Category Archives: Latest In Consumer News
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/
German prosecutors file charges against 6 VW employees over dieselgate
Reuters, January 14, 2020 – Prosecutors in Braunschweig, Germany on Tuesday filed charges against six Volkswagen employees for their role in helping the carmaker put heavily polluting diesel cars on German roads. https://www.reuters.com/article/volkswagen-emissions-charges-idUSFWN29J0FD
Trump renews attack on lightbulbs and goes after dishwashers, fridges, toilets and showers
By Andy Gregory, The Independent, January 15, 2020 Donald Trump has revisited his vendetta against energy-saving lightbulbs, ascribing them the blame for his orange hue while extending the focus of his ire to include showers, dishwashers and toilets in a wide-ranging rally speech in Milwaukee. https://news.yahoo.com/trump-renews-attack-lightbulbs-goes-113230094.html
Boeing employee said 737 Max ‘is designed by clowns’ and ‘supervised by monkeys’
Mike Murphy, Marketwatch. January 11, 2020. Newly released internal emails from Boeing Co. paint a disturbing picture of its 737 Max program, with employees bragging about fooling FAA regulators and ridiculing its safety. https://www.marketwatch.com/story/boeing-emails-show-workers-mocking-faa-ridiculing-737-maxs-safety-2020-01-09
Electric scooter injuries rising, one-third involve the head
Linda Carroll, Reuters January 10, 2020. Injuries and hospital admissions involving sharable two-wheeled electric scooters are on the rise in the U.S., a new study finds. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-scooters-injuries/electric-scooter-injuries-rising-one-third-involve-the-head-idUSKBN1Z92EA
Takata airbag recall rears its ugly head again, this time for 10M cars
By Kyle Hyatt/cnet.com January 8, 2020 – The Takata airbag recall has been going on for seven years, and just when we thought it was pretty much taken care of, there’s a new round of recalls for 10 million vehicles — and here’s the kicker: they had … Read More ›
UCSF Study: Juul Delivers More Nicotine To Blood Than Cigarettes, Other E-Cigs
CBS – SF January 6, 2020. As Bay Area-based Juul Labs faces increased scrutiny, a new study finds the company’s products delivers significantly more nicotine to the blood per puff than other e-cigarettes and traditional cigarettes. https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2020/01/06/ucsf-juul-nicotine-vs-cigarettes-e-cigs-study/
Workplace Age Discrimination Still Flourishes in America
AARP December 30, 2019. About 35 percent of the U.S. population is now age 50 or older. Yet, in 2018, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission — the nation’s workforce watchdog — issued a damning special report on age discrimination against older Americans. https://www.aarp.org/work/working-at-50-plus/info-2019/age-discrimination-in-america.html
Volkswagen intends to plead guilty to environment charges, but case put over
By MSN News/The Canadian Press Volkswagen’s attempts to plead guilty to all 60 Canadian charges it faces in an international emissions scandal were put on hold Friday as an environmental lawyer argued the court should hear victim impact statements. The federal government charged the behemoth this week with … Read More ›
2.7 billion email addresses & plain-text passwords exposed online
by Waqas, Hackread.com December 11th, 2019 Comparitech along with IT security researcher Bob Diachenko, have discovered a massive trove of login credentials that were exposed to public access without any authentication or security. In 2017, HackRead exclusively reported about DoubleFlag, a hacker who was selling one billion … Read More ›
California will mandate health coverage next year. Here’s what that means
By Catherine Ho San Francisco Chronicle Dec. 13, 2019 In a significant new change, California will require people to buy health insurance next year or pay a tax penalty. State-level mandates for health coverage already exist in Massachusetts, New Jersey and Washington, D.C., which have sought to … Read More ›
Are extended warranties worth it? Not so much, experts say
By David Lazarus, LA Times December 13, 2019 “They are cash cows for retailers,” said Linda Sherry, a spokeswoman for the advocacy group Consumer Action. “Salespeople get commissions, which is why they push them so hard.” But that doesn’t mean you want to dismiss the idea of … Read More ›