Category Archives: safety

NHTSA Issues Consumer Alert on Hyundai, Kia Fires

“Although the cause remains unknown, the manufacturers believe an electrical component in the anti-lock brake system may experience an internal electrical short circuit that could increase the risk of fire both while the vehicle is being driven or parked,” NHTSA said. Continue reading

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Two Tesla Recalls – Self Driving Software, Seat Belt Warning

Tesla is recalling 2016-2022 Model S and Model X, 2017-2022 Model 3, and 2020-2022 Model Y vehicles because the “rolling stop” functionality available as part of the Full Self-Driving (Beta) software may allow the vehicle to travel through an all-way stop intersection without first coming to a stop. AutoInformed is unaware of any state where a rolling stop is legal? Continue reading

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RAM – OE Firestone Truck Tires Recalled for Belt Separation

These tires were imported by Bridgestone Americas Tire Operations, LLC (BATO). BATO supplied the tires to Stellantis as original equipment for installation on 2021-2022 RAM 2500 and RAM 3500 vehicles. BATO also supplied these tires to retailers for sale in the replacement market. Affected tires were produced at a single plant from May 2, 2021 through May 8, 202. Affected tires can be differentiated from non-affected tires by the unique combination of brand, tire line, size, and DOT code. Continue reading

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First Wireless EV Charging Road Slated for Michigan

“As we aim to lead the future of mobility and electrification by boosting electric vehicle production and lowering consumer costs, a wireless in-road charging system is the next piece to the puzzle for sustainability,” said Governor Whitmer. Continue reading

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Nissan Recalling 690,000 Rogue SUVs for Fires

In affected Rogues, if water and salt collect in the driver’s side foot well, it may wick up the dash side harness tape and enter the connector. If the connector becomes corroded, electrical current may continue to flow between the connector terminals, potentially causing the driver’s power seat or power window to become inoperative, AWD warning light illumination, battery discharge, and/or thermal damage to the connector. In the worst-case condition, a fire can occur. Continue reading

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Bad Airbags – Kia Recalls 411,000 Model Year 2017-19 Vehicles

In the required filing with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Kia claimed that “variances in the manufacturing of the ACU” can cause contact between the ACU cover and the Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory (EEPROM) chip on the ACU’s Printed Circuit Board (PCB) and cause damage to the EEPROM’s soldering joints resulting in an open circuit. Continue reading

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Automated Driving – Mercedes to Work with Luminar on Lidar

The goal is to industrialize and integrate Lidar into upcoming mass-production Mercedes-Benz vehicles. “By shortening development cycles and strengthening technology partnerships Mercedes-Benz seeks to ensure that its vehicles have the most up-to-date technologies,” the German automaker said.  Continue reading

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Canopy – Ford Forms JV with ADT Home Security

New products will integrate the Safe by ADT platform to provide professional monitoring and help businesses protect work equipment in vehicles and individual owners improve security inside and outside of their vehicles. Canopy plans to launch industry-first, multi-sensor security systems with optional professional monitoring early next year. Continue reading

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GM, Qualcomm Enabling Hands-Free Driving in 2023

In Silicon Valley geek speak: “The Ultra Cruise compute is comprised of two Snapdragon SA8540P SoCs and one SA9000P AI accelerator to deliver key low-latency control functions on 16-core CPUs and high-performance AI compute of more than 300 Tera Operations Per Second for camera, radar and lidar processing. The Snapdragon SoCs are designed with 5nm process technology, enabling superior performance and power efficiency. The Snapdragon SA8540P SoCs will provide the necessary bandwidth for Ultra Cruise’s sensing, perception, planning, localization, mapping and driver monitoring.” Continue reading

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Recall – New F-Series Aluminum Driveshafts Fracture

There have been 27 reports of fractured aluminum driveshafts potentially related to a sagging underbody insulator on these vehicles. Continue reading

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Ford Motor Recalls F-Series, Ranger, Bronco, Transit, Transit Connect, Maverick for Various Safety Defects

In a series of recall documents filed on 16 December but made public by the National Highway. Traffic Safety Administration today, Ford Motor Company has recalled ~60,000 vehicles for a variety of safety defects including bad tailgates, cruise control radar, separation driveshaft separation from the transfer case, panoramic roofs flying off, and fuel tanks damaged by drill holes. All repairs will be made free of charge as required by federal law. Continue reading

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FAA Warns Broadband Could Pose Safety Threat to Airlines

Broadband deployment is currently underway but there is scarce data on it’s actually safety effects on flying. In short, your smartphone or someone else’s or the Verizon and AT&T cellphone towers (they own the frequencies that appears to be the most problematic with potential overlap interference) could kill you if it affects airline navigation, particularly in the safety critical instrument-approach-to-landing phase of flying. The device does not have to be in use on the plane. “There have not yet been proven reports of harmful interference due to wireless broadband operations internationally, although this issue is continuing to be studied,” said the FAA. Broadband is also being proposed by some automakers and suppliers as a way to wirelessly recharge electric vehicles. Continue reading

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Recalls – Unintended Acceleration on Hyundai Ioniq EVs

During operation, Ioniqs may enter a “fail-safe” mode causing the “EV Ready” lamp to flash, accompanied with reduced acceleration and overall power output. While in this “fail-safe” mode, a slow, unintended acceleration incident can occur following full accelerator pedal release, if according to Hyundai, a specific set of sequences are met. The sequence steps being (1) the accelerator pedal is rapidly cycled at the moment the “fail-safe” mode is initially engaged, (2) followed by a sustained period of 100% accelerator pedal application and lastly (3) an abrupt release of the accelerator pedal. The braking and steering systems are fully functional during the “fail-safe” mode. Continue reading

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Ford Testing Autonomous Delivery of Food in Detroit

The pilot will use a low-speed autonomous shuttle operated by the Ford future tech autonomous vehicle team and Quantum Signal AI, a wholly owned Ford subsidiary. It will run between the Southwest Detroit Ford Resource and Engagement Center, where bags will be loaded, taken to Rio Vista, where groceries will be unloaded and distributed to participating residents. Continue reading

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Connected – Bosch Touts Application Independent Software

“Software development is a longstanding core competence at Bosch. Every year, we put more than 200 million control units running our own software into vehicles worldwide. With this new set-up, we want to become the leading provider of application-independent vehicle software,” says Dr. Stefan Hartung, chairperson of the Mobility Solutions business sector of Robert Bosch GmbH. Continue reading

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