Nf. Hubele et Mw. Arndt, A REVIEW OF CRASH DATA-ANALYSIS IN A DEFECT AND RECALL INVESTIGATION OF THE GENERAL-MOTORS C K PICKUP TRUCKS/, Accident analysis and prevention, 28(1), 1996, pp. 33-42
In the process of assessing the safety of the fuel-containment system
of the 1973-1987 General Motors C/K truck, the National Highway Traffi
c Safety Administration and General Motors Corporation have written an
d submitted numerous documents to a public file between October 1992 a
nd April 1993. Five substantial reports have been issued by the Nation
al Highway Traffic Safety Administration and General Motors Corporatio
n describing data analysis of crashes recorded on state and federal da
tabases. Both the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and G
eneral Motors Corporation have used crash data, in some cases the same
data, to examine the claim that a defect in the fuel system design of
General Motors Corporation C/K trucks poses an unreasonable risk of d
eath or injury. The comparative analysis presented in this paper demon
strates how crash databases and their summary statistics can be used t
o support opposed positions in a safety dispute. Understanding differe
nces in the analysis is fundamental to obtaining an insight into the r
ole of field crash data, including its relevance and shortcomings, in
defect and recall investigations.