National Highway Traffic Research Articles

Plant Operations and Product Recalls in the Automotive Industry: An Empirical Investigation

While there is overwhelming support for the negative consequences of product recalls, empirical evidence of operational drivers of recalls is almost nonexistent. In this study, we identify product variety (measured as the number of factory installed options), plant variety (measured as the number of models per assembly line in a plant), and capacity utilization as drivers of subsequent manufacturing-related recalls. We examine their individual and joint effects using a unique data set compiled for a seven-year period by linking assembly line production data for North American automotive manufacturers with recall data from the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration. We show that manufacturing-related recalls are positively associated with product variety and plant utilization, but not with plant variety. We also find that the joint effect of plant variety and utilization is positively associated with increased recalls. In quantitative terms, a one-standard-deviation increase in the number of options (four additional options) is associated with two additional recalls and costs $46.2 million to automakers over the sample duration. We observe similar results with plant utilization, and find that a car built in a plant that is being utilized above 100% capacity is associated with more than eight additional recalls corresponding to an incremental cost of $167 million. This paper was accepted by Yossi Aviv, operations management.

Examining the association between government-sponsored product ratings and firm political participation

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to apply firm aspiration theory to explore how firms respond to government product ratings.Design/methodology/approachLongitudinal examination of nine automobile manufacturers during National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration crash tests in the USA.FindingsFirms take specific external actions to influence the political mechanisms that support ranking schemes when product ratings are below those of rivals and when previously highly rated products decline. In addition, firms receiving rankings above those of their competitors are found to be less likely to take such action, even when their overall ratings declined. Similarly, firms seeing improvements in previously low-rated products will take fewer actions aimed at influencing the political mechanisms that support rating schemes.Originality/valueThe primary contribution of this research is in establishing when firm product ratings will result in actions to influence external ratings criteria. Previous research has shown that firms respond to organizational ratings by taking action aimed at improving subsequent performance. The current research builds on such work by applying aspiration theory in an effort to predict and explain when and why certain ratings will attract firm attention to the external mechanisms that support such ratings.

Protecting occupants during passenger vehicle rollover crashes

Protecting occupants during passenger vehicle rollover crashes

Applying firm attention theory to assess the antecedents of firm participation in regulatory processes

This study applies firm attention theory to explain how factors including regulatory inspection ratings, media coverage of regulatory issues, new regulations, and the political activities of opposing interest groups influence firm participation in regulatory processes. Findings suggest that firm political participation is driven by factors that attract firm attention to political processes as well as by factors that threaten to draw stakeholder attention to political processes and firm operations. These relationships are explored by examining automobile manufacturer participation in National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration rulemaking comment periods.

Applying an Attribution-Based View of Reputation to Examine Firm Responses to Government Product Ratings

This study examines how reputation predicts variability in firm political responses to government product ratings. Longitudinal examination of nine automobile manufacturers during National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration crash tests reveals several important findings regarding how reputation is associated with firm responses to product ratings. In particular, high reputation firms implement fewer political responses to ratings declines of high-reputation products while implementing more political responses to ratings declines of low-reputation products. Results suggest that reputation at both the product and firm-levels interact to predict how firms respond to reputation-damaging events such as declining product-safety ratings.

Insider Trading Activity around Auto Recalls

We examine insider trading activity around auto recalls and find that insiders sell significantly during the one month before the automaker files a defect report with the National Highway Traffic a...

Examining How Product and Corporate Reputation Impacts Political Responses to Product Ratings

This study examines how reputation predicts firm responses to product ratings. Longitudinal examination of nine automobile manufacturers during National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration (N...

Patterns of enforcement: examining the interplay between firms, media and regulators

This research examines the interplay between regulators, media and firms by showing how public bureaucracies maintain institutional control in light of varying degrees of firm compliance and media coverage. Analysis of US National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration (NHTSA) automobile crash tests reveals a push-pull process in which increased regulatory activity, sparked by media coverage and firm inspection performance, leads to increased firm participation in regulatory processes, which in turn, decreases regulatory activity. Results additionally illustrate how inspections modify firm political behaviour; particularly when accompanied by media coverage of regulatory issues. The administration of such inspections illustrates the dynamic nature of the relationship between firms and regulators.

Plant Operations and Product Recalls in the Automotive Industry: An Empirical Investigation

While there is overwhelming support for the negative consequences of product recalls, empirical evidence of operational drivers of recalls is almost non-existent. In this study, we identify product-variety (measured as the number of factory installed options), plant-variety (measured as the number of models per assembly line in a plant), and capacity utilization as drivers of subsequent manufacturing-related recalls. We examine their individual and joint effects using a unique dataset compiled for a 7-year period by linking assembly line production data for North American automotive manufacturers with recall data from the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration. We show that manufacturing-related recalls are positively associated with product-variety and plant utilization, but not with plant-variety. We also find that the joint effect of plant-variety and utilization is positively associated with increased recalls. In quantitative terms, a one standard deviation increase in the number of options (four additional options) is associated with two additional recalls and costs $46.2 million to automakers over the sample duration. We observe similar results with plant utilization. A car built in a plant which is being utilized above 100% capacity, is associated with more than eight additional recalls which corresponds to a cost of $167 million.

Physician's Guide to Assessing and Counseling Older Drivers. Second edition.

This excellent work was created by the American Medical Association (AMA) with support from the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration (NHTSA) to help physicians address preventable motor vehicle injuries, because “Currently, motor vehicle injuries are the leading cause of injury-related deaths among 65-to-74-year-olds and the second leading cause (after falls) among 75-to-84-year-olds” (p. ix). The so-called “silver tsunami” of aging Americans will only exacerbate these alarming statistics. The AMA and NHTSA see this as a tool for physicians “to forge a link between public health and medicine” (p. ix) by assessing and counseling older drivers to enhance driving safety and “ease the transition to driving retirement if and when it becomes necessary” (p. ix). This comprehensive work has an excellent format, is highly readable, and includes relatable patient vignettes. Beginning with an overview of “Safety and the Older Drive with Functional or Medical Impairments” and including the “Physician's Plan for Older Drivers' Safety (PPODS)” chart (p. 6), ten chapters cover everything from performing a thorough physical and mental assessment of patients to broaching the issue of driving and “Counseling the Patient Who Is No Longer Safe to Drive.” The text states that “For most of us, driving is a symbol of independence and self-esteem. When an individual retires from driving, he/she not only loses a form of transportation, but all the emotional and social benefits derived from driving” (p. 49). The “Ethical and Legal Responsibilities of the Physician” regarding counseling of patients who are no longer safe to drive and legal ramifications of reporting unsafe drivers, including maintaining patient confidentiality, are discussed at length. Chapter 8, “State Licensing and Reporting Laws,” offers a detailed state-by-state list of motor vehicle licensing and reporting requirements and contacts. Chapter 9 outlines “Medical Conditions and Medications that May Affect Driving,” and Appendix A offers current procedural terminology (CPT) codes. A chapter is devoted to “The Driver Rehabilitation Specialist,” a specialized occupational therapist who can offer adaptive driving instruction and suggest vehicle modifications. These specialists are still fairly rare. The book's final chapter, “Moving Beyond this Guide: Future Plans to Meet the Transportation Needs of Older Adults,” includes among its recommendations “increased availability and affordability of driver rehabilitation” (p. 187). Appendix B, “Patient and Caregiver Educational Materials,” offers four patient and caregiver self-assessment tools and recommendations, and it includes a list of resources that offer additional information. Older drivers often find it very difficult to honestly assess their abilities to operate motor vehicles as health issues arrive. Loved ones and caregivers find it equally difficult to broach this subject. This work offers physicians excellent guidelines and recommendations to assist their older patients and families in assessing these issues and making lifestyle changes as needed. It is up to the individual library to determine if an actual copy of this work should be in the collection, but certainly physicians should be made aware of it.

Examining Automobile Manufacturer Participation in Regulatory Processes

Despite the fact that government regulation is one of the primary external sources of pressure on firms, the antecedents of firm participation in regulatory processes remain relatively unexplored in the management literature. Most studies to date have instead focused on examining firms’ influence on elected officials. This study begins to explore the factors influencing firm participation in the federal regulatory process by examining automobile firms’ participation in NHTSA (National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration) rulemaking comment periods as a function of firm financial performance and government ratings in crash tests. Longitudinal analysis of 21 automobile manufacturers results in several findings. First, firm financial performance is shown to be negatively associated with comment period participation. Second, firm performance in NHTSA crash tests is shown to be negatively associated with participation in NHTSA rulemaking comment periods. Finally, crash test performance moderates the effect of financial performance on comment period participation. These results provide new insights into the factors influencing firm political activity.

Citizens and bureaucracy: electronic participation in regulatory processes

Agency rulemaking is a dominant form of regulation in the USA. Because of a recently developed electronic interface, it is additionally the most accessible form of political participation. Accordingly, this research explores the nature of electronic political interactions with regulatory agencies. Examining electronic submissions made during rulemaking comment periods, I illustrate how varying degrees of agency and commenter participation impact policy outcomes. Examining three US regulatory agencies, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the Transportation and Security Administration (TSA) and the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration (NHTSA), reveals that agency participation moderates the impact that electronic comments have on comment period outcomes. Results suggest that electronic participation in the rulemaking process creates a context of dynamic political interaction among commenters and agencies. Moreover, this political context is one where policy outcomes are predicted by the nature and scope of electronic political participation.

Development of a finite element model of the knee-thigh-hip of a 50th percentile male including ligaments and muscles

An LSDYNA finite element model of the knee-thigh-hip (KTH) of a 50th percentile male was developed for exploring mechanics of injuries to the KTH during frontal crashes. This includes a model of the geometry of bones and also discrete element representations of ligaments and muscles of the KTH. The model was validated using physical tests obtained from the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration's (NHTSA) test database. Validation of individual components like the upper femur, femoral condyles and pelvis were performed and compared to similar physical tests. The results were used to verify geometry, material properties and failure mechanisms of bone materials. Validations were also performed against a whole-body cadaver test to verify contributions of passive muscle and ligament forces. Failure mechanisms in the tests and simulations were compared to ensure the model provides a useful tool for exploring fractures in the KTH resulting from frontal vehicle crashes.

The Deregulatory State

The Deregulatory State Lawrence O. Gostin (bio) Public health can be achieved only through collective action. Individuals acting alone cannot protect themselves from work hazards, unsafe or ineffective vaccines and pharmaceuticals, impure food and water, a polluted environment, or epidemics. Only a well-regulated society can secure the essential conditions for health. Yet in this country, successive administrations have eroded health and safety protections. The consequences include deaths in the mining industry, lead in toys, industrial solvents in toothpaste, harmful bacteria in peanut butter and spinach, and unsafe and ineffective pharmaceuticals (such as COX-2 inhibitors and non-statin cholesterol medications). The "Deregulatory State" is a result of a conservative campaign that has created and reinforced deep-seated concerns about overbearing government. The political dialogue used to describe agency action is pejorative and effective: "big government," "centralized," "top-down," and "bureaucratic." This antigovernment narrative has set the terms of the debate about the role of government in protecting the public from market excesses and failures. The Deregulatory State takes many subtle forms, including self-policing, so that industry discloses and corrects its own safety violations; incapacitating, so that agencies are starved of expertise and resources; devolving, so that residual regulation is focused at the local level; preempting, so that the federal government denies states the authority to protect their citizens; and privatizing, so that government functions are conducted by "for-profit" or voluntary entities. In this column, I will focus on two broad categories of deregulation: federal preemption and privatization. Regulatory Vacuums through Preemption Congress has the power to preempt, or supersede, public health regulation at the state level, even if the state is acting squarely within its police powers. Federal preemption may seem like an arcane doctrine, but it has powerful consequences for the public's health and safety. The Supreme Court's preemption decisions can effectively foreclose meaningful state regulation and prevent people from turning to the courts for legal redress.1 Preemption has had antiregulatory effects on issues ranging from tobacco control to occupational health and safety, motor vehicle safety, and employer health care plans. From 2001 to 2006, Congress enacted twenty-seven statutes that preempt state health, safety, and environmental policies, demonstrating the potential breadth of federal power to override state public health safeguards.2 The Bush administration has vigorously advocated preemption to invalidate state public health efforts in both amicus curiae briefs and preambles to agency rules. On February 20, 2008, the Roberts Court handed the administration a victory in two major preemption cases. In Rowe v. New Hampshire Motor Transport Association, the Court held that a federal transportation statute preempted Maine's laws designed to prevent minors from buying cigarettes on the Internet.3 In Riegel v. Medtronic, Inc., the Court ruled that manufacturers are immune from tort liability for medical devices, such as implantable defibrillators or heart pumps, that received premarket approval and meet Food and Drug Administration specifications.4 The Court just heard another FDA preemption case on whether tort liability can be based on fraud for misrepresenting or withholding information from the agency during the approval process. And next term, the Court will decide whether FDA drug approval preempts personal injury suits. In effect, the executive and judicial branches are dismantling a long-standing civil justice safety net for consumers and patients who suffer from industry misconduct left unchecked by federal and state regulations. Outside the courtroom, multiple agencies charged with protecting public health, safety, and the environment have systematically pushed for preemption through administrative rulemaking. Federal agencies have inserted preemptory language in preambles to rules governing everything from seatbelt placement (this from the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration) and mattress flammability (the Consumer Product Safety Commission) to drug labeling (the FDA) and railroad safety (the Railroad Administration). This troubling trend is made all the more worrisome by the administration's failure to provide an opportunity for public comment on the preemption language in rule preambles. This sweeping preemption of state regulation and tort actions has created regulatory vacuums. Instead of advocating devolution or otherwise supporting state authority to protect the public's health, the federal government has consistently derailed state regulation. At the same time, it has dismantled federal...

Barriers to Interventions for Alcohol Problems in Trauma Centers

There is clear evidence that trauma-related serious injuries and fatalities can be directly linked to alcohol misuse. Because alcohol is a factor in many motor vehicle crashes (the leading cause of death for persons up to age 49), the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration has set a high priority on decreasing alcohol-related motor vehicle crash injuries. Research now recognizes that most alcohol-impaired drivers who are injured are binge drinkers, not alcoholics. During the past decade, public health and substance treatment researchers have begun to focus on screening and early intervention in clinical settings as a means of reducing alcohol-related injuries. Trauma centers are uniquely positioned to address this problem because of the high percentage of alcohol-impaired patients admitted after motor vehicle crashes. This article discusses the barriers to implementing alcohol screening and intervention programs in trauma centers from the trauma surgeon's perspective.