Wednesday

Are Federal Safety Investigators Hiding Recalls Again?

On Jan. 22, 2010, CF MOTO reported to federal safety investigators that the rear brakes system on its CF250T motorcycles, built between 2005 and Dec. 31, 2009, failed to comply with federal motorcycle safety requirements because they were designed for "scooters" instead of motorcycles. CF MOTO's lawyers sent to letter to Stuart Seigel in NHTSA's Office of Vehicle Safety Compliance in Washington. We have a copy of that letter.

NHTSA received all the proper documents to commence a recall to protect the safety of several thousands motorcycle owners nationwide. They even posted the recall in their online "NHTSA Recall Database" where the public could find it.

Buried in the small print was the statement by CF MOTO that it was not going to tell current owners of the recalled motorcycles of the defect for another few months and that it also had no intention of even telling their dealers of it for another couple of months. Of course, doing that would allow dealers to keep selling the recalled motorcycles without the dealers or the public knowing that the rear brake systems were the wrong ones. "Trust us. We'll get around to it" seemed to be the message.

Then a funny thing happened. The recall disappeared. Gone. Taken off the web site. Why?

Is NHTSA falling prey to more overseas undue influence? Did CF MOTO decide to get cozy with federal regulators, like Toyota did in order to save itself millions of dollars?

So far, the explanation is fuzzy, to put it mildly. Maybe NHTSA investigators are still "investigating" but if the manufacturer admits it built it wrong, what is there to investigate? Why the stall and delay? And in the meantime, how many owners are riding around thinking they have the right kind of brakes when they don't?

Maybe the recall is a big deal. We're sure CF MOTO would say it is not. That raises the question. Since when did a recall become a "not-recall"?
If you own a CF MOTO, you might want to be careful out there on the street. And you might want to ask NHTSA just whose side they're on. After all, there's a reason the name of the recall agency is the National Highway Traffic SAFETY Administration.

Burdge Law Office
http://www.motorcyclelemonlaw.com/
Because life's too short to ride a bad motorcycle,
no matter who built it.