NHTSA’s Consumer Complaint Database NHTSA’s Consumer Complaint Database 2011 SAE Government/Industry Meeting 2011 SAE Government/Industry Meeting Presented By: January January 27, 27, 2011 2011 Presented By: Gregory E Magno N ti l Hi h T ffi S f t Ad iit ti National Highway T raffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) Office Of Defects Investigation (ODI) Th is is a work o fthe U .S . Government and is not sub jec t to copyright in the This is a work of the U.S. Government and is not subject to copyright in the United States; it may be used or reprinted without permission
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VOQ Background
Consumers file their own VOQ with NHTSANHTSA
Each is read at least once by an ODI yscreener
2/3 filed within a month of the incident2/3 filed within a month of the incident
Primarily used for defect screening and y ginvestigations“Unreasonable safety risk”
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Consumer Complaint Origins (CY05-10)p g ( )
Internet “VOQ” Filed 1st person www.safercar.gov 70% of total volume
Filed 1st personOMB Form1% of total volume
A t S f t H tli C L tt Auto Safety Hotline Filed w/ operator 1.888.327.4236
Consumer LettersFiled 1st personMapped into VOQ
d t b 25% of total volume database4% of total volume
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Where Do Complaints Go?
ARTEMIS 476k VOQ i d t b ~476k VOQs in database
since 2000
Relational & image dataRelational & image data
Search VOQs & office historyy
Receive / store EWR data
Underpins Safercar govUnderpins Safercar.gov
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Complaint Data
ODI’s most important field dataPrompts most new defect investigationsPrompts most new defect investigationsSupports existing investigationsAssess safety recall effectiveness
NHTSA also uses complaints to:Target compliance testingTarget compliance testingSupport research & rulemaking activity
Valuable consumer information toolValuable consumer information tool
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Caveats for Reviewing Complaints
Complaint volume at face value not necessarily an indicator of a safety necessarily an indicator of a safety issue
Wh i t f ll Where appropriate, follow-up interviews improve understanding of complaintscomplaints
Most component codes assigned by the public
Component Code ≠ Condition
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p
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US Vehicles: 257 Million
Complaint TrafficComplaint Traffic
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Portable VOQ “SVOQ” (Background)
Pilot project Vehicle- only L i ill b li d Learning will be applied across process
Goal: minimize internet “abandonment rate”
Contains fewer data elements
Secure pdf filled out at complainant’s leisureSecure pdf filled out at complainant s leisure
Numbers rising>1,000 received to-date~10% of CY11 traffic YTD
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Portable VOQ “SVOQ” (Process)
Fill in contact info
Confirmation e-mail
Visit us: http://www.safercar.gov/
will be sent w/ link
After confirmation link
Go to complaint section:
visited, form sent
Follow form i t ti
Select Portable instructions:Form:
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Conclusions
Consumer complaints are one of NHTSA’s t i t t f fi ld d tmost important source of field data
Complaint volume increased dramatically last year
Maintaining high complaint traffic is a Maintaining high complaint traffic is a NHTSA priorityContinued outreach effortsEnhancements to the complaint process
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Questions?
Contact InformationInternet:
http://www.safercar.gov/
Auto Safety Hotline1.888.327.4236
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