The bill includes a section on the conditions of importation of vehicles and equipment, port inspections and samples for examination or testing, and public availability of recall information. It also includes provisions on the promotion of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) Hotline for Manufacturer, Dealer and Mechanic Personnel. This section includes specific details regarding the Public Availability of Communications with Dealers and the Passenger Motor Vehicle Information Program.
The legislation goes on to discuss promotion of Vehicle Defect Reporting.
It is amended by adding at the end the following:
“(d) Motor Vehicle Defect Reporting Information.
“(1) Rulemaking required: Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of the Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 2012, the secretary shall prescribe regulations that require passenger motor vehicle manufacturers.
“(A) to affix, in the glove compartment or in another readily accessible location on the vehicle, a sticker, decal, or other device that provides, in simple and understandable language, information about how to submit a safety-related motor vehicle defect complaint to NHTSA;
“(B) to prominently print the information described in subparagraph (A) within the owner’s manual; and
“(C) to not place such information on the label required under section 3 of the Automobile Information Disclosure Act (15 U.S.C. 1232).
“(2) Application: The requirements under paragraph (1) shall apply to passenger motor vehicles manufactured in any model year beginning more than 1 year after the date on which a final rule is published under paragraph (1).”
Important to the collision industry will be a required Study of Crash Data Collection, which includes the following:
(a) In General: Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this act, the Secretary of Transportation shall submit a report to the Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation of the Senate, and the Committee on Energy and Commerce of the House of Representatives, regarding the quality of data collected through the National Automotive Sampling System, including the Special Crash Investigations Program.
(b) Review: The administrator of NHTSA (referred to in this section as the “administration”) shall conduct a comprehensive review of the data elements collected from each crash to determine if additional data should be collected. The review under this subsection shall include input from interested parties, including suppliers, automakers, safety advocates, the medical community and research organizations.
(c) Contents: The report issues under this section shall include:
(1) the analysis and conclusions the administration can reach from the amount of motor vehicle crash data collected in a given year;
(2) the additional analysis and conclusions the administration could reach if more crash investigations were conducted each year;
(3) the number of investigations per year that would allow for optimal data analysis and crash information;
(4) the results of the comprehensive review conducted pursuant to subsection (b);
(5) the incremental costs of collecting and analyzing additional data, as well as data from additional crashes;
(6) the potential for obtaining private funding for all or a portion of the costs under paragraph (5);
(7) the potential for recovering any additional costs from high-volume users of the data, while continuing to make the data available to the general public free of charge;
(8) the advantages or disadvantages of expanding collection of non-crash data instead of crash data;
(9) recommendations for improvements to the administration’s data collection program; and
(10) the resources needed by the administration to implement such recommendations.
Finally, a section on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Electronics, Software and Engineering Expertise – which references the Council for Vehicle Electronics, Vehicle Software and Emerging Technologies to build, integrate and aggregate the Administration’s expertise in passenger motor vehicle electronics and other new and emerging technologies – is also included. The Automotive Service Association (ASA) had previously reported on the National Research Council’s (NRC) released report on Automotive Electronic Safety, which called for more NHTSA oversight on new vehicle technologies.
To view the full text of the bill and the NRC report, visit ASA’s legislative website at www.TakingTheHill.com.
The Automotive Service Association is the largest not-for-profit trade association of its kind dedicated to and governed by independent automotive service and repair professionals. ASA serves an international membership base that includes numerous affiliate, state and chapter groups from both the mechanical and collision repair segments of the automotive service industry.
ASA advances professionalism and excellence in the automotive repair industry through education, representation and member services. For additional information about ASA, including past news releases, go to www.ASAshop.org, or visit ASA’s legislative website at www.TakingTheHill.com.