Former NHTSA Boss Blocked From Testifying in Toyota Case

Aaron Cole
by Aaron Cole

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is blocking former chief David Strickland from testifying in a California civil lawsuit for Toyota on issues regarding its push-button start systems in some of its cars.

According to the Detroit News, NHTSA officials told lawyers in a letter that Strickland would be barred from testifying in the case as an expert witness.

“The agency has been roundly criticized for its relationship with Toyota in terms of recent enforcement actions, particularly regarding unintended acceleration,” NHTSA’s lawyer wrote in the letter. “Given this history, Mr. Strickland’s testimony as a former NHTSA administrator describing Toyota’s actions or conduct in this matter with approval, will likely diminish the agency’s ability to pursue a vigorous enforcement review of Toyota moving forward.”

Congress has said NHTSA wasn’t tough enough on Toyota when it looked into issues that its push-button start system could leave cars running without the keys present.

Toyota said it asked Strickland to testify on general matters in the lawsuit, but the agency barring the former administrator to testify is being praised as a harder line for what people say is a too-familiar relationship between former safety officials and automakers.

“For too long there has been a revolving door at NHTSA which allowed former NHTSA employees to seek lucrative employment with the same auto manufacturers they had at one time been charged with regulating,” Christine Spagnoli, a lawyer for the owners suing Toyota, told the Detroit News. “Hopefully, the denial of Mr. Strickland’s request to testify on behalf of Toyota is a sign that the new administrator recognizes that these historically cozy relationships between agency employees and the companies they are charged with regulating often results in undermining public trust.”

After leaving NHTSA in 2014, Strickland joined a Washington D.C.-based law firm that has also represented Fiat Chrysler. Former NHTSA officials are not allowed to directly lobby for automakers for two years after leaving the safety administration.


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  • RHD RHD on Jul 12, 2015

    The accidents and tragedies caused by unintended acceleration could all have been avoided if the cars were equipped with manual transmissions. That said, does anyone think that driverless cars will perform 100.00% safely? The will have to, because 99.999% just isn't good enough, and we haven't even gotten close to that with ordinary cars. As an aside, will we have driverless Jeep Wranglers that will drive over boulders and through creeks and countryside without any human input?

    • See 11 previous
    • Ryoku75 Ryoku75 on Jul 12, 2015

      @indi500fan Keep the Miata manual for weekends, get a Mazda 3 automatic for not-weekends (or whatever they'll sell it as in the future).

  • Wmba Wmba on Jul 13, 2015

    @ Lou_BC said: "People drive like zombies and when something critical occurs they loose (sic) valuable time reacting." Couldn't agree more. Just wait until the chime goes off on the new "autonomous" vehicle when the computer tells the driver to take over. Despite a dozen lectures at time of purchase, the owner/driver will reliably have forgotten what to do next. That's because it's a bit more complicated than shifting to neutral, and that taxed the brains of millions. My, my, I will say the gentleman in the photo above seems extremely well fed. No more sushi, now.

    • WheelMcCoy WheelMcCoy on Jul 14, 2015

      "Just wait until the chime goes off on the new “autonomous” vehicle when the computer tells the driver to take over. Despite a dozen lectures at time of purchase, the owner/driver will reliably have forgotten what to do next. " Fortunately, the Google car team has come to a similar conclusion. That's partly why they scaled back their ambitions for autonomous cars. There's hope for common sense... until some company unwisely forges ahead regardless.

  • MaintenanceCosts People who don't use the parking brake when they walk away from the car deserve to have the car roll into a river.
  • 3-On-The-Tree I’m sure they are good vehicles but you can’t base that on who is buying them. Land Rovers, Bentley’ are bought by Robin Leaches’s “The Rich and Famous” but they have terrible reliability.
  • SCE to AUX The fix sounds like a bandaid. Kia's not going to address the defective shaft assemblies because it's hard and expensive - not cool.
  • Analoggrotto I am sick and tired of every little Hyundai Kia Genesis flaw being blown out of proportion. Why doesn't TTAC talk about the Tundra iForce Max problems, Toyota V35A engine problems or the Lexus 500H Hybrid problems? Here's why: education. Most of America is illiterate, as are the people who bash Hyundai Kia Genesis. Surveys conducted by credible sources have observed a high concentration of Hyundai Kia Genesis models at elite ivy league universities, you know those places where students earn degrees which earn more than $100K per year? Get with the program TTAC.
  • Analoggrotto NoooooooO!
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