Economy and law

[Charles Brown <cbrown@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

More on car safety and democracy.

Charles

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Info on car safety off-limits to public



U.S. rule keeps data secret at request of companies, lobbyists


August 18, 2004

BY JEFFREY McCRACKEN
FREE PRESS BUSINESS WRITER

The federal agency that oversees auto safety has decided -- based largely on
arguments from automakers and their Washington, D.C., lobbyists -- that
reams of data relating to unsafe automobiles or defective parts will not be
available to the public.

Specifically, the government has banned the release of car and truck
warranty-claims information, customer complaints and early-warning reports
about defects from dealers, automakers and rental car companies, even if
media outlets or other groups push for it under the Freedom of Information
Act.

The rule, finalized earlier this year, is a two-paragraph decision buried
deep within the Federal Register, which runs hundreds of pages each day. Few
outside the automakers, their lobbyists and some public-interest groups, are
even aware of it. But awareness is growing. The decision by the National
Highway Traffic Safety Administration was cited Saturday in a front-page New
York Times story as an example of regulatory actions by the Bush
administration to aid business or industry.

One consumer-advocacy group has sued the federal government, arguing the
information should be made public and calling the decision a "paternalistic
ruling that basically argues consumers are stupid and would be easily
misled."

Automakers, such as General Motors Corp., and the federal government say the
auto-safety data should not be made public for two main reasons -- the
information would give competitors too much information and it would be of
little use to consumers, who might be overwhelmed or confused by all of the
data.

"Our view is this data is very sensitive to us and shouldn't be in the
public domain," said Chris Preuss, a GM spokesman based in Washington, D.C.
"There's already a tremendous amount of data out there for consumers."

Consumer-advocacy groups say the automaker arguments puzzle them.

"Apparently, the automakers and the government have decided they don't want
people to have accurate information because they might get misled, because
they can't be trusted with this data," said Scott Nelson, a lawyer for the
D.C.-based consumer-advocacy group Public Citizen. "They are arguing this
information is too confusing for the public, but at the same time they argue
this information is so valuable their competitors could ferret out detailed
data from it."

Consumer advocates criticize one automaker argument in particular: that
rivals should have to make their own mistakes -- build a flawed product or
use a defective part -- and not have the advantage of learning from the
mistakes or financial losses of another that has already learned the lesson.


NHTSA, which oversees auto safety and made the decision, notes the data had
never been public before. It further argues that what really matters is the
traffic-safety agency is now getting the information and can move more
quickly to correct safety defects.

Keeping the information private, says NHTSA, is part of the trade-off of
getting good, honest data from automakers.

"We as monitors of vehicle safety have better access to early-warning data
now than we ever had," said Rae Tyson, NHTSA's chief spokesman. "You need to
keep that in perspective."

The data began streaming into NHTSA late last year as part of the TREAD Act,
a law passed in 2000 in response to rollovers of Ford Explorers equipped
with certain Firestone tires.

The law requires quarterly reports from automakers, tiremakers and suppliers
on warranty claims, customer complaints, injuries, fatalities and other
auto-safety information.

Consumer advocates argue the TREAD Act was not just designed to get more
data to NHTSA but to get more data to the public so they can make sure NHTSA
is doing its job of aggressively policing automakers.

"With the NHTSA ruling to keep this data secret, now the watchdogs can't
watch NHTSA to make sure they are doing what Congress demands they do," said
Clarence Ditlow, director of the Center for Auto Safety, a public-interest
group.

NHTSA's decision to keep confidential information regarding warranty claims,
consumer complaints to automakers and defect reports was made in early
April. Like many obscure federal regulations or rules, it was published in
the dense Federal Register but hardly noticed and received scant media
attention.

Such administrative rulings aren't laws and therefore are not subject to
congressional hearings. They often fly under the radar screen, even when
their impact is potentially widespread.

Public Citizen has sued the Department of Transportation to make the
auto-safety data public and argues NHTSA's decision is an example of a
discreet regulatory decision made by the Bush administration to quietly aid
business or industry.

Health rules, workplace-safety standards and environmental regulations have
also been modified to help businesses, these consumer groups said.

"Secrecy is rampant in this administration. It's shocking to me that
information that should be out there for consumers should be kept secret
from them," said Joan Claybrook, president of Public Citizen.

NHTSA, while acknowledging that certain auto-safety information won't be
made public, insists consumers are nonetheless getting more data than ever.

Consumers can, for example, find out information about vehicular deaths,
auto-related property damage or vehicle recalls in foreign countries, none
of which was available before. For years now, information about recalls and
NHTSA investigations has also been public.

"There is more than ever out there for consumers, as much as anyone could
want," said NHTSA's Tyson. "If we let all of the information be made public,
it would have a chilling effect on the data we get. If, for example,
warranty data got out, manufacturers might quit offering warranties or quit
handling problems via warranty."

Jeremy Anwyl, president of the auto-research Web site Edmunds

.com, said he thought the data would be of great interest to consumers,
especially if it was cleaned up and explained clearly.

"There is great interest, tons of interest, in safety, reliability data, by
consumers. It's in their top five things they want to know when they shop
for a vehicle. I think it's a knee-jerk reaction by the automakers to
restrict this data," he said.

But the automaker argument that companies should learn from their own
mistakes is what troubles citizen-advocacy groups in particular.

In a longer summary of NHTSA's decision, which lays out the arguments by GM
and a leading auto-trade association, the Alliance of Auto Manufacturers,
automakers in essence say it would be unfair if other automakers were able
to learn from the mistakes of their competitors.

"It's a shocking argument by the automakers," said Claybrook. "They want
their rivals to keep making defective products because of competitive
reasons."

Eron Shosteck, spokesman for the Auto Alliance, would emphasize only that
automakers and suppliers "simply want to protect proprietary information
from their rivals."

Contact JEFFREY McCRACKEN at 313-222-8763 or mccracken@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx