Unsafe at Any Speed

"Part of the problem is the deregulatory mania that has gripped Washington since the Ronald Reagan years. Since the Reagan administration, NHTSA has been severely cut back. Its budget has been nearly halved (when adjusted for inflation), which has left it with a far smaller technical staff.
"Former NHTSA Administrator Joan Claybrook has testified to the need for an immediate budget increase of $100 million just to assure that NHTSA has the technical personnel and capability to meet its obligations in the areas of safety standards, defect recall, enforcement and research.
"At a time when about 40,000 Americans die in cars each year and hundreds of thousands more are injured, NHTSA's motor vehicle safety budget is a mere $140 million. By comparison, taxpayers will pay more than four times as much--about $675 million--to guard the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad."

Ralph Nader in the Los Angeles Times explains why Toyota's acceleration problems festered for so long.