Thanks to the way that Toyota sloppily mishandled their vehicle recalls, Congress is now looking into ways we can bolster the safety net for consumers. The National Highway Traffic Safety is in charge of overseeing and regulating automakers in order to keep the nation’s constituents safe. Dubbed the “Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 2010,” some of the key features in this act include increasing the fines that can be made against manufacturers for false claims or failing to report a recall in an expedient manner. Some say that the Motor Vehicle Safety Act is moving slowly, facing speed bumps from auto makers attempting to stall the legislation.
But how does this Act affect you the consumer? According to this news report, if put into place, the Act would require these new mandatory safety features in all vehicles:
- Brake override or similar technology to safely stop a car within a safe distance, no matter what circumstances.
- Simple, standard controls to turn off the engine in an emergency.
- Intuitive, clearly labeled transmission shifters.
- Methods to address pedal entrapment.
As a Seattle car accident lawyer, I hope that big business and money won’t get in the way of pushing forward with this legislation that could keep drivers much safer.