GOP senator: Obama highway safety pick faces ‘substantial challenges’

President Obama’s nominee to lead the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NTHSA) will face “substantial challenges” if he is confirmed by lawmakers, a Senate Republican said on Wednesday. 

“We are on pace to have the all-time worst year for auto recalls in U.S. history, with roughly 56 million vehicles being subject to recalls so far,” Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) said during a hearing on Wednesday about National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) member Mark Rosekind’s nomination to lead the beleaguered highway safety agency. 

“In many of these cases, there are legitimate questions about whether NHTSA should have identified the defective products earlier and communicated more effectively with the public,” Thune continued. “That is why Dr. Rosekind will face substantial challenges at NHTSA, should he be confirmed.” 

{mosads}Thune is poised to become chairman of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee that in the next Congress. The panel was meeting Wednesday to consider the choice of Rosekind to lead the highway safety administration, which has come under fire in the past year for its handling of auto recalls by several car companies. 

Lawmakers have taken the highway safety agency to task in recent months for its handling of recalls involving defective airbags that were manufactured by Japanese company Takata and faulty ignition switches that were found in General Motors cars. In both cases, officials at the highway safety administration were accused of failing to notice trends of accidents involving faulty auto parts in both cases. 

Rosekind, who has been a member of the NTSB since 2010, said Wednesday in his first appearance before lawmakers since being tapped for the vacant highway safety chief position that he could not comment on the NHTSA’s previous procedures as an outsider to the agency until now. 

But Rosekind pledged Wednesday to use his experience at the accident investigation agency and other transportation-related positions to bolster the highway safety administration if his nomination is ultimately approved. 

“I recognize my nomination to lead NHTSA comes at a pivotal juncture,” he told the panel. “If confirmed, you have my commitment that I will maintain an aggressive focus on continuing to improve NHTSA’s safety record and ensuring that NHTSA’s regulatory regime is current for today’s safety environment. To this task, I will bring a fresh set of eyes and a different perspective honed over the years as a safety professional and manager at NASA, NTSB and in the private sector.” 

Thune said he was impressed with Rosekind’s record at the NTSB, but he said the highway safety administration needs to have “a leader that can hit the ground running” in light of the widespread auto recalls that have occurred this year. 

“I will also be asking Dr. Rosekind about his familiarity with NHTSA, and in particular about the administration’s ongoing ‘top-to-bottom review’ of NHTSA reported in the New York Times,” the South Dakota senator said. “I want to know how Dr. Rosekind will be involved in this top-to-bottom review of NHTSA, should he be confirmed.” 

The Commerce Committee announced on Wednesday that it will hold an executive session on Dec. 9 to considering moving the nominations of Rosekind and other transportation officials that have been selected by the Obama administration to the floor of the upper chamber.