Sparks flew at a Senate Commerce committee hearing Tuesday looking at whether a government agency dropped the ball in detecting defects at the airbag supplier Takata. At issue is the agency’s accountability for discovering the airbag defects and the timing of automotive recalls. The administrator for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, or NHTSA, addressed shortcomings cited in an audit conducted by the Inspector General of the Transportation Department, which found that NHTSA’s staff needed better training and better data collection. NHTSA Administrator Mark Rosekind admitted the government still doesn’t know what caused the airbag defect, and that the agency is financially strapped. Rosekind said the agency needs a bigger budget, but some on Capitol Hill said they weren’t comfortable with the idea of increasing NHTSA’s budget. In referring to the findings of the Inspector General’s audit of NHTSA, Senator Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) stated ‘this audit report is the worst that I’ve ever seen.’ She added that the problem at NHTSA isn’t a lack of resources, but instead is about ‘blatant incompetent mismanagement.’
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