Editorial: Congress’ posturing is pathetic

Friday, Sept. 8, 2000 | 9:35 a.m.

Congress this week held high-profile hearings into the propensity of Firestone tires to separate on Ford sport utility vehicles, which has been linked to accidents that have caused 88 deaths and more than 250 injuries. Las Vegas residents have followed closely the recall of the 6.5 million tires since it is believed that hot-weather climates, like that in Southern Nevada, may be a factor in the tires separating. But for the most part the congressional hearings did little to shed more light on what precisely is causing the tires to separate.

The hearings unfortunately became a three-ring circus of finger-pointing. While Bridgestone/Firestone's chairman and chief executive, Masatoshi Ono, did apologize, that didn't stop Ono from suggesting that Ford's design of Explorers, which some contend are involved in an unusual number of rollover accidents, also played a contributing role. That implication prompted Ford's chief executive, Jacques Nasser, to respond that it was a tire issue, not a vehicle issue.

Not to be outdone, members of Congress also engaged in finger-pointing. Ford and Firestone bore the brunt of their antagonism for not acting sooner to acknowledge there was a problem, but federal highway safety regulators also were chided for not acting faster in their investigation. For instance, more than two years ago representatives from State Farm Insurance Co. notified the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration about their suspicions regarding serious accidents involving Ford Explorers that used Firestone tires. Yet it wasn't until May of this year that the NHTSA officially opened a probe, and that only came after a Houston television station's reports on the tire separations.

Federal regulators certainly deserve their share of the blame, but many of the accusations leveled by the politicians were pure grandstanding. For that matter, it's been Congress' lack of interest in providing the NHTSA with the necessary manpower and authority that has led to this situation as well. Let's not forget that it was a compliant Congress that went along with President Ronald Reagan's plan during the early 1980s to slash the NHTSA's budget by 50 percent.

Today the agency's budget still is one-third lower than it was during the Carter administration. One disturbing result of Congress' stinginess is that the agency has less than 20 investigators to work on vehicle safety defects for the entire nation. And as the New York Times reported Thursday, the NHTSA asked earlier this year for tougher enforcement laws, such as boosting the limit on civil penalties from $925,000 to at least $4 million. But the safety agency's administrator, Sue Bailey, said not one member of Congress has introduced legislation that would incorporate the NHTSA's proposals.

Too many people paint regulatory agencies with a broad brush, arguing that their powers should be reduced in order to get government off our backs. Well, this is a perfect example of an important regulatory agency being gutted by politicians who care more about catering to the interests of powerful industries than promoting consumer safety.

Rep. Billy Tauzin, R-La., who chaired the hearing, promised action. "We're not only finding out what went wrong, but we're beginning to see what we can do to fix it for the future," Tauzin said. A healthy start would be for Congress to give these federal regulators more investigators and the authority to quickly recall unsafe products. There also should be harsher penalties for companies that violate auto safety laws. But if the past is any guide, don't expect an improvement anytime soon.