Current Standing

My current standing really hasn't changed much at all. Although I know more about my topic now I see more of a need for Auto Safety Standards to be increased. When I chose this topic I was concerned about the recent recalls and the general safety of the consumer because the companies are failing. When, now that I've been researching, it's really NHTSA who has most of the blame. They have ignored making any changes until a major problem arises. Safety standards should be constantly upgraded not just when there is a massive recall.

Definitions

The words I chose were auto safety, NHTSA, recall, black boxes, and super brakes. Basically I chose 2 of these because of common misconceptions, and 3 for clarity so everyone knows exactly what i'm talking about. Auto Safety is my topic so I must define this so the reader knows what type of auto safety I'm talking about. Black boxes is the other common misconception (auto safety was the first) and I wanted to define that because the name "Black Box" isn't an official name but a nickname.

I defined NHTSA because its a lesser known government organization that controls all the aspects of my topic and are extremely important to my ideas. Recall can be confusing as to the exact definition, it is the fixing or repairing of defects created by the producer. Super brakes are new to the auto safety field and need to be defined so my readers know what they are and what their purpose is.

Photo Analysis

The scene depicted is a driver that is obviously distracted because he is eating and talking on his cellular phone while driving. He then hit’s a tree in his Toyota Prius and blames Toyota for the crash.
The driver speaks the lines or yells the lines and says “It’s Toyota’s Fault!!!!!!”
The cartoonist is showing that some of the accidents reported because of Toyota’s failure to install a safe accelerator pedal may have resulted because of driver error but the driver lied as to not receive the blame himself.
This is important to my argument because it points out arguments against me that i must consider in my writing to get the full effect of my argument. Yes, some of these reported "safety hazards" are really just user error but claimed that it was the car. This way someone may not have to pay for a lawsuit but be paid one themselves.

Safety Grades

"To Curb Grade Inflation, Safety Tests Get Tougher" written by Jim Motavalli on March 25, 2010 in the NTY uses many facts to produce his point so I have come to the conclusion that he is using induction to persuade his readers. He uses some analogy as well.

The first thing he says in his article is an analogy. He states that a student coming home with low grades like c's or d's should be cause for concern. With the new rules for "safety grades" coming up, he believes the lower grades will be a cause for concern to car buyers. He again compares the safety grades to teenagers saying that parents would wonder why their child earned an A in one semester of history and then a C+ the next. This is what the new grading system will do to their cars grades.

Claim: The Auto Industry needs to make some changes in the grading scale.
Grounds: Too many cars are receiving a 4 or 5 star rating just because they passed the crash test when they should receive a 2 or 3 star rating because they didn't perform all that well.
Conclusion: The claim is true

I pulled this one straight out of the article because it matches up with the pattern of an induction argument. Here is the passage:

"Cars are already much safer than they once were.

According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, an industry-financed research group, 25,428 passenger vehicle occupants were killed in car and light-truck crashes in 2008, a 17 percent reduction from 1975. A majority of those fatal accidents, 52 percent, resulted from front crashes, but 28 percent — about 7,000 deaths — were from side impacts.

More rigorous testing standards could further reduce fatalities — and help consumers sort out which cars are the safest. "

Claim: Cars are already much safer then they once were. More rigorous testing standards could further reduce fatalities and help consumers sort out the safest cars.
Evidence: the second paragraph.

Auto Safety

Micheline Maynard is a writer for the NYT and she covers the automobile industry. I've been reading some of her articles on the recent Toyota recall. From what I have read she covers her facts well and knows what she is writing about. In her recent article In Washington, A New Appetite for Car Safety she outlines some ideas that are currently in progress to make cars safer and gives the point that since our technology is advancing everyday shouldn't our safety be too?

Clarence Ditlow is and has been the Executive Director of the Center for Auto Safety for quite some time now. He has been involved with the Firestone/Ford recall and many other automobile safety crisis's in our history. Although I cannot find any publications by him, he has been to many meetings and has had many quotes on the subject.

Automobile Safety Standards

As i was scanning the New York Times one thing seemed to catch my eye. Black Boxes in cars. I couldn't help but think about an airplane crash and the black boxes they have. I thought of a car flying off a cliff and ending up obliterated in a canyon and all that's left to tell what happened is the black box. Then I thought of the less extreme case of someone throwing their car into reverse and claiming they got rear ended to collect on the insurance. I read more into this article In Washington, A New Appetite For Car Safety by Micheline Maynard and began nodding my head more and more as I read. They want to change the way defective automobiles or their parts are recalled so that it is quicker. Black boxes, as I mentioned earlier, are also being considered as well as super strong brakes that can stop a car even if the throttle is stuck open and full power. Car Safety is slowly becoming less of a priority when it comes to modern cars. The technology and little useless gadgets are improving more and more daily, so shouldn't that mean we need to improve our safety standards just as much?