Car-Safety Bill May Be Tamed

[Omaha Steve]

Source: Wall Street Journal

By JOSH MITCHELL

WASHINGTON—Congressional Democrats may scale back some provisions of an auto-safety bill after car makers criticized the measure for mandating rapid and costly rollouts of new technology and eliminating their right to question government-imposed vehicle recalls.

Proposals unveiled in the House and Senate this month would require fundamental changes to the design of cars in the next few years, including modifications to gas-pedal configurations and new requirements for crash-data recorders and back-up brake technology.

The bills also would remove a cap on civil fines for safety lapses by car makers and would empower the top U.S. vehicle-safety regulator to unilaterally order a vehicle recall.

Consumer advocates said those provisions were needed to prevent a repeat of the problems that led Toyota Motor Corp. to recall more than 8.5 million vehicles globally since last fall for defects related to sudden acceleration and other safety issues. Toyota also agreed to pay more than $16 million to settle charges by the Department of Transportation that it tried to hide the defects from regulators.

Read more: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704414504575244782393022978.html?mod=WSJ_business_LeftSecondHighlights

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Associated Press

Mechanic Matthew Lee holds a recalled Toyota gas pedal at a dealership in Palo Alto, Calif. in February.

[katandmoon]

1. Safety of the public vs. carmaker profits? = no brainer for politicians

[liberal N proud]

2. Where greed is involved, greed will always win.