Heads of Automakers in US Meet In Washington, Discuss Safety, Recalls
Auto executives from nearly every major U.S. automaker met in Washington D.C. on Tuesday to discuss safety, recalls and technology with Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx, Automotive News reported.
Senior executives from 15 automakers, including General Motors’ CEO Mary Barra, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles CEO Sergio Marchionne, Volkswagen of America CEO Michael Horn and Nissan North America boss Jose Munoz, met to address Foxx’s concerns that “the public has lost faith in the auto industry’s commitment to safety,” according to a letter obtained by Automotive News.
The recent snowballing recall crises at GM, FCA and other automakers concerning Takata’s airbag inflators prompted the meeting, according to reports. A spokesman for the Transportation Department said the meeting was “very productive.”
The breadth and scope of current recalls have suggested a souring relationship between automakers and safety regulators — and a growing distrust between the public and the automakers as well.
So far this year, automakers have paid record sums to regulators for botched recalls and defective cars. This summer, GM paid $900 million for defective ignition switches that killed 124 people, FCA paid $105 million for botched recalls on some of its cars and airbag-maker Takata agreed to a $70 million fine that could swell up to $200 million if conditions aren’t met.
“Participants were asked to come prepared with suggestions to share, and spend the next month working toward concrete commitments to industrywide safety measures,” a DOT spokesman told Bloomberg.
The meeting was held on the same day that Congress proposed raising the cap on civil penalties for automakers who don’t disclose safety defects on their cars from $35 million to $105 million, according to the Detroit News.
The proposed bill would also notify owners via email of impending recalls and force rental car companies to repair recalled vehicles before issuing those cars to drivers.
The group also reportedly talked about cybersecurity, but no details were made public.
According to reports the automakers will meet again in January.
More by Aaron Cole
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There is plenty of blame to go around: 1. Shoddy (at times) engineering work by the mfrs. 2. The pressure of the annual product cycle, with too little time to properly test all contingencies, especially age-related issues. 3. Too much trust placed in OEM suppliers, and too little oversight of them. 4. Trial lawyers who win exorbitant settlements for their clients. 5. Consumers who want the lowest-cost gadget-laden product and the highest-possible legal settlements if they fail. 6. Over-reaching (at times) government regulators. 7. An abundance of drunk-driving accidents which hurt everyone involved - the drunk, the victims, the insurance rates, the engineers who are asked to protect the public from them, etc. 8. A public that demands protection from themselves and from the Big Bad Companies, without funding the oversight to do so. 9. Higher speed limits. It pains me to include this one, but both physics and statistics show that speed kills. And there are more.
IOW, 16 progressive corporatists getting together to figure out how 15 of them can get bigger bonuses this year than last, and the 16th can either get reelected, or a cush job exploiting his rolodex. Minimally literate people who actually cared about what "the people's" faith in the auto industry was, would, like, talk to "the people." But in the Age of Incompetence, minimally literate is, like, soooo last century...