The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s (NHTSA) Office of Defects Investigations (ODI) is too slow to investigate automotive safety issues, limiting its ability to respond to them in a timely manner, a government audit has found.
The internal investigation was launched by the Department of Transportation’s inspector general, and found numerous problems slowing the ODI’s ability to rapidly address problems that could evolve into severe risks to American drivers.
NHTSA doesn’t have an integrated computer system for its probes, and doesn’t consistently follow its own procedures for prioritizing investigations. Although the examination found that the agency has made progress in modernizing its data analysis systems, weaknesses continue to make timely results difficult.
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More alarmingly, the audit found that ODI doesn’t always record all of the documentation in its investigations. In 22 out of 24 probes the auditors looked at, files were missing. This may be as a result of the office not having clear requirements for documenting investigations, and not providing adequate oversight.
“As a result, ODI may miss critical information for launching an investigation, lack information on what was said at meetings with manufacturers or stakeholders, delay remedies for safety defects or not accurately inform the public and stakeholders about an investigation’s status,” the inspector general found.
In a statement, NHTSA said that it has already completed most of the improvements recommended by the inspector general. However, the publication of the report comes as NHTSA struggles with a pair of high-visibility investigations.
The regulator recently asked a Tennessee parts supplier to recall allegedly deadly airbag inflators found in 67 million American vehicles. However, the investigation started in 2015 and has lasted roughly eight years, during which time a 40-year-old mother died because of the part, the Associated Press reports.
Meanwhile, a highly publicized investigation into Tesla’s Autopilot system has been dragging on. Although the agency has said that it is working as fast as possible, it is another example of an investigation that is struggling to keep up with technology.
