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Auto Safety Nominee Headed for Confirmation

Lobbyist Who Opposed Safety Measures Will Now Be Enforcing Them

By Joe Benton
ConsumerAffairs.com

February 8, 2006

Auto Safety • Study: Vision Checks Cut Fatal Accidents • Is Your Vehicle Child-Proof? • Teen Misjudgment Major Factor in Highway Accidents • New Auto Safety Legislation Aims to Protect Children • Insurance Group: Supersport Motorcycles Deadly • Feds Consider Tougher Auto Safety Ratings • Congress Urged to Protect Children from Vehicle Deaths • Motorcycle Death Rates Rising, Safety Chief Warns • Feds to Require Additional Minivan Door Latch • Survey: Teens Still Driving Dangerously • Feds Propose Recorders to Monitor Truckers' Hours • Feds Propose New Auto Safety Tests • Consumers Choosing Tiny Cars Despite Safety Risks • IIHS: Bigger is Better in Car Safety • NHTSA's Dirty Little Secrets • Feds Find Backup Sensors Ineffective • Simpler Dashboards Might Make Cars Safer • States Struggle to Cut Highway Fatality Rate • Ford Makes Stability Control Standard for 2009 • Feds Require Safety Info on New Car Window Stickers • Motorcycle, Pedestrian Deaths Rising • Safer Cars, Not Safer Drivers, Reducing Highway Deaths • Former Lobbyist in Driver's Seat at NHTSA • Must-Have Safety and Convenience Features for New Car Shopping • More ...

The White House nominee to become the number one U.S. auto safety regulator promised she would carry out congressional demands for rollover prevention, roof strength and other priorities that she opposed as the Transportation Department's lobbyist on Capitol Hill.

Nicole Nason would be the youngest head of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) if confirmed. Nason is 35.

She used her Senate confirmation hearing to answer criticism of her lack of experience and age. Nason told the Senate committee she supports federal incentives for stronger state seat belt laws and favors technology to help prevent rollovers.

Nason learned the dangers of auto crashes first hand. Nine years ago she was injured when another driver ran a stop sign and struck her sport utility vehicle. Nason's vehicle was then hit head-on by another vehicle. She was not issued a citation and spent several months in physical therapy after the accident.

"There's hardly a family in America who has not been impacted by a car crash," Nason told the Senate panel.

Nason's experience advocating the administration's transportation priorities on Capitol Hill has generated much of the opposition to her nomination. She was a senior member of the administration lobbying team opposing deadlines for auto safety provisions in last year's highway bill.

Joan Claybrook, president of the consumer group Public Citizen, was NHTSA administrator at age 39 during the Carter administration. Claybrook said Nason's age and lack of direct experience are less troubling than her lobbying activities on behalf of the Bush Administration.

"My major concern is that she represented the DOT on the highway in opposing auto safety provisions that she will now be responsible for administering," Claybrook said.

Nason would replace Jeffrey Runge, a medical doctor who is an expert in motor-vehicle injury care and prevention. Before his appointment, Runge was an NHTSA fellow and had won a highway safety leadership award from the agency. He also was on the board of advisers to the University of North Carolina Highway Safety Research Center.

Five of the agency's 12 administrators have been medical doctors. Others included a former director of the Washington state Department of Motor Vehicles and a retired U.S. Army general.

Both Republicans and Democrats on the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation supported Nason's nomination. Nason still must be confirmed by a vote of the full Senate before she takes over at NHTSA.

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