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Consumer group says NHTSA tire pressure monitoring rule long overdue
April 7, 2005
The Public Citizen consumer group's President Joan Claybrook has issued a statement in response to the new NHTSA issued rule requiring automakers to install tire pressure monitoring systems that are effective in alerting motorists if any tire on the vehicle is underinflated.
After the TREAD Act was passed in the fall of 2000, Congress required the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to set guidelines for tire pressure monitoring systems within a year. In the spring of 2002, the agency issued a rule allowing for a system that would not function when two tires on the same side of the vehicle were underinflated.
The system had other weaknesses and would have been little help to motorists, according to the consumer group who, along with the New York Public Interest Research Group and the Center for Auto Safety, sued the NHTSA to force the agency to revise the rule to ensure motorists are adequately warned when their tire pressure fell to dangerous levels. A three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ordered the government to strengthen the rule to cover each tire on the vehicle in 2003.
Because the agency failed to strengthen the rule nearly a year later, the safety groups took more court action in July 2004, asking to order the "recalcitrant agency" to act. The NHTSA has finally issued a rule requiring automakers to install systems in all new passenger cars and trucks by the 2008 model year, beginning a phase-in with 2006 model year vehicles.
The new systems will alert motorists if any tire falls 25 percent below the recommended inflation pressure. Although the Public Citizen said the rule does have deficiencies, the group also said it is an important first step. According to Claybrook, the rule is long overdue, delayed because of the auto industry lobbying the Bush administration and requiring litigation to force the agency to do its job.
It is estimated that the tire pressuring monitoring systems will save 120 lives and prevent 8,400 injuries every year. The fact that the rules took five years to pass is "incomprehensible," according to the consumer group.If you have any questions about your legal rights regarding an injury caused by an auto defect, please contact us.
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