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News articles January 26, 2012: It is with mixed emotions that we share this particular video, which stars two young boys who lost their mother, Nicole Miller, in 2004 after the Ford Explorer she was riding in blew a tire and rolled, causing her fatal injuries. (more) January 10, 2012: PALO ALTO, Calif. — Before going to war, Susan Max loved tooling around Northern California in her maroon Mustang. A combat tour in Iraq changed all that. Back in the States, Ms. Max, an Army reservist, found herself avoiding cramped parking lots without obvious escape routes. She straddled the middle line, as if bombs might be buried in the curbs. Gray sport-utility vehicles came to remind her of the unarmored vehicles she rode nervously through Baghdad in 2007, a record year for American fatalities in Iraq. (more) December 26, 2011: In 2008, for the first time in nearly 30 years, more people died of poisoning than in car crashes. Poisoning is now the leading cause of injury death, and 90 percent of poisonings were caused by drugs. (more) December 8, 2011: The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has released the findings of its 2010 national fatality and injury rate study. Last year, traffic fatalities fell to 32,885, marking the lowest level since 1949. The decline came despite the fact that American drivers covered 1.6 percent more ground than they did in 2009 by driving an additional 46 billion miles over the course of the year. In addition, 2010 carried the lowest fatality rate ever recorded by the federal agency with just 1.10 deaths per 100 million miles traveled. NHTSA attributes the decline to the agencies tireless efforts to push toward ever safer vehicles, though there are several factors at work here. (more) November 3, 2011: MOBILE, Ala (Reuters) -- The owner of a large southwest Alabama car dealership derided as "Taliban Toyota" by a competitor has been awarded $7.5 million in damages after a jury trial for his slander claim. (more) November 3, 2011: A Milwaukee lawyer who specializes in suing car dealers and manufacturers on behalf of car owners filed an ethics complaint Thursday against the state Assembly member who introduced a bill that would limit attorney fees in those and similar consumer rights cases. (more) October 26, 2011: A new report by the American Journal of Public Health finds that female drivers are at a greater risk of injury or death when involved in car crashes, because seatbelts and other lifesaving devices installed in cars are not designed for their bodies. (more) August 2, 2011: NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Ford Motor Co. is recalling 1.1 million full-size pickups in the U.S. because straps securing the gas tank to the vehicle could rust, allowing the tank to come loose and drag on the ground. (more) July 28, 2011: A Florida judge on July 20 said Ford misled the court and federal safety investigators by concealing documents in a case decided in Ford’s favor in 2010. According to the judge, the documents proved that unintended acceleration in certain vehicles could have been caused by electromagnetic interference with those vehicles’ cruise control systems. (more) June 17, 2011: MILLIONS of Jeep Grand Cherokees from the 1993 through 2004 model years are particularly susceptible to fires when struck from behind and should be recalled, an auto safety group says, based on its review of three independently conducted crash tests, including one performed last month. (more) March 24, 2011: Amelia Hernandez-Garcia's fatal mistake is one that many motorists make. On Feb. 23, she got out of her car after it became disabled in the westbound center lane of Interstate 40 in Raleigh, N.C., and stood in the open roadway. Another motorist stopped in the middle of the interstate to help. Hernandez-Garcia, 34, exited her vehicle and asked to use his phone, at which time another vehicle struck the good Samaritan's car, throwing Hernandez-Garcia into the left lane, where yet another vehicle hit her. She died at the scene. (more) March 17, 2011: Toyota has been granted the ability to gather financial data on 81 plaintiffs filing lawsuits against the automaker over losses associated with claims of unintended acceleration. According to The Salt Lake Tribune, two private judges ruled that the automaker could, in fact, secure information from banks, lending and insurance institutions. (more) February 8, 2011: NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- An intensive 10 month investigation into possible causes of unintended acceleration in Toyota cars found no fault with the automaker's electronic throttle control systems, the Department of Transportation announced Tuesday. (more) February 1, 2011: Distracted driving has become a big problem on our nation's roadways, and text messaging while behind the wheel has been targeted as one of the biggest issues. Ray LaHood and the Department of Transportation has made this issue a top safety priority, even writing an op-ed on Autoblog to spread the word. AAA is is following in LaHood's footsteps, using YouTube to spread awareness that our growing fascination with our phones shouldn't mix with driving time. The post-jump video demonstrates how poorly drivers handled a not-so-tricky cone course in a Nissan Altima while texting and driving. (more) January 20, 2011: It looks like it will be some time before Toyota enters the court room for the very first of the mountain of lawsuits that were bundled by a federal judge in relation to sudden-acceleration claims. (more) January 14, 2011: From the 'We Almost Missed It'' file comes word Kansas man has set about testing his state's new seatbelt law. Kansas has just joined the handful of other states that have moved not wearing a seatbelt while driving up to a primary offense, meaning that law enforcement officers can pull over and cite offenders simply for failing to buckle up. According to KWCH CBS 12, Paul Weigand says that he wants to challenge the law because he believes wearing his seatbelt should be up to him. (more)January 14, 2011: The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration is looking to reduce the number of injuries sustained by people ejected from vehicles during accidents. To that end, the government organization has just ruled to establish a new mandate that forces automakers to institute new ejection mitigation systems. (more) January 13, 2011: This just in from a reader re: Chrysler Town and Country: Please help me….I’ve hit a brick wall with all my inquiries and this is a HUGE issue. January 4, 2011: According to the Cincinnatti Enquirer, motorist John Harmon was on his way home from work when his blood-sugar got too low. As a diabetic, this meant trouble, and Harmon's vehicle veered into another lane. A nearby Hamilton, Ohio sheriff's deputy spotted the unintentional maneuver and pulled him over. The officer then approached the car with his gun drawn and screamed at Harmon before smashing his window open. (more) November 10, 2010: Driving while drowsy and falling asleep at the wheel are responsible for more deadly crashes than previously thought, according to a new study released on Monday. (more) October 28, 2010: Nissan said Thursday it is recalling 2.14 million vehicles in the U.S., Japan, Europe and Asia for an ignition problem that may stall engines. (more) October 27, 2010: WASHINGTON — German automaker BMW AG issued recalls involving about 150,000 luxury vehicles on Tuesday to repair faulty fuel pumps that could cause vehicles to lose power. (more) October 21, 2010: The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety and the Highway Loss Data Institute have released their findings on insurance losses on vehicles built between 2007 and 2009. The data covers until May of this year, and splits the losses into a total of six categories: collision, property damage, comprehensive, personal injury, medical payments and bodily injury. With each category, vehicles are then separated according to their size. (more) October 21, 2010: TOKYO — The Toyota Motor Company announced a global recall of 1.53 million vehicles on Thursday because of brake and fuel pump problems, but stressed that the repairs reflected a companywide effort to be more proactive in addressing potential flaws. (more) October 4, 2010: Insurance.com just put its pencils to paper for some serious number crunching. The topic is alcohol-related driving violations and the data compiled paints a sobering picture, especially if you live in Texas or California. (more) October 4, 2010: We don't know what the message was in a 2007 accident involving the sender and her four fellow New York high school cheerleaders. But it probably wasn't worth slamming head-on into a truck, killing them all. (more) October 1, 2010: BMW's recall of nearly 200,000 luxury vehicles in the U.S. to fix leaks that could develop in the power braking system may extend to another 150,000 cars of the same series around the globe, a spokesman said Friday. (more) September 29, 2010: The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety sent out an interesting press release this morning: According to data collected by the Highway Loss Data Institute, bans on texting while driving don't reduce crashes -- and in fact, the numbers show that crashes actually go up slightly after such bans are implemented. (more) September 27, 2010: The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration announced Sunday that automaker Hyundai is recalling nearly 140,000 Sonata sedans. (more) September 21, 2010: Lawmakers and victims' families will gather in Washington on Tuesday for a summit on distracted driving and the deadly toll it takes. (more) September 20, 2010: Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has released his department’s findings on the impact of distracted driving on highway safety in 2009. (more) September 9, 2010: Traffic deaths have hit their lowest level since 1950, the year fatalities behind the wheel began to be tracked, according to the latest government statistics. (more) September 7, 2010: Kia Motors Corp. Vice Chairman Jeong Sung Eun resigned on Sept. 3 to take responsibility for a recent recall of four models, a company spokesman said. President Lee Hyoung Keun will replace him. (more)September 2, 2010: The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has announced a recall on two Kia vehicles – the 2010 Soul and 2011 Sorento – to replace interior lighting wiring harnesses. These faulty units, supplied by JCI, can apparently cause an electrical short resulting in a fire. This recall affects 35,185 vehicles manufactured between September 7, 2009 and July 30, 2010. (more) September 2, 2010: A Mississippi jury ordered Ford Motor Co to pay $131 million to the family of a man who died while driving an Explorer, an attorney for the family said on Thursday. (more) September 1, 2010: The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is investigating “complete” steering failures on the new 2011 Hyundai Sonata. The agency said it began a preliminary investigation based on the Early Warning Reports all automakers are required to file about possible safety issues. It was not immediately clear from that report how many incidents were reported. (more) August 27, 2010: Back in May, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration started investigating cases of rear axles breaking in late model Ford Windstar minivans after receiving hundreds of complaints from owners. Over three months later, an official recall has just been announced that covers 575,000 1998-2003 Windstars sold in "Salt Belt" states – places where road salt is used to melt away snow and ice during the winter months. Road salt can accelerate corrosion on the rear axle, which can cause the axle beam to break completely. (more) August 26, 2010: Toyota Motor, the Japanese automaker, said Thursday that it would recall 1.13 million compact cars, days after federal safety regulators upgraded an investigation into numerous complaints about the cars stalling. (more) August 25, 2010: Most vehicle recalls used to happen only after long, drawn-out government inquiries had identified safety defects and required the car companies to fix them. But in the wake of Toyota’s extensive recalls, automakers are initiating more themselves rather than waiting for government regulators to step in. The new mind-set has produced a flood of recalls, some occurring in reaction to just a few complaints from car owners, or maybe only one. (more) August 25, 2010: After years and years of doing everything in their power to make cars as quiet as possible, it seems somewhat backwards that we're now talking about adding external speakers to hybrids in order to make them... louder. But that's the current reality, and Toyota, the undisputed worldwide leader in hybrid vehicles, is leading the way in Japan with its Prius hatchback. (more) August 25, 2010: The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is intensifying its investigation into stalling Toyota Corolla models. According to the Associated Press, the agency has opened what it calls an engineering analysis into 1.8 million Corolla and Matrix models sold between 2005 and 2007. (more) August 20, 2010: Ford Motor Co. won a new trial in a lawsuit over brain injuries suffered by a teenager in a Bronco II rollover accident that resulted in a $31 million jury award against the U.S. automaker. (more) August 20, 2010: According to a report in The Washington Post, the event data recorders the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration used to investigate claims of unintended acceleration in Toyota vehicles have a history of problems. In one incident, a Toyota pickup that struck a tree in a single car accident was recorded as going 177 mph – far faster than any T100 we've ever seen. (more) August 19, 2010: Mazda plans to recall about 514,000 vehicles to repair power-steering systems that fail suddenly. (more) August 17, 2010: General Motors Co will recall more than 243,000 model year 2009-2010 crossover sport utilities, mainly in the United States, to inspect safety belts for possible damage, the automaker said on Tuesday. (more) August 11, 2010: The government’s investigation into complaints of sudden acceleration of Toyota vehicles has found no evidence of flawed electronics in 58 of the vehicles that crashed, federal regulators said Tuesday. (more) August 11, 2010: Two consumer safety groups are asking the Federal Trade Commission to order Enterprise Rent-A-Car to start fixing every vehicle with a safety recall before renting them to consumers. The groups say the request highlights the lack of a requirement that rental companies must fix recalled vehicles before renting them. (more) August 11, 2010: Hyundai was one of just a few companies to come through the automotive meltdown of 2009 relatively unscathed. The Korean automaker managed to keep sales up while others faltered thanks to a quality, inexpensive product lineup backed with a stout warranty. Now it looks like those very factors are beginning impact the number of car shoppers who would consider hopping into a Hyundai. (more) August 10, 2010: Honda has announced plans to recall 383,000 Civics, Accords and Elements built in 2003 and 2004. Due to a fault with the ignition interlock system that normally prevents the key from being removed until the transmission lever is in Park, the affected Hondas could roll away on their own accord. (more) August 4, 2010: Two pedals, inches apart, one for gas and the other for brakes. For years, a Japanese inventor has argued that this most basic of car designs is dangerously flawed. The side-by-side pedal arrangement, the inventor says, can cause drivers mistakenly to floor the accelerator instead of the brakes, especially under stress. The solution? A single pedal that accelerates the car when pressed with the side of the foot. More to the point, when the pedal is pushed down, it always activates the brakes. (more) |
