Category Archives: safety

Nippon Seiki to Plead Guilt of Price Fixing on Instrument Panels

Nagoka, Japan-based Nippon Seiki Company has agreed to plead guilty and to pay a $1 million criminal fine for its role in a conspiracy to fix prices of instrument panel clusters installed in cars sold in the United States and elsewhere, the Department of Justice announced today. Including Nippon Seiki, eight companies and 11 executives – most of them Japanese – have been charged in the department’s ongoing investigation into price fixing and bid rigging in the auto parts industry. Continue reading

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CODA Recalls 2012 EVs for Defective Airbags

CODA Automotive is recalling 78 of its 2012 model year EVs because a manufacturing error incorrectly installed the side curtain airbags. Because of the defect, the airbag may not deploy properly in its four-door sedan, which only recently went on sale. In a statement the small, privately-held California company said it knows of no injuries. Continue reading

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Fisker Recalls 2012 Model Karma Cars because of Fires

Fisker Automotive is recalling 1,377 Finnish-built Karma passenger cars because of a defect in a low temperature cooling fan may result in a short circuit. The short can ignite the fan housing, shroud and surrounding components, causing a vehicle fire. At least one Karma fire has been reported and one cooling fan has burnt, according to Fisker in the required defect filing with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Continue reading

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Largest Road Test of Connected Vehicle Crash Avoidance Started

The U.S. Department of Transportation is starting the largest road test or vehicles with crash avoidance technology today in Ann Arbor, Michigan. About 3,000 cars, trucks and buses equipped with “connected” Wi-Fi technology that allows vehicles and infrastructure devices to “talk” to each other. The goal is to see if crashes could be avoided and traffic flow improved during the next year. In Europe, such technologies are also under study. Continue reading

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Auto Theft UK Style – $473 Million Unrecovered in 2011 Alone

The latest auto theft numbers in Great Britain are just as grim as in the U.S. In 2011, 65,000 vehicles were taken from their owners in the UK and never recovered for losses of £300 million or $473 million. More than two thirds (71%) of stolen cars disappear, never to be seen again. As they are stripped for either parts or shipped out of the country, according to swiftcover.com. Not surprisingly, more expensive stolen cars are more likely to disappear without a trace. Continue reading

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D.C. Court Throws Out E15 Lawsuit on a Technicality

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit has dismissed petitions challenging the Environmental Protection Agency’s partial waiver allowing gasoline with 15% ethanol or E15 in 2001 and newer model vehicles. Federal law establishes a renewable fuel mandate that requires gasoline producers to introduce significant amounts of renewable fuel such as ethanol into the Nation’s gasoline supply. Continue reading

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Top Ten Stolen Vehicles for 2011 Revealed by NCIB

The National Insurance Crime Bureau or NICB today released its list of the 10 stolen vehicles in the United States. The top spots were evenly split in 2011 with five occupied by offshore brands and five by U.S. automakers. The most popular stolen vehicles among the Detroit Three bands were Ford, Dodge and Chevrolet pickup trucks each holding one spot with Dodge Caravan and Ford Explorer rounding out the domestic models. Continue reading

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School Driving Safety – Slow Down and Get off the *#$+ Cell Phone

As summer wanes and school bells ring 55 million children in the United States will return to the classroom. With 13% those school children typically walking or biking to school, AAA warns drivers to drive carefully – as it has since 1946 – and to be especially vigilant for pedestrians during before- and after-school hours. Continue reading

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Sinclair Oil to Pay $3.8 Million Penalty for Refinery Pollution

Sinclair Oil Corporation will pay a $3.8 million fine and install pollution control equipment at its refineries in Casper and Sinclair, Wyoming after it previously agreed to reduce pollution, but then failed to do so. The U.S. Justice Department said today that the pollution controls would cost about $10.5 million, including other projects to resolve the allegations of violations of the Clean Air Act. Continue reading

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NHTSA Investigation Prompts GM Recalls of SUVs for Fires

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has prompted recalls of more than 249,000 GM SUVs because of fires in the driver’s door caused by a defective electric window motor. Affected are 2006-2007 model year Buick Rainier, Chevrolet Trailblazer, GMC Envoy, Isuzu Ascender and Saab 9-7x models, all from the GMT360 platform. NHTSA’s Office of Defects Investigation has received a total of 83 complaints, 66 alleging the door module had melted or burned, and the remaining 17 stating that the window switches acted erratically or were inoperative. Twenty-eight of the reports received have led to driver door fires, some of which allege the vehicle was keyed off and unattended. Continue reading

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Yazaki Exec Guilty of Price Fixing Sentenced to 14 Months

An executive of Tokyo-based Yazaki Corporation pled guilty for his role in a conspiracy to fix prices of instrument panel clusters today in a U.S. District court in Detroit. Toshio Sudo from Japan is the 11th executive to be charged in the government’s ongoing investigation into price fixing and bid rigging in the auto parts industry. The sweeping investigation, which is ongoing, has implicated some of the auto industry’s largest suppliers, most of them Japanese. Yazaki manufactures and sells a variety of automotive parts, and is a major supplier to Japanese automakers, among other firms. Continue reading

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IIHS Slams Luxury Cars over Frontal Crash Protection Results

Only three of 11 midsize luxury and near-luxury cars evaluated earn good or acceptable ratings in the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety’s new small overlap frontal crash test, the latest addition to a series of tests designed to force automakers to continue to develop safer vehicles that perform well beyond government mandated regulations. Continue reading

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Mercedes-Benz Recalls ML Class Floor Mats for Pedal Interference

Unlike the infamous floor mat recalls on Toyota and Lexus models starting in 2010, which had associated deaths, Mercedes-Benz uses an electronic brake-override that is standard equipment across the line. Drivers can bring any Mercedes to a stop by depressing the brake pedal, even if the gas pedal is fully depressed or jammed at the floor. When both the brake pedal and gas pedal are depressed at the same time, vehicle electronics override the gas pedal signal and bring the engine to idle as long as the driver keeps the brake pedal depressed. Continue reading

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Ford Stops Sale on Transit Connect Due to Defective Wipers

Ford Motor has told U.S. dealers to stop deliveries of Transit Connect models because the Turkish built vehicle has defective windshield wipers that are now subject to a safety recall. More than 16,000 of the delivery vans from the 2011 and 1012 model years are affected. Continue reading

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Chevrolet Recalls Impala Police Cars for Suspension Failures

When General Motors changed suppliers in the 2008 model year for front lower control arms, the critical suspension piece from Iroquois Industries did not meet specifications and is now the cause of a recall on all Chevrolet Impala police cars built during the last four years. Continue reading

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