How do you get the most cooperation from Washington D.C. if you are running a multi-national business? Hire from within Washington, D.C. That is just what Toyota Motor Corp. did. Former regulators from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, helped bring to a conclusion four investigations into unintended acceleration of Toyota vehicles over the last decade, government records show.
Both Christopher Santucci and Christopher Tinto, helped persuade the federal regulator, NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration) to stop investigations into the 2002-2003 Toyota Camry and Solaras. Business Week reports that Ford, Honda and General Motors do not have former NHTSA people who deal with defects.
“Toyota bamboozled NHTSA or NHTSA was bamboozled by itself,” said Joan Claybrook, an auto safety advocate and former NHTSA administrator in the Jimmy Carter administration. “I think there is going to be a lot of heat on NHTSA over this.”
NHTSA is operating on the budget it had in 1980, gouged of personnel and funding by previous administrations at a time when 8 million vehicles have been recalled to fix pedals, floor mats and software to fix the brakes on the Prius and other hybrid models.
Four probes that the Toyota aids helped end were for unintended acceleration caused by defects in the electronic throttle systems. There is no waiting period requirement for government workers to move into industry, although they are not supposed to deal with NHTSA about matters they worked on while at NHTSA. In all, NHTSA opened eight investigations into unintended acceleration from 2003 to 2010. Safety Research & Strategies reports that three of the probes ended in recalls for floor mats and five were closed. In four of the five closed cases, Tinto and Santucci were involved.
With appearances being everything, that move is fueling criticism of the handling of defects in Toyota and Lexus models that maybe tied to as many as 34 deaths between 2004 and 2009.
