they do not resolve the debate over the safety of aftermarket crash parts and recycled airbags because they reach different conclusions and are limited in number and scope.

NHTSA has broad authority to set safety standards for aftermarket crash parts.2   The Motor Vehicle Safety Act provides NHTSA with the authority to prescribe safety standards for new motor vehicles and new motor vehicle equipment sold in interstate commerce—a category that includes aftermarket crash parts. Although NHTSA has the authority to regulate aftermarket crash parts, it has not determined that these parts pose a significant safety concern and therefore has not developed safety standards for them. The act also provides NHTSA with more limited authority to prescribe safety performance standards for used motor vehicles in order to encourage and strengthen state motor vehicle inspection programs. Because NHTSA may set motor vehicle safety standards for vehicle systems (like brakes and lights) as well as for an entire vehicle, the agency could elect to develop safety standards for occupant restraint systems, which could incorporate airbags, under the used vehicle provision. NHTSA has not developed such standards because it has not identified significant problems with occupant restraint systems that could be addressed by state motor vehicle inspection programs.

NHTSA’s ability to identify and recall unsafe aftermarket parts is limited. The agency relies heavily on a database of complaints from vehicle owners and other concerned people to identify possibly unsafe automotive products—whether from the original equipment manufacturer or the aftermarket crash parts manufacturer. However, limitations in the database may hamper NHTSA’s ability to identify trends in defects. For example, the database may contain only a small fraction of the complaints that customers make to manufacturers. In addition, aftermarket crash parts may not be identified as such in the database because consumers who complain to NHTSA may not know they have aftermarket crash parts or their complaints may not indicate that such parts are involved. Because existing studies of aftermarket crash parts do not conclusively resolve the issue of safety, NHTSA needs to have an effective oversight program that will