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Open Recommendations (15 total)

Roadside Safety: DOT Should Update Public Awareness Materials on Move Over Laws

GAO-24-106216
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration The NHTSA Administrator should update NHTSA's public awareness materials on states' Move Over laws, such as banners and other graphics, to more fully reflect the range of vehicles that states' laws cover, such as highway maintenance or construction, utility, trash, and disabled vehicles. (Recommendation 1)
Open
NHTSA concurred with this recommendation. In its August 2024 180-day letter, NHTSA stated that the agency had completed a review of states' current Move Over laws. NHTSA also stated that it plans to review its public awareness materials related to those laws and update them, as needed, by June 30, 2025.

Driver Assistance Technologies: NHTSA Should Take Action to Enhance Consumer Understanding of Capabilities and Limitations

GAO-24-106255
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5 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration The Administrator of NHTSA should provide more information on NHTSA's public website about partial driving automation systems to clarify the scope of intended use and the driver's responsibility to monitor the system and the driving environment while such a system is engaged. (Recommendation 2)
Open
DOT concurred with this recommendation. As of August 2024, DOT stated that NHTSA will update the consumer information in the Driver Assistance Technologies section of its website to include information about the capabilities, limitations, and intended uses of partial driving automation systems by December 31, 2024. GAO will continue to monitor DOT's efforts to implement this recommendation.
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration The Administrator of NHTSA should communicate progress on meeting time frames established in its roadmap for developing a system for rating the technologies and redesigning the new car sticker and provide updated milestones and reasons for delays as needed. (Recommendation 5)
Open
DOT concurred with this recommendation. As of August 2024, DOT stated that NHTSA will conduct a notice and comment process for developing a rating system and redesigning the new car sticker to include crash avoidance technologies. NHTSA will also provide the public with any relevant progress and time frame updates. For each NCAP update, NHTSA plans to issue a final decision document that responds to comments and provides lead times for implementation. NHTSA also plans to update its roadmap at least every four years as needed to ensure that key milestones and the time periods for changes to NCAP remain reasonable. GAO will continue to monitor DOT's efforts to implement this recommendation.
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration The Administrator of NHTSA should finalize NHTSA's roadmap for NCAP as soon as possible and include updated and realistic near-term and long-term time frames for changes to NCAP. (Recommendation 3)
Open
DOT concurred with this recommendation. As of August 2024, DOT stated that NHTSA is currently developing a final decision notice on the 10-year roadmap that will include both near-term and long-term plans for updating NCAP and anticipates publishing it in the Federal Register by December 31, 2024. GAO will continue to monitor DOT's efforts to implement this recommendation.
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration The Administrator of NHTSA should communicate to the public on NHTSA's website for vehicle rating information the test conditions and performance criteria NHTSA uses to determine if a vehicle's crash avoidance technologies qualify for a checkmark on the website. (Recommendation 1)
Open
DOT concurred with this recommendation. As of August 2024, DOT stated that NHTSA is in the process of redesigning its website and plans to include both crashworthiness test procedures and crash avoidance test procedures for the technologies that are recommended in its New Car Assessment Program by December 31, 2024. GAO will continue to monitor DOT's efforts to implement this recommendation.
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration The Administrator of NHTSA should communicate progress on meeting time frames established in its roadmap for recommending four additional crash avoidance technologies and provide updated milestones and reasons for delays as needed. (Recommendation 4)
Open
DOT concurred with this recommendation. As of August 2024, DOT stated that NHTSA is currently developing a final decision notice on its 10-year roadmap, which will include updated milestones and decisions on the proposed crash avoidance technologies, as well as any relevant implementation dates. NHTSA anticipates completing its decision notice by December 31, 2024. GAO will continue to monitor DOT's efforts to implement this recommendation.

Vehicle Safety: Opportunities to Improve Repair Rates for Recalled Vehicles

GAO-24-106356
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2 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration The Administrator of NHTSA should more fully implement a lessons-learned process to identify lessons from its own and manufacturers' collaborative efforts with third parties that could help to improve recall completion rates. (Recommendation 2)
Open
NHTSA concurred with this recommendation. When we confirm what actions NHTSA has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration The Administrator of NHTSA should develop a plan for regularly conducting research to identify the factors that influence vehicle remedies in response to recalls. (Recommendation 1)
Open
NHTSA concurred with this recommendation. When we confirm what actions NHTSA has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.

Vehicle Safety: DOT Should Take Additional Actions to Improve the Information Obtained from Crash Test Dummies

GAO-23-105595
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1 Open Recommendations
1 Priority
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
Priority Rec.
The Administrator of NHTSA should develop and communicate a plan to address limitations in the information dummies provide related to the greater risks certain demographic groups face in vehicle crashes. Such a plan should detail how efforts will respond to risks, set milestones for activities, and establish mechanisms to communicate decisions and progress. (Recommendation 1)
Open
As of March 2024, NHTSA has developed a plan that includes efforts to assess field data to identify disparities in crash outcomes, leverage computer model simulations as a supplement to physical testing, and a 9-phase process for developing crash test dummies. While the plan describes general milestones and examples of communication mechanisms, NHTSA still needs to set specific milestones and develop a comprehensive communication plan. We will continue to follow NHTSA's efforts to provide information on more specific milestones and communication strategies.

Traffic Safety: Implementing Leading Practices Could Improve Management of Mandated Rulemakings and Reports

GAO-22-104635
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration The NHTSA Deputy Administrator should provide additional information on incomplete rulemakings to Congress, including the substantive activities that NHTSA completed between rulemaking milestones. NHTSA could consider providing this information as part of the biannual reports required by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. (Recommendation 3)
Open – Partially Addressed
NHTSA concurred with this recommendation. In its February 2024 Rulemaking Status Report to Congress, NHTSA provided additional information on most of the incomplete rulemakings mandated by MAP-21 and the FAST Act. NHTSA described the reasons why they did not meet mandated deadlines for these incomplete rulemakings, and for about half of the rulemakings, NHTSA described examples of substantive activities it had completed between rulemaking milestones. We will review the next biannual Rulemaking Status Report to Congress once it is available and provide updated information on the status of NHTSA efforts to implement this recommendation.
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