{"id":167225,"date":"2021-04-26T16:57:51","date_gmt":"2021-04-26T20:57:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thedetroitbureau.com\/?p=167225"},"modified":"2021-04-26T16:57:51","modified_gmt":"2021-04-26T20:57:51","slug":"tesla-crash-nudges-senators-to-re-introduce-auto-safety-bills","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/2021\/04\/tesla-crash-nudges-senators-to-re-introduce-auto-safety-bills\/","title":{"rendered":"Tesla Crash Nudges Senators to Re-Introduce Auto Safety Bills"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Sen. Ed Markey was joined Sen. Richard Blumenthal and others in re-introducing four bills aimed at improving automotive safety.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The recent crash involving a Tesla Model S appears to have spurred a legislative push to institute mandates for new vehicles making them safer, specifically technology ensuring drivers are paying attending while behind the wheel.<\/p>\n

The Stay Aware for Everyone, or SAFE, Act is designed to mitigate issues surrounding distracted driving. The trio believes the increased use of advanced driver assistance systems encourage motorists to engage in risky behavior behind the wheel.<\/p>\n

Although not specifically mentioning Tesla and its Autopilot technology, the timing of the reintroduction of the legislation is difficult to ignore. It should be noted that the investigation into the Houston-area crash is ongoing and it\u2019s not been determined it Autopilot played role in the crash and subsequent fire that resulted in two fatalities.<\/p>\n

New safety legislation<\/h3>\n

\u201cEvery year on average, over 36,000 people are killed and nearly three million more are injured in motor vehicle crashes,\u201d\u00a0said Sen. Ed Markey (D-Massachusetts) in a statement.\u00a0\u201cThese numbers reveal a public health crisis that we must not accept as inevitable. We can prevent these unnecessary tragedies with proven strategies and technologies.<\/p>\n

\"Tesla<\/a>
Tesla’s facing the fallout from another fatal crash where the driver was reportedly using Autopilot, but not as recommended by the automaker.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s why I am proud to reintroduce a robust legislative package that will address several of the most dangerous safety issues on our roads. As Congress debates infrastructure and surface transportation reauthorization in the weeks ahead, I will fight for these bills and ensure that safety is at the forefront of everything we do. Upgrading our roads and highways also means upgrading safety.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sens Richard Blumenthal, D-Connecticut and Amy Klobuchar, D-Minnesota joined Markey in introducing that measure. It\u2019s part of a four-bill package of auto safety bills introduced Monday. The goal is to get them added to the massive $2.3 trillion infrastructure bill.<\/p>\n

The Tesla crash highlights one of the issues with semi-autonomous driving technology. Tesla is either the poster child or whipping boy for the issue. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has opened 28 probes into Tesla crashes, with 24 pending, where Autopilot was suspected of being in use, according to Reuters.<\/p>\n

Three other auto safety bills<\/h3>\n

Recent events likely helped to put the Promoting Auto Recalls Toward Safety (PARTS) Act on the list. American Honda revealed late last week faulty Takata airbag inflators are being blamed for a South Carolina driver\u2019s death \u2014 the 19th<\/sup> in the U.S.<\/p>\n

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Takata’s faulty airbag inflators have been linked to 19 deaths and hundreds of injuries in the U.S.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The PARTS Act aims to apply lessons learned from the ongoing Takata recall \u2014 the largest in history \u2014 to improve the repair rate of vehicles subject to a recall.<\/p>\n

It specifically authorizes the U.S. Department of Transportation to provide grants to states for use in notifying registered motor vehicle owners about manufacturer-issued safety recalls, as well as require additional reporting and an annual scorecard on how effectively automakers are completing any recalls.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0Early Warning Reporting Systems Improvement Act\u00a0is designed to \u201cfill a safety gap created by the historically low number of defect investigations launched by NHTSA in recent years,\u201d according to a statement. The legislation requires automakers to provide more information about incidents involving fatalities and serious injuries directly to the public. It also mandates NHTSA to deliver the information it receives publicly available in a user-friendly format, so users can better evaluate potential safety defects themselves.<\/p>\n

The fourth bill \u2014 the\u00a0Modernizing Seat Back Safety Act\u00a0\u2014 requires NHTSA to update its standards for seat back integrity in new vehicles. The current standard has remained largely unchanged for decades, allowing for a slew of back seat passenger fatalities, mostly children.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The recent crash involving a Tesla Model S appears to have spurred a legislative push to institute mandates for new vehicles making them safer. The Stay Aware for Everyone, or SAFE, Act is designed to mitigate issues surrounding distracted driving. The three others address recalls, data and seats. Get the story at TheDetroitBureau.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4389,"featured_media":88992,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7,8,5,11,13,12,9],"tags":[],"make":[],"post-state":[],"category_old":[118,292,302,150,151,123,133,131,299,138,132,129,294,125,124,297,293,121,137,148,312,128,291,295,288],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167225"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4389"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=167225"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167225\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/88992"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=167225"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=167225"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=167225"},{"taxonomy":"make","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/make?post=167225"},{"taxonomy":"post-state","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post-state?post=167225"},{"taxonomy":"category_old","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/category_old?post=167225"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}