Want Your Car Recalled? Skip the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and Solve Your Conflict the American Way: File Suit

Abstract

Fifty years after the National Traffic & Safety Act - designed to provide uniform national motor vehicle standards - was signed into law, its utility may be undermined if trial lawyers succeed in convincing judges to order automotive recalls. This article, an abridged and updated version of my more expansive law review article ("Federal Preemption of Automotive Recalls: A Case of Too Many Backseat Drivers?", 71 Tenn. L. Rev. 471 (2004) (also available on the SSRN website)), examines the issue of court-ordered recalls and argues that the Safety Act preempts such orders, leaving recalls solely to the National Traffic Safety Administration and thus avoiding a potentially chaotic recall system in which any judge can order differing statewide or nationwide recalls.

Keywords: automotive recalls, vehicle recalls, preemption, product safety, product liability, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), Vehicle Safety Act

JEL Classification: K23, K13, K32