Department of Transportation's Investigation of Rear Brake Lockup Problems in 1980 X-Body Cars Should Have Been More Timely

Gao ID: RCED-83-195 August 5, 1983

In response to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Department of Transportation's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) investigation of alleged rear brake lockup problems in General Motors' 1980 X-body cars.

GAO found that NHTSA did not follow its established procedures for conducting safety defect investigations. Although it had information indicating that General Motors' remedy for the braking defect might not be adequate, NHTSA did not formally advise the firm of this concern, aggressively pursue testing affected cars, or promptly initiate an audit of the recall's effectiveness. Therefore, NHTSA delayed the recall of cars with potential safety defects. Further, GAO found that decisions regarding most of these actions were made by a single NHTSA official with no apparent review by top agency officials. GAO noted that it did not draw any conclusions concerning General Motors' actions in this case.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

Director: Oliver W. Krueger Team: General Accounting Office: Resources, Community, and Economic Development Division Phone: (202) 275-5514


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