Former NHTSA Boss Blocked From Testifying in Toyota Case

by Aaron Cole

Updated: December 31st, 2020 Published: July 12th, 2015

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is blocking former chief David Strickland from testifying in a California civil lawsuit for Toyota on issues regarding its push-button start systems in some of its cars.

According to the Detroit News, NHTSA officials told lawyers in a letter that Strickland would be barred from testifying in the case as an expert witness.

“The agency has been roundly criticized for its relationship with Toyota in terms of recent enforcement actions, particularly regarding unintended acceleration,” NHTSA’s lawyer wrote in the letter. “Given this history, Mr. Strickland’s testimony as a former NHTSA administrator describing Toyota’s actions or conduct in this matter with approval, will likely diminish the agency’s ability to pursue a vigorous enforcement review of Toyota moving forward.”

Congress has said NHTSA wasn’t tough enough on Toyota when it looked into issues that its push-button start system could leave cars running without the keys present.

Toyota said it asked Strickland to testify on general matters in the lawsuit, but the agency barring the former administrator to testify is being praised as a harder line for what people say is a too-familiar relationship between former safety officials and automakers.

“For too long there has been a revolving door at NHTSA which allowed former NHTSA employees to seek lucrative employment with the same auto manufacturers they had at one time been charged with regulating,” Christine Spagnoli, a lawyer for the owners suing Toyota, told the Detroit News. “Hopefully, the denial of Mr. Strickland’s request to testify on behalf of Toyota is a sign that the new administrator recognizes that these historically cozy relationships between agency employees and the companies they are charged with regulating often results in undermining public trust.”

After leaving NHTSA in 2014, Strickland joined a Washington D.C.-based law firm that has also represented Fiat Chrysler. Former NHTSA officials are not allowed to directly lobby for automakers for two years after leaving the safety administration.

#DavidStrickland #NHTSA #Safety #Toyota

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RHD on Jul 12, 2015

The accidents and tragedies caused by unintended acceleration could all have been avoided if the cars were equipped with manual transmissions. That said, does anyone think that driverless cars will perform 100.00% safely? The will have to, because 99.999% just isn't good enough, and we haven't even gotten close to that with ordinary cars. As an aside, will we have driverless Jeep Wranglers that will drive over boulders and through creeks and countryside without any human input?

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- WheelMcCoy on Jul 12, 2015
  
  "The accidents and tragedies caused by unintended acceleration could all have been avoided if the cars were equipped with manual transmissions." +1 I haven't heard of one case where a manual was involved with unintended acceleration. With a manual, any acceleration is always fully intended.
  
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- Lou_BC on Jul 12, 2015
  
  WheelMcCoy - look at any automatic transmission car and I'll bet that it is extremely easy to pop into neutral. Drive is next to neutral. My wife's Sienna requires a gentle nudge and voila neutral. My F150 has a column shift and it just requires a light tug and push up. People panic and do stupid things. Even the case with the off duty state trooper that was killed in California. The guy hit the brakes till they fried. He did try to unstick the pedal but neutral should of been the first course of action. Shutting the engine off kills steering and brake power. I don't know of a single vehicle whether it be a manual or automatic that CAN'T easily find neutral. For most, driving is the most technical and dangerous thing we will ever do. (repeat that statement over and over again each time you sit in a vehicle). I mean no disrespect to those who died or people who lost friends and family.
  
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- WheelMcCoy on Jul 12, 2015
  
  @Lou_BC "I mean no disrespect to those who died or people who lost friends and family." Likewise. I may have come across snarky, but I do feel for those who lost loved ones. Car manufacturers are addressing the problem with radar that will engage the brakes if a low speed collision is imminent. Volvo and Mazda come to mind. But their systems wouldn't have helped the state trooper. On a manual, getting to neutral is easiest: step on the clutch. On an automatic, you still need to find the gate and in a panic situation, it's not that straight forward.
  
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- Highdesertcat on Jul 12, 2015
  
  Lou_BC, "I don’t know of a single vehicle whether it be a manual or automatic that CAN’T easily find neutral." Vehicles that do not have a direct-link to the automatic transmission have been known not to easily find neutral. For instance, vehicles that run all commands for everything through the vehicle's computers will not allow you to shift into reverse while still rolling above a certain speed. You can move the lever to Reverse but Drive will remain engaged until you slow down to below a certain speed forward. Next time you drive a BMW 7-series, try it while driving on the highway.
  
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- Lou_BC on Jul 12, 2015
  
  WheelMcCoy - one of the advantages to manual transmissions is not so much the fact that it can be easily disengaged but the fact that the driver has to be consciously aware of the machine that cocoons him. People drive like zombies and when something critical occurs they loose valuable time reacting. IIRC there were reports that surfaced when ABS became standard showing that ABS cars were involved in just as many fatal crashes as non-ABS. Many surmised that it was because people had not learned how ABS works. My impression was that if you zombie along in your vehicle and you fail to spot a developing situation you will not be able to take corrective action soon enough. Another issue is if some other zombie makes a catastrophic error nothing short of an Abrams tank is going to save you.
  
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- Lou_BC on Jul 12, 2015
  
  highdesertcat - reverse is a different animal and transmissions shifters are purposely designed to make that sort of incident less likely.
  
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- Ryoku75 on Jul 12, 2015
  
  Manual Transmissions may as well be the Holy Cross of the automotive world. "Manual Transmissions keep people from texting and driving" "Manual Transmissions save people from unintended acceleration" "Manual Transmissions helped me give birth to my Daughter "Acura"" The last manual I saw on the road could barely keep up with traffic, they save lives 'cuz you're never going fast enough to get hurt.
  
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- Pch101 on Jul 12, 2015
  
  "Automatic transmission(s) improved the older participants’ driving behaviour by safer speed adjustments in urban areas, greater manoeuvring skills, safer lane positioning and driving according to the existing speed limits. However, for younger drivers, automatic transmission had less effect on their driving behaviour. ***Switching to automatic transmission may be recommended for older drivers as a means to maintain safe driving and thereby the quality of their transport mobility.***" http://www.researchgate.net/publication/266059355_Why_drive_manual_-Automatic_transmission_improves_driving_behaviour_in_older_drivers ___________________ It's usually a good idea to review the data first, then form an opinion, instead of starting with the opinion and not bothering with the data.
  
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- Indi500fan on Jul 12, 2015
  
  @Pch101 Interesting thoughts. Now they need to tell me at what age I have to convert my Miata to auto....
  
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- WheelMcCoy on Jul 12, 2015
  
  @Ryoku75 Hah! You forgot a few: "Manual transmissions help you lose weight because it's hard to eat and drive." "Manual transmissions make you a better dancer because of the coordination required." "Manual transmission make you a fun parent when you let your (older) kids sit in the front and shift." "Manual transmissions make you a better lover because you are sensitive to inputs and responses." "Manual transmissions fight dementia by keeping your neurons firing." Although Pch101's link kinda' puts the last one into question.
  
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- WheelMcCoy on Jul 12, 2015
  
  @Lou_BC "one of the advantages to manual transmissions is not so much the fact that it can be easily disengaged but the fact that the driver has to be consciously aware of the machine that cocoons him." I hear you. You are preaching to the choir as I absolutely love the manual. I strayed a bit with a recent Mustang 2015 rental which had a fantastic automatic in sport+ mode, but ended the affair after 7 glorious days, and have happily returned my Mazda3 5 speed manual.
  
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- Ryoku75 on Jul 12, 2015
  
  @indi500fan Keep the Miata manual for weekends, get a Mazda 3 automatic for not-weekends (or whatever they'll sell it as in the future).
  
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Wmba on Jul 13, 2015

@ Lou_BC said: "People drive like zombies and when something critical occurs they loose (sic) valuable time reacting." Couldn't agree more. Just wait until the chime goes off on the new "autonomous" vehicle when the computer tells the driver to take over. Despite a dozen lectures at time of purchase, the owner/driver will reliably have forgotten what to do next. That's because it's a bit more complicated than shifting to neutral, and that taxed the brains of millions. My, my, I will say the gentleman in the photo above seems extremely well fed. No more sushi, now.

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- WheelMcCoy on Jul 14, 2015
  
  "Just wait until the chime goes off on the new “autonomous” vehicle when the computer tells the driver to take over. Despite a dozen lectures at time of purchase, the owner/driver will reliably have forgotten what to do next. " Fortunately, the Google car team has come to a similar conclusion. That's partly why they scaled back their ambitions for autonomous cars. There's hope for common sense... until some company unwisely forges ahead regardless.
  
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