When he wants to be,
Vlasic can and does choose to be a sweet and tiny midget of wimpy reporting.
My ears are still ringing with the sound of Bill Vlasic hanging up his phone on me. Several times. For several years. Hiroko-chan also. I wonder how many people died during those several years.
NHTSA is not the only entity unable to stand up to automakers. The media are also so slow in raising deadly safety issues. They wait and wait until the gears are finally grinding on the Hill, and then they get that good old "protective cover" of some Congressperson who makes it fashionable (and safe) to speak out. What a fad is now developing. The automakers will ride it out by setting their typical political cruise control and then they will be sure to find new detours around whatever new rules are made up to make it look like NHTSA will do better next time. They have everyone encircled.
regulator-slow-to-respond-to-deadly-vehicle-defects
Fashionably late.