The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is considering safety regulations that would require automakers to equip new vehicles with brake override systems and “black boxes” that record crash data, says Administrator David Strickland.
Most cars already have some sort of crash recorder aboard, although the amount of data they collect varies. Beginning next year, the data will become more standardized. Many cars also are equipped with a brake override system that automatically cut the engine throttle if it detects simultaneous input from the brake and accelerator.
Strickland also told the House Energy and Commerce Committee yesterday that NHTSA may need greater authority to set standards for the increasingly complex technology in current vehicles. The committee is investigating NHTSA’s slow reaction to reports of sudden acceleration in Toyota Motor Corp. vehicles.
Strickland, who took charge of the agency in January, says NHTSA is conducting a broad review of vehicle design, including electronics, to determine whether to update design standards, such as those for accelerator pedals.
In other testimony, safety advocate Joan Claybrook, a former NHTSA administrator, called for tougher standards, stiffer penalties for carmakers who fail to recall vehicles and greater disclosure of the data they submit during defect investigations. She also urged Congress to double NHTSA’s $873 million annual budget.
The agency’s Office of Defects Investigation, which is allotted just under $10 million, has 21 defect investigators to handle complaints, which typically average 30,000 per year. NHTSA received 10,000 reports last month. Strickland says the agency’s proposed budget for the next fiscal year would allow him to hire 66 additional safety staffers.
Chevrolet Cruze
General Motors Co. North America President Mark Reuss says in a Web chat with consumers that GM is considering a two-door variant of its new Cruze compact sedan, which bows this fall in the U.S.
He also says the U.S. may get a new model based on GM’s rear-wheel-drive Zeta platform. Developed by GM’s Holden unit in Australia, the Zeta platform currently carries the Holden Commodore sedan and Chevrolet Camaro. A new Commodore is due in Australia in 2013.
Suzuki Motor Corp has purchased an additional 0.8% of Maruti Suzuki India Ltd., increasing its holding in the company to 55%. Maruti Suzuki is India’s largest automaker, accounting for half the country’s new passenger vehicle sales.
The Indian venture now sells more vehicles than Suzuki sells worldwide on its own. It also accounts for nearly 80% of Suzuki’s profits. Last month, Maruti Suzuki sold 96,700 cars, up 22% from February 2009.
Analysts suggest the increase signals an even bigger presence for Suzuki in India in the future. Under the country’s laws, companies can accumulate up to 5% of another firm per year until a 55% stake is achieved. At that time, additional purchases must be accompanied by an open offer of another 20%.
European production of cars, trucks and buses declined 17% to 15.2 million units last year, reports industry carmaker association ACEA.
Car production fell 13% to 13.9 million units compared to 2008 in spite of a 23% jump in fourth-quarter output to nearly 4 million units—the largest quarterly volume all year. Full-year production of light and heavy commercial vehicles plunged 42% to 1 million units and 64% to 245,600 units, respectively. Bus production dropped 12% to 35,100.
ACEA says Germany’s output of cars, trucks and buses fell almost 14% to 5.2 million units. Spain’s production shrank by about 15% to 2 million, and France’s output declined 20% to 1.1 million. Vehicle production in the U.K. plunged 34% to 1.1 million, and output in Italy declined nearly 18% to 843,000. Assemblies in the Czech Republic and Poland, eastern Europe’s two largest producers, increased 3% to 974,600 and 7% to 879,200 units, respectively.
