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| Wilson Co-Sponsored Bi-Partisan Tire Safety Legislation Signed by the President Today |
November 01, 2000 |
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| WASHINGTON, DC --The Transportation Reporting Enhancement, Accountability and Documentation Act, or, TREAD act, which Congresswoman Heather Wilson cosponsored, will be signed into law by the President today. The bill will improve consumer protection for cars and tires. Congresswoman Wilson has been a leader of the House Commerce Committee’s investigation into the Firestone tire defects that have been blamed for nine deaths in New Mexico alone.
“This law will require tire and auto makers to tell U.S. safety officials when they recall products overseas and it will improve tire testing standards, which haven’t been updated since 1968 – before the invention of the steel belted radial,” Wilson said. “I am also pleased that we were able to include provisions that will strengthen the punishment of companies that fail to properly report product safety problems. This is a real victory for consumers and I’m glad the President signed it.”
Earlier this year, the House Commerce Committee, on which Wilson serves, sent investigators and held hearings into the tragedies associated with Firestone tires. Wilson took a lead role in questioning Ford and Firestone executives in those hearings, which uncovered that Firestone knew for almost two years that they had a problem with some models of their tires and failed to act to protect the safety of their customers. During the September hearings, Wilson also criticized how Firestone handled the recall and their failure to include New Mexico on the priority list for replacement tires. After her grilling of Firestone executives, Ford Motor Company arranged to send 6,000 replacement tires to New Mexico to eliminate the backlog.
As a result of the testimony presented during the hearings, the T.R.E.A.D. Act passed the Congress with broad bi-partisan support.
The Transportation Recall Enhancement, Accountability and Documentation Act, or, T.R.E.A.D. Act was originally introduced on September 13, 2000 with 16 bi-partisan co-sponsors. It was passed unanimously by the Consumer Protection Subcommittee on September 21, 2000 (23-0), and again was unanimously passed on October 5, 2000 by the full Commerce Committee (42-0). The T.R.E.A.D. Act passed the House and Senate unanimously on October 11, 2000.
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