Foxx: NHTSA Needs Staffing Increase To Keep Pace With Recalls

@an innocent man "I couldn’t help being so close. The harder I pushed on the brake, the faster I went." Well played, my good man, well played.

A more likely result would be that OEMs would resist issuing any recall notice. We need to strike a balance between encouraging compliance and punishing wrongdoing. The "we'll punish every violation, regardless" approach simply encourages companies that make a mistake to do their utmost to deny it or cover it up. I once worked from a company that was contracted to provide regulatory administration (including prosecution) on an outsource basis. We developed a very successful voluntary compliance program, so companies that screwed up could come forward and tell us what they'd done. If it was simply a mistake, we'd work with them to get them back in compliance and they wouldn't be prosecuted. A different government department came to talk to us about this program. they were very proud of their "zero tolerance" policy, and had also implemented a voluntary compliance program. The way they did it, a company coming forward voluntarily would first be convicted and fined, then they would work with them on compliance. I asked them how many companies had come forward under this program, the answer was "zero". Quelle surprise!