The TREAD Act, the direct result of the 2000 Ford-Firestone tire recalls, brought us TPMS, new tire safety regulations, and extensive defect reporting requirements for tiremakers.
The RMA claims proposed legislation to make public more information reported to NHTSA by automobile, tire and automotive parts manufacturers would result in “critical business information” being released.
The group opposes some reporting provisions in House bill HR 5381 and a companion measure in the Senate S 3302, commonly called the Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 2010. The bills, which would expand NHTSA’s scope in the face of recent vehicle recalls, are moving through Congressional committees.
“RMA strongly supports and our members fully comply with the current early warning reporting system to provide federal safety regulators with information to help enhance motorist safety,” said Charles Cannon, RMA president and CEO. “However, RMA and its members are very concerned that this bill may result in NHTSA disclosing critical business information that will cause competitive harm to manufacturers in the U.S.”
The TREAD Act mandated NHTSA’s Early Warning Reporting System, in which auto industry manufacturers – including tire companies – are required to report substantial amounts of production and performance data and consumer claims to the agency to assist federal safety officials with identifying potential safety issues.
But when NHTSA created the Early Warning Reporting System, RMA noted, it also created categories of information that would be protected from public disclosure as confidential business information. For tire manufacturers, this included production data, warranty claims and common green tires, which are tires that have not been cured.
The new bills would temper those protections, and could force tiremakers to reveal information and data they otherwise would prefer to keep confidential.
Additionally, RMA said, “the measure gives NHTSA the authority to declare that a vehicle, tire or automotive part presents an ‘imminent hazard’ to motorist safety. Such a declaration would allow the agency to impose a range of remedies to force manufacturers to address a potential safety issue.”