re: NHTSA Web Site

[Pat Donahue <pdonahue@xxxxxxxxx>]

Scott writes:
> 
> I just spent a few minutes looking through the NHTSA web site that lists
> complaints about vehicle defects.
> 
> >>http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/cars/problems/complain/compmmy1.cfm
> 
> (Pat, is this your work?)

Um.  I just set up their databases so they could be searched on line.

> I thought the complaints were supposed to be limited to safety issues,
> but there were also complaints of noises and other apparently non-safety
> issues.  BTW, if you try this out, you'll have to use the various
> iterations of your model to see all the complaints (i.e. 325i, 325is,
> 325ix, 325, etc.)  Results of investigations are not listed, just a
> general description of the complaints.  

The people whose job it is to go through and enter only certain types of
complaints are ..um.. contractors.  Need I say more?  (I'm a contractor
too so don't get your panties in a bunch.)

> It would be nice if there was a way to download the data for, say, all
> BMWs, so that it could be cleaned up and presented to this list in a
> more coherent manner.  Wait, I better watch what I'm asking for, I might
> get it.

Dang Scott!  That's mighty nice of you.  You can go to
ftp://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/all and get the databases there along with some
description of what to do with all the parts.  Be sure to get just the
uncompressed versions because PKZIP has some bugs in it that cause some
major problems.

Remember that these databases are replaced each Tuesday so you'll want
to throw out what you have and get a fresh copy then.  :)

Some pointers (again).  You need to do the searches for your model, even
try things like 3-series.  You also need to do each search with the year
set to 1900 because anything that applies to all years gets entered that
way.  I started working on an alternate search to hit all the databases
and allow you to just type in the start of the make and model (some
people can't spell BMW).  You can actually give that a test run at:
http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/cars/problems/central/ but remember this isn't
quite ready for prime time.

Have fun.  And Scott?  Thanks for volunteering to clean up all that
data.  The job is immense and I never thought I'd see anyone just
volunteer!  :)
- -- 
Pat Donahue  CCA 125031
Vienna, VA
'91 M5 4GTFUL
'88 325is destined for ITS

------------------------------