Auto Recall Legislation Lagging
The world’s largest auto show – the 2015 Frankfurt Auto Show – is in full swing. As my Legal Current colleague Sean Doherty discussed earlier, much of the attention is not on the hottest concept cars, but on the legal and regulatory troubles facing Volkswagen AG.
Emission compliance and regulatory oversight are only a few of the challenges facing the auto industry as it moves towards more Internet-enabled features and the promise of self-driving vehicles.
During the run of the 2015 Frankfurt Auto Show, the Thomson Reuters Knowledge Effect blog will be running a series of posts that will provide glimpses into the professional lives of our customers touching the auto industry, through proprietary data, insights and expert analysis that only Thomson Reuters can deliver.
The first examines how the recent rise in auto safety recalls is not necessarily leading to a rise in new laws covering recalls.
Auto makers recalled a record 63.95 million vehicles in the U.S. in 2014 – including the largest single recall in history, involving Takata air bags. And the wave of auto recalls has continued throughout 2015. As the number of deaths and injuries linked to faulty auto parts climb, some lawmakers and safety advocates contend the auto industry is not doing enough to address safety concerns. General Motors recently agreed to pay a $900 million fine as part of a settlement with the Justice Department over its defective ignition switches, which are linked to 124 deaths.
The analysis details how the recent rise in recalls has lead to an increase in proposed legislation at both the state and federal levels, but that has not yet translated into a meaningful increase in new passed laws governing safety recalls.
