By SEMA Washington, D.C., Staff
As of August 2014, manufacturers must file recall reports and associated documents electronically to a website maintained by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Between July 28 and August 8, 2014, the NHTSA will offer 20 online training sessions to instruct manufacturer staff on the new system.
In 2002, the NHTSA established an “early-warning” system for reporting information to the agency that could provide clues to potential future safety problems. Most of the direct reporting requirements are limited to vehicle and tire manufacturers. Large-volume vehicle manufacturers (more than 5,000 vehicles annually), large-volume tire manufacturers (more than 15,000 tires of same size and design annually) and child-restraint system manufacturers must supply the NHTSA with early-warning information about injuries, property damage, consumer complaints, warranty claims, field reports and production data every calendar quarter. Equipment manufacturers are not required to supply early-warning materials, but reporting is triggered under two circumstances: 1) an incident or allegation involving a death; 2) the company issues recall notices, advisories or customer-satisfaction campaigns referencing a defect, failure or malfunction, whether or not such defect is safety-related.
For more information, contact Stuart Gosswein at stuartg@sema.org.