Following New GAO Report, Members of Congress Call on NHTSA to Clear Backlog of Overdue Automobile Safety Rulemakings and Research Initiatives
According to the new report, the automobile safety agency has failed to complete seventeen of twenty-two rulemakings required by Congress in recent years
WASHINGTON – Today, Consumer Protection & Commerce Subcommittee Chairwoman Jan Schakowsky (IL-09), & Congresswoman Lisa Blunt Rochester (DE-At Large), alongside Representatives Kathy Castor (D-FL) and Bobby L. Rush (D-IL), called on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to clear the backlog of overdue automobile safety rulemakings and research initiatives in the wake of the recent Government Accountability Office (GAO) report finding that the safety agency has failed to complete several Congressional safety directives by statutory deadlines. The GAO report found that NHTSA failed to complete seventeen of twenty-two rulemakings required in the 2012 Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act and the 2015 Fixing America's Surface Transportation Act. Only two of the seventeen safety reports mandated in those laws were completed by their statutory deadlines. The GAO found that changing administration priorities, issue complexity, and resource availability were factors affecting NHTSA's completion of rulemakings and reports.
"Ending the epidemic of automobile fatalities and injuries on our nation's roads requires leadership and commitment, not regulatory inertia," lawmakers said. "But crucial automobile safety rulemakings and research initiatives have far too often taken a backseat at NHTSA. These missed congressional deadlines have become missed opportunities to make our cars, roadways, and communities safer. We urge NHTSA to right these wrongs and complete these crucial safety initiatives without delay."
In 2020, members of the House Subcommittee on Consumer Protection and Commerce sent a letter calling for a study on NHTSA's research and rulemaking process to identify factors contributing to delays and recommendations to ensure NHTSA meets statutory deadlines.
Members alsoled a letter in 2019 to the Deputy Administrator of NHTSA demanding answers on incomplete automobile safety standards.
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