BulletProofBlog the blog on crisis communications

In this regular feature, Bulletproof interviews top plaintiffs' attorneys for their perspective on the crises likely to affect businesses in the near future. Today we talk to Douglas B. Abrams of Raleigh, NC' s Abrams & Abrams, P.A. Mr. Abrams, a leading advocate for plaintiffs in automotive disasters, talked about evolving liabilities as well as likely systemic changes that will define vehicle safety in the years ahead.

How do you see the new Administration and Congress affecting your practice?

Doug Abrams: There' s no doubt that the regulatory eye of NHTSA [National Highway Traffic Safety Administration] will be much keener and their initiatives more aggressive. Those are givens. However, I also expect a transformation in the near future that will have a decisive impact on how vehicles are made and how lawsuits are conducted.

I anticipate a mandated uniform system for onboard computers that will be fully transparent for owners; that will provide a comprehensive read on all safety-related design and manufacturing components; and that will feed data into a comprehensive national databank.

This is where I believe President Obama is going, based on what I' ve been listening to since the Presidential campaign began. I' ve listened to him very carefully, and I' ve liked what I' ve heard. But understand, it' s only partially a reflection of his personal concerns and ideology. NHTSA was so enfeebled during the Bush years that just about any reasonable person who succeeded him would inevitably want to toughen up standards, simply as a matter of public decency.

What are the exigent litigation issues for the automotive industry in the immediate future?     

Doug Abrams: Right now it' s rear passenger safety, especially the deployment of side airbags and head airbags. Irrespective of how bad their business is, or how economically challenged they are, the problem for U.S. automakers is that the Europeans, including BMW and Volvo, have already outperformed them on rear passenger safety. And remember, children usually sit in back seats.

How would you counsel the industry, particularly with respect to the onboard computer system integration that you predict?

Doug Abrams: Here' s the good news for the industry: I would counsel them to embrace such a development. When so much more objective data is directly available, it forces the industry to be responsible for its mistakes but it also deters high-volume, high-cost cases that lack merit. Think about sudden unintended acceleration. The system that will be created will allow us to know with certainty why such events occur rather than thrash it out in discovery and trial.

The industry needs to know that, post-Bush, playtime is over. By successfully avoiding regulation for eight years, they' ve now placed themselves in grave peril. I' d especially name three things that have been under-regulated and that are now time bombs: seat belts that don' t operate, and roof crush, which will continue to loom large in the litigation lists. And those 15-passenger vehicles - they just weren' t built to perform the way they' re supposed to.

Larry Smith is Senior Vice President of Levick Strategic Communications and a contributing author to Bulletproof Blog.