Motor Vehicle Safety:

Enforcement of Federal Standards Can Be Enhanced

RCED-87-2, Dec 15, 1986

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GAO reviewed the Department of Transportation's (DOT) National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's (NHTSA) oversight and management procedures for: (1) selecting safety standards, motor vehicles, and equipment for compliance testing; (2) investigating vehicles and equipment that fail compliance tests; and (3) assessing civil penalties against manufacturers or distributors that do not comply with federal standards.

GAO found that: (1) NHTSA has not tested some standards for long periods and has never tested others; (2) the deterrent value of NHTSA testing activities is not as strong as it could be because its selection process does not ensure testing of each standard over a period of time; (3) NHTSA cannot ensure that manufacturers comply with all of its standards because it has excluded some standards from testing; (4) resolving cases can take from less than 1 year to as much as 7 years because NHTSA has not established a system of management controls over the processing of investigation and civil penalty cases; and (5) NHTSA has not established guidelines concerning penalty assessments.

Status Legend:

More Info
  • Review Pending-GAO has not yet assessed implementation status.
  • Open-Actions to satisfy the intent of the recommendation have not been taken or are being planned, or actions that partially satisfy the intent of the recommendation have been taken.
  • Closed-implemented-Actions that satisfy the intent of the recommendation have been taken.
  • Closed-not implemented-While the intent of the recommendation has not been satisfied, time or circumstances have rendered the recommendation invalid.
    • Review Pending
    • Open
    • Closed - implemented
    • Closed - not implemented

    Recommendations for Executive Action

    Recommendation: To improve the processing efficiency of all investigations and resulting civil penalty actions and recalls, the Secretary of Transportation should direct the Administrator, NHTSA, to develop criteria and procedures for OVSC to follow in determining which noncompliance investigations should be forwarded to the Office of Chief Counsel for penalty assessments.

    Agency Affected: Department of Transportation

    Status: Review Pending

    Comments: When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.

    Recommendation: To improve the processing efficiency of all investigations and resulting civil penalty actions and recalls, the Secretary of Transportation should direct the Administrator, NHTSA, to develop milestones and procedures for processing noncompliance investigation cases and monitor the Office of Vehicle Safety Compliance (OVSC) progress against them.

    Agency Affected: Department of Transportation

    Status: Review Pending

    Comments: When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.

    Recommendation: To better ensure that safety standards and vehicles selected for compliance testing have the greatest impact on public safety, the Secretary of Transportation should direct the Administrator, NHTSA, to determine the cost to collect additional standard-related accident data and safety benefits to be derived from such data. If obtaining the standard-related data is cost-beneficial, NHTSA should collect and use the data to help select motor vehicles for testing.

    Agency Affected: Department of Transportation

    Status: Review Pending

    Comments: When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.

    Recommendation: To better ensure that safety standards and vehicles selected for compliance testing have the greatest impact on public safety, the Secretary of Transportation should direct the Administrator, NHTSA, to ensure that all 39 testable safety standards are selected for testing over time with the intent of improving compliance.

    Agency Affected: Department of Transportation

    Status: Review Pending

    Comments: When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.

    Recommendation: To improve the processing efficiency of all investigations and resulting civil penalty actions and recalls, the Secretary of Transportation should direct the Administrator, NHTSA, to develop milestones and procedures for processing civil penalty cases.

    Agency Affected: Department of Transportation

    Status: Review Pending

    Comments: When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.