Posts: 36093
From: Mesa, Az
Registered: JUL 2000

posted 08-18-2004 08:28 PM         

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The Leibo Letter - Wednesday, August 18, 2004

We begin today with the outrage of the day. This really torqued me, even at 4:30 in the morning (and that's saying something).
http://www.dailystar.com/dailystar/news/34780.php

DETROIT - The federal agency that oversees auto safety has decided - based largely on arguments from automakers and their Washington, D.C., lobbyists - that data relating to unsafe automobiles or defective parts will not be available to the public.

Specifically, the government has banned the release of car and truck warranty-claims information, customer complaints and early-warning reports about defects from dealers, automakers and rental-car companies. The information is shielded even if media outlets or other groups push for it under the Freedom of Information Act.

Federal officials say the rule will make them better able to enforce vehicle safety, and that the information was never public anyway.

The rule, finalized earlier this year, is a two-paragraph decision buried deep within the Federal Register, which runs hundreds of pages each day. Few, outside automakers, their lobbyists and some public-interest groups are even aware of it.

But awareness is growing.

One consumer-advocacy group has sued the federal government, arguing this information should be made public and calling the decision a "paternalistic ruling that basically argues consumers are stupid and would be easily misled."

Automakers such as General Motors Corp. and the federal government say this auto-safety data should not be made public for two main reasons - the information would give competitors too much information and it would be of little use to consumers, who might be overwhelmed or confused by all the data.

"Our view is this data is very sensitive to us and shouldn't be in the public domain," said Chris Preuss, Washington-based spokesman for GM. "There's already a tremendous amount of data out there for consumers."

Consumer-advocacy groups say the automaker arguments puzzle them.

"Apparently the automakers and the government have decided they don't want people to have accurate information because they might get misled, because they can't be trusted with this data," said Scott Nelson, a lawyer for Washington-based consumer advocacy group Public Citizen. "They are arguing this information is too confusing for the public, but at the same time they argue this information is so valuable their competitors could ferret out detailed data from it. It makes me scratch my head."

Consumer advocates criticize one automaker argument in particular: that rivals should have to make their own mistakes - build a flawed product or use a defective part - and not have the advantage of learning from the mistakes or financial losses of another who has already learned the lesson.

Automakers say it would be unfair if other automakers were able to learn from the mistakes of their competitors.

"It's a shocking argument by the automakers," said Joan Claybrook, president of Public Citizen and the head of National Highway Traffic Safety Administration under the Carter administration. "They want their rivals to keep making defective products because of competitive reasons."

Your thoughts???

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