| Abstract: | Tobin reviews the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's (NHTSA) self-regulating program including recall of vehicles, the ever-changing definition of defects, frequency of defect reports, and the notification of vehicle owners. He concludes that self-regulation–while minimizing government's cost and involvement in the private sector–has serious defects of its own. It gives manufacturers too much latitude in determining the existence of a defect and makes government overly dependent on the manufacturers for information. Under self-regulation the definition of what constitutes a defect changes from year-to-year; and under it manufacturer's recalcitrance in acknowledging a defect has kept the NHTSA from ordering recalls. |
