National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Criticized at Senate Hearing

According to a New York Times report, at a recent Senate subcommittee hearing, the nation’s top auto regulator faced intense criticism over its failure to identify a deadly defect in General Motors cars. David Friedman, the deputy administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, claimed that GM had illegally withheld critical information from the agency. While senators acknowledged that GM was mostly at fault, they said NHTSA must also take responsibility in their failure to recognize the ignition-stalling defect that has now been linked to 19 deaths.