Obama Admin Sitting on Investigation Report that Favors Toyota

Weeks after word came that the black box data has cleared Toyota in all but a single "sudden acceleration" claim, a retiring NHTSA official says that the agency is sitting on investigation results that would put the hoax claims to rest.

But the Democratic inquisition of GM's competitors continues anyway.

A new report in the WSJ quotes a retiring NHTSA official as saying higher-ups are refusing to release the results of the agency’s staff investigation into charges of Toyota sudden acceleration, because those findings are not unfavorable enough toward the automaker. I’ve got more detail in a new post at Cato at Liberty, and Ted covers the story at PoL.

Meanwhile, proponents of a sweeping expansion of federal auto safety law, one that would thrust Washington much more deeply into the operations of the automotive industry, are really in a hurry — a quick, urgent, must-do-now hurry — to pass it, even though many of its provisions have not had much airing in public debate. An editorial today in the New York Times — a newspaper that almost comically underplayed the revelations earlier this month about the NHTSA probe’s pro-Toyota results — flatly asserts that the Japanese automaker’s vehicles suffer “persistent problems of uncontrolled acceleration,” and demands that the sweeping new legislation “be passed into law without delay.” It’s almost as if they are afraid of what might happen if lawmakers pause to take a closer look.

Word is that the report is completed, but being blocked by Transportation Secretary LaHood's office. LaHood's spokesman says "The review remains ongoing." Uh huh.

posted by Gabriel Malor at 12:07 PM

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