One of the main topics at the Toyota hearings held in recent weeks is the automaker’s practice of hiring former NHTSA officials to its lobbying team. At the time, we were inclined to believe that Toyota was hardly the only firm engaging in this practice, and thanks to some Washington Post reporting, our suspicions have been confirmed. Early controversy centered around Christopher Santucci and Chris Tinto, two NHTSA Office of Defect Investigation officials who now work for Toyota. In addition to these two, the WaPo has identified former NHTSA lawyers Kenneth Weinstein and Erika Jones as former NHTSA officials who also now work for Toyota. And then there are the former regulators who work for other automakers: Jacqueline Glassman, a former NHTSA chief counsel and then deputy administrator now works for a law firm that represents Nissan and Mercedes. And that’s not all:
Former agency compliance engineer Amanda Prescott now works for Ford. Former agency director of the Office of Crashworthiness Research, Ralph J. Hitchcock, now works for American Honda Motor Co. And past agency administrator Diane Steed is a partner at Strat@Comm, a Washington public relations and lobbying firm that represents General Motors Corp.
And once again, Toyota wriggles out of some of the most damning accusations against it, not by confirming that it actually holds itself to especially high quality and safety standards, but by proving that it’s just like every other automaker. As we noted some weeks ago, this loss of exceptionalism is the ultimate price that Toyota will pay for this scandal (not counting lawyer fees).
Vladimir Putin has announced that his government will spend $19.6b (584 billion rubles) on auto-sector stimulus, with spending planned on technology development, employee re-training, direct subsidies, and cash-for-clunker-style consumer stimulus. Another $20b of investment is expected from foreign automakers. These measures are aimed at a host of of ills besetting the Russian auto industry and market, ranging from what the government describes as a 4-7 year technological deficit, and a 50 percent drop in sales last year.
The private company that operates speed cameras in Denver, Colorado is ignoring the provisions of state law designed to protect the public. Motorist Bill O’Neil used his cell phone camera to document the lack of warning signs around a photo radar van issuing tickets on First Avenue in January, KMGH-TV reported. City officials entrust Redflex Traffic Systems, an Australian company compensated based on the number of tickets it is able to issue, with the responsibility of placing the signs. A police spokesman told KMGH that signs were out, just on the other side of the road.
Police in Washington state will have the power to take any car for at least twelve hours under legislation passed unanimously by the state House earlier this month and considered by a Senate committee yesterday. State Representative Doug Ericksen (R-Ferndale) introduced what he called “Hailey’s Law” which would make it mandatory for police to grab the vehicle from drivers merely suspected — not convicted — of driving under the influence of alcohol (DUI).
The supreme court of Missouri sent photo enforcement companies scrambling on Monday after it declared the red light camera administrative hearing process in the city of Springfield to be void. The high court moved with unusual speed, handing down a strongly worded, unanimous decision about one month after hearing oral arguments in the case.
“This is a $100 case,” Judge Michael A. Wolff wrote for the court. “But sometimes, it’s not the money — it’s the principle.”
GM throws in the towel. And throws a lot of (your, well, our) money after Opel. GM will invest a total of €1.9b into the German patient, says Das Handelsblatt today after talking to Bob Lutz. Nick Reilly confirmed the message today, and said the money can flow as paid in capital and loans from the mother-ship. It finally dawned on GM that European governments are just stringing them along until Opel runs out of money – again. (Read More…)
The industries that profit from photo enforcement are scrambling to convince Florida lawmakers to adopt legislation that will forgive municipalities for installing red light cameras contrary to existing state law. A circuit court judge last week ruled that red light cameras were illegal in the state, following the legal argument presented in a 2005 attorney general opinion. On the day the decision was handed down, an insurance and camera company-backed front group headed by Melissa Wandall, the widow of an accident victim, released new polling data intended to jump-start the legislative effort.
Oregonians hold onto your Astons! Your state senate has passed a bill, SB 1059, that seeks to reduce ground transportation-related GHG emissions 75% relative to 1990, by 2050, in the state’s six major (by Oregon standards) metro areas.
[Editor’s note: Please join us today at 3pm Eastern (noon Pacific) for a livechat with the authors of Carjacked: The Culture Of The Automobile And Its Effects On Our Lives]
Over the last several weeks, the Toyota recall scandal has reopened the national discussion about car ownership, raising new questions about the role of personal responsibility in our relationships with automobiles. Here at TTAC, we’ve argued passionately that a major lesson of the Toyota recall is that consumers can not rely on brand reputation or the assumption that cars will always work as we expect them to in order to protect ourselves and our families. But responsible car ownership doesn’t end there. To maintain a functioning relationship with our cars, it’s important that motorists understand that the vehicles we cherish come with high costs. And anyone who thinks that the awesome power of the private automobile doesn’t come with great responsibilities would do well to read through the relentless documentation of these costs that makes up the book Carjacked: The Culture of the Automobile and Its Effect On Our Lives. (Read More…)
In its fight against American CAFE rules, Porsche is ratcheting up the decibels. For background on Porsche’s beef, see here, and here. For a possible way out, see here.
Unconvinced by electrification plans, Porsche’s new boss Michael Macht publicly joined the fray. He doesn’t mince words. “What’s happening here borders on a trade war,” said Macht yesterday evening, while Das Autohaus took notes. “We’ll keep at it. The German auto industry will not give up territory over there unnecessarily.” Financial Times cited Macht as saying that “the Americans are spoiling for a fight.” (Read More…)
Before Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood even took the stand before the House Energy Committee, the Washington Post [via TheCarConnection] reported that:
NHTSA officials told investigators that the agency doesn’t employ any electrical engineers or software engineers.
Down on the Potomac, zingers like that go over like an ounce of catnip in a phone booth full of rowdy toms. And sure enough, the question came up at LaHood’s testimony. In fact, it came up twice. And it was the closest thing to a real “gotcha” moment in a long day of testimony.
When we reported a few days ago that Porsche would have serious trouble complying with the upcoming CAFE rules, and that the existence of Porsches on American roads may be in danger after 2016, the majority of the commentariat exploded: “Unbelievable!” (Read More…)
The Wall Street Journal [sub] reports that Indiana diesel engine supplier Cummins will pay $2.1m in civil penalties for violations of the Clean Air Act. The EPA and the Justice Department complaint alleges that Cummins shipped 570k heavy-duty diesel engines to OEM customers between 1998 and 2006 without the emissions-control systems that make them Clean Air Act-compliant. It’s not even clear clear that the crud-controlling gear is missing. The paperwork is. Cummins spokesfolks admit that 405 (or about .7 percent) of those engines never received documentation that shows they were fitted with the appropriate emissions-control systems. This is particularly embarrassing for Energy Secretary Steven Chu, who recently gave Cummins $54m in Recovery Act grants intended to improve truck efficiency and emissions, and called the firm “the leader in clean-diesel manufacturing.”
State Farm has been a thorn in Toyota’s side since congress geared up to investigate its recall problems. First, the insurance firm disclosed that it had warned the NHTSA of the prevalence of unintended acceleration (UA) in Toyota models back in 2007, then this past weekend, it clarified that it had actually warned the NHTSA of problems back in 2004. All this has added to the perception that Toyota somehow bought the NHTSA’s cooperation in concealing its UA problem, a perception that is accelerating tensions leading up to Akio Toyoda’s capitol hill testimony. Ironically, Toyota took measures to fight its image as a lobbyist-happy Washington manipulator by… hiring more lobbyists. Unfortunately for Toyota, the Legal Times blog reports that one of its recently-hired K-street reinforcements (Quinn Gillespie) had something of a conflict of interest that QG spokesfolks describe as:
another, long-standing client of the firm was in a position adverse to Toyota in connection with certain matters relating to the company’s recall of some of its vehicle lines
A quick look at QG’s client list reveals only one likely candidate: State Farm Insurance. As a result of the conflict, Quinn Gillespie has terminated its deal with Toyota. According to regulatory filings, Toyota paid QG $30,000 for six weeks of work, during which time it lobbied on “issues related to the vehicle recall, as well as proposed reform of the financial regulatory system.”
Redflex Traffic Systems of Australia succeeded last week in blocking efforts to end red light camera ticketing in Loma Linda, California. While several members of the city council expressed a desire to uproot the automated ticketing machines, Redflex insisted that could not be done unless the city paid $534,558 in early termination penalties. The council declined to take any action at its February meeting. (Read More…)
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