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NHTSA database grows; still no tire makers

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Nearly two months ago, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration launched a web database that, for the first time, was supposed to put reams of information about the possible causes of serious traffic accidents at the public’s fingertips. The database was created by a 2000 law prompted by tire-related vehicle rollovers but had been held up in court for years until a July ruling mandated it.

When it launched, the Early Warning database had only information from automakers and lacked information from safety-restraint companies, motorcycle manufacturers, trailer producers and, significantly, tire makers. NHTSA said it would work quickly to get all that data online.

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The database has expanded. From fewer than 20 automakers, it has grown to 207 companies revealing data on which of their products’ failings resulted in death, injury or significant property damage. Whether from the likes of Yamaha Motor Corp. (reporting three injuries and no deaths in the second quarter of this year) or parts giant Lear Corp. (reporting two injuries related to problems with a seat and restraint system in an unidentified Toyota), it’s all there in mind-numbing detail.

However, there are still almost no tire makers in the database.

That’s a glaring omission, because it was tire makers, particularly Firestone, that prompted its creation. The rollovers of hundreds of Ford Explorers shod with Firestone tires suffering tread separation led to the idea that collecting accident records could help officials identify patterns of failure and prevent deaths and injuries.

That’s hard to do when there are few tire makers to be found. According to Rae Tyson, spokesman for NHTSA, only four tire companies are on the site: Kumho Tire Inc., Toyo Tires USA, GPX International Tire Corp. and Tire Distribution Systems. Absent are the big boys like Michelin USA, Goodyear, Bridgestone Corp. and Cooper Tire.

Where are they? Kicking and screaming, mostly. They, along with most other tire makers, filed confidentiality petitions to keep their data offline, arguing that the posting of such information would reveal trade secrets. Those filings have been before NHTSA for several months now, and Tyson says the agency is reviewing the petitions one by one. Because few other companies required to submit data filed such petitions, it’s hard to see what’s taking so long.

Yet according to Dan Zielinski, spokesman for the Rubber Manufacturers Assn., a trade group, even if NHTSA rules against the tire companies, they can and will appeal. ‘We’re not sure of the time frame,’ Zielinksi said.

So while the data miners sit and wait to find out how many more people died because of Firestone tire tread separation, the rest of us will have to content ourselves with fascinating tidbits like this: A Toyo Spectrum tire on a 1997 Honda Civic had a sidewall blowout in Texas in October 2006. One person was injured.

So yes, the database is cold and bureaucratic, but still, some of the incidents are chilling. For example, Van Hool, a bus maker, has only three reports. Yet they remind you of how terrible bus accidents are. The three wrecks -- in June 2004, March 2007 and May 2007 -- combined for 11 deaths and 71 injuries.

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In each instance, the failing part or system responsible for the accident is listed as ‘unknown.’

-- Ken Bensinger

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