The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration's (NHTSA) proposed “early warning system” of reporting and recording potentially dangerous vehicle or equipment defects drew strong comments from the Automotive Aftermarket Industry Association (AAIA).
As a result of the Transportation Recall Enhancement, Accountability, and Documentation (TREAD) Act, NHTSA has proposed that manufacturers regularly report on warranty claims, claims for death, injury or property damage, lawsuits, consumer complaints, internal investigations, and modification to parts and components. AAIA's concerns with the proposed system are focused in four areas:
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Actual need for certain information (ie, its utility in predicting possible safety-related defects and outcomes).
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Practical consequences of collecting and attempting to process huge amounts of new information.
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Confidentiality of information collected by NHTSA.
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Cost to the industry of collecting and disseminating massive amounts of product information.
AAIA urged NHTSA to adopt these proposals:
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Only collect information and data that is truly useful in predicting serious, safety-related defects.
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Target only those equipment lines that, based on past history, have been shown to pose the greatest likelihood of safety-related defects.
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Fully substantiate all data sources before use by NHTSA or release to the public.
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Construct reporting systems to gather information that does not unduly burden equipment manufacturers.
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Be sensitive to the need for confidentiality both in regard to competitive issues and to reduce the likelihood of lawsuits based merely on allegation and supposition.