Montana Senator Steve Daines spoke with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration June 23rd for updates on the delayed recall of a fire engine part. Daines remembered the deadly accident that occurred last year outside of Helena due to the failure of this component.

"It's also the face of innocence here," Daines said. "The fire chief was returning back to Three Forks Montana, good daylight in a strait away, and you see this young couple and three kids in the back of a pickup. It's a road I drive all the time. It was the innocence of the lives lost that is just so trilling. But more importantly, could this have been prevented?"

A full recall of the automotive part has taken a year to implement.

"This particular Navistar Front Drive Shaft has been recalled in approximately 500 vehicles with notifications being mailed this month," Daines said. "Now, this accident occurred June 19th of last year. So, the notifications went out just in the last ten days. A year after the accident."

The U.S. Department of Transportation Inspector General Calvin L. Scovel III agreed on the need to speed up the timetable of the decision stage, so that they have more time to investigate and pull the defective product.

More From Newstalk KGVO 1290 AM & 98.3 FM