Tag Archives: Auto Safety

Evenflo, Maker of the “Big Kid” Booster Seat, Put Profits Over Child Safety

February 6, 2020. Daniela Porat and Patricia Callahan, Propublica.Internal video of side-impact tests shows that children could be injured or killed in Evenflo’s “Big Kid” booster seats. But the company continued to market them as “side-impact tested.” https://www.propublica.org/article/evenflo-maker-of-the-big-kid-booster-seat-put-profits-over-child-safety

How secrecy in U.S. courts hobbles the regulators meant to protect the public

Mike Spector, Jaimi Dowdell and Benjamin Lesser. Reuters, Jan 16,2020 Something wasn’t right with the Rhino. Reports started trickling in to the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) in 2005 of people being killed or injured in the Yamaha Motor Co off-road vehicles when they tipped over. https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-courts-secrecy-regulators/ 

NHTSA May Recall Every Tesla Ever Made Over Sudden Unintended Acceleration Complaint

Steve Hanley, Cleantechnica Jan. 18, 2020 – The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) says it is reviewing a petition that claims every Tesla Model S, Model X, and Model 3 sold in America since 2012 is defective and should be recalled. Why?https://cleantechnica.com/2020/01/18/nhtsa-may-recall-every-tesla-ever-made-over-sudden-unintended-acceleration-complaint/

Get Ready For A World Of Hackable Cars

by Elizabeth Weise, USA Today

“If you’ve got GPS or Bluetooth access or a WiFi hotspot in your car — which is coming — there’s a wide range of hacks for getting in,” [one expert said.] … The convergence between connected cars and nefarious hackers (as opposed to research hackers) is coming, say [others. … One expert] says he does caution friends to avoid the dongles popular with some auto insurance companies that allow them to monitor a car’s actions. It’s one thing to trust Ford or Chevrolet. But with those, he said, “you’re not even trusting your insurance company, your’e trusting whoever they bought the dongle from.” Read More ›

Regulators Get Input – Sort Of – On Self-Driving Car Rollout

by Justin Pritchard, Associated Press

California’s DMV is still months away from finalizing any regulations. Under the draft framework, an independent certifier would need to verify a manufacturer’s assurances that its cars are safe. Google and traditional automakers want manufacturer self-certification, the standard for other cars. Once a company receives that verification, manufacturers would receive a permit for three years. Consumers could lease the cars, but manufacturers would be required to keep tabs on how safely they are driving and report that performance to the state. Drivers would need special, manufacturer-provided training, and then get a special certification on their licenses. Read More ›

Google To Make Driverless Cars An Alphabet Company In 2016

by John Lippert, Bloomberg

google driverless car

The race to develop a self-driving vehicle fleet has intensified since February when Bloomberg reported that Google was developing a rival to Uber Technologies Inc., most likely in conjunction with its driverless-car project. Uber is pursuing its own autonomous capabilities, while automakers are deploying semi-autonomous technologies while experimenting with so-called shared mobility. Uber is spending some of the more than $10 billion it has raised in private markets to develop self-driving cars. … Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas said Tesla could triple its revenue by 2029 by launching its own on-demand mobility service. Read More ›

Consumer Federation Of California Releases 2015 Scorecard For State Lawmakers

The Consumer Federation of California (CFC) has released its 2015 Scorecard for State Legislators, which rates lawmakers on the votes they cast on key issues, including privacy, automobile safety, household toxics, truth in advertising, living wages, reform of the California Public Utilities Commission, and other consumer protection … Read More ›

New California Data On Ride Services Reveal Rise In Collisions And Incidents

by Bryan Goebel, The California Report

“If it’s normalized by miles driven, you’d expect the number of incidents to be somewhat stable over time,” [UCLA transportation expert Juan Matute told the CPUC]. “That would be indicative of TNCs being less safe as they scale up.” … In 2013, an Uber driver was charged with vehicular manslaughter for hitting and killing 6-year-old Sofia Liu as she and her family were walking in a crosswalk. … [Uber] was threatened in July with suspension and a $7 million fine by an administrative law judge for failing to meet all the [CPUC] reporting requirements. Read More ›

Call Kurtis Investigates: Some Jeep & Dodge SUVs Are Catching Fire After Recall Repairs

The Hanson family brought their 2012 Jeep Grand Cherokee into the dealer for a recall repair expecting to take away the danger. Instead, the family is just one of at least nine that have had fires after the recall repairs. … Stacie Hanson says she and her two kids were just sitting down to eat at Taco Bell, when her daughter yelled, “mom your car has smoke coming out of the whole inside of it,” said Stacie. Eric points out his family was sitting in the SUV just minutes earlier. Read More ›

Volkswagen Test Rigging Follows A Long Auto Industry Pattern

by Danny Hakim and Hiroko Tabuchi, The New York Times

car on fire

The universe of automotive scandals has been a broad and often tragic one, including Ford’s 1978 recalls of 1.5 million Pintos after evidence emerged that its gas tanks were prone to catch fire during impacts. The Chrysler Corporation was indicted in 1987 on charges of disconnecting the odometers of 60,000 cars used by executives and then selling them as new. The Ford-Firestone scandal that started in the late 1990s was linked to 271 deaths. And more than 23 million cars have been recalled by 11 automakers over airbags made by Takata that could violently rupture in an accident. Read More ›

US Senate Panel Reverses Course On Rentals Of Recalled Vehicles

by Jeff Plungis, Bloomberg News

airbag

A Senate panel killed a proposal to permit companies to continue renting vehicles that have been recalled, a measure criticized by consumer groups, automakers and even some rental-car companies. The Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee instead voted Wednesday to require cars be repaired before they’re rented. … Democrats introduced an amendment that failed on a party-line vote to give [the National Highway Safety Administration] more funding and allow jail time for executives who hide auto-safety defects. Read More ›

California Assembly Member Pulls Auto Recall Bill As Opposition Mounts

by Jerry Hirsch, Los Angeles Times

Assemblyman Rich Gordon (D-San Mateo) said he notified the state Senate that he plans to hold AB 287, titled the Consumer Automotive Recall Safety Act, until next year to see if he can establish a consensus among dealers and a growing opposition. … Consumer advocates praised Gordon’s move. “The whole concept of allowing dealers to sell recalled cars is bad news for consumers,” said Rosemary Shahan, president of Consumers for Auto Reliability and Safety. “No one else in the industry thought this was a good idea.” Read More ›

California Groups Say CarMax Sells Unsafe Used Vehicles

by Mark Glover, The Sacramento Bee

Used car dealership sells recalled cars

“CarMax is playing recalled car roulette with its customers’ lives and endangering the safety of others who share the roads,” said Rosemary Shahan, [Consumers for Auto Reliability and Safety president]. … The report released Wednesday said “approximately 9 percent of all cars recently offered for sale at that location had an unrepaired federal safety recall.” The report said 34 of 386 vehicles for sale at a local CarMax on May 26-27 were subject to safety recalls. The report listed defects including engines that could stall, possible air bag failure, worn parts, key systems failures and bad electrical connections. Read More ›

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