take their cars in for routine maintenance.

Sec. 403. Application of Remedies for Defects and Noncompliance: Removes the 10-year limitation on the obligation of auto and parts manufacturers to replace or fix defects at no charge to consumers.

Sec. 404. Direct Vehicle Notification of Recalls:  Directs NHTSA to promulgate rules that would require new vehicles to feature a warning feature – similar to tire pressure monitor light on the dashboard – that would notify consumers that their cars are subject to a safety recall.

Sec. 405. State Notification of Open Safety Recalls: Establishes a grant program for State motor vehicle registration agencies to check each registered vehicle for open safety recalls (using the NHTSA recall database) and to notify registered owners and lessees of those recalls when they send out registration reminders and registration documents.

Sec. 406. Recall Completion Pilot Grant Program: Establishes a pilot grant program for State motor vehicle registration agencies to implement a system that requires each owner or lessee to complete all safety recall remedies prior to registration, when the parts and labor are available and the owner or lessee has had sufficient time to complete the recall remedy.

Sec. 407. Improvements to Notification of Defect or Noncompliance: Directs NHTSA to promulgate rules that would require recall notifications be delivered via electronic means (e.g., e-mail) in addition to first-class mail. In addition, the section allows manufacturers to notify NHTSA of defects via electronic mail.

The Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 2015 was referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.

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Jul 14, 2015

5 min read

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