Tag Archives: nhtsa

DOT’s LaHood Praises BMW as it Enables Distracted Driving?

BMW, the luxury brand that is in the process of becoming the first automobile manufacturer in the world to have voice-read e-mail messages inside its vehicles, has been singled out for praise by the U.S. Secretary of Transportation for claiming it is against texting and driving? Continue reading

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Toyota Recalls Prius for Bad Electric Steering Again

Toyota Motor Sales today announced that it will conduct a voluntary safety recall involving approximately 52,000 2001 through 2003 Prius vehicles sold in the U.S. to replace the electric power steering pinion shaft attachment nuts. This announcement is for U.S. vehicles included in Toyota Motor Corporation’s global recall of 106,000 vehicles. Continue reading

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Toyota Recall Study Finds Adversarial Relationship with NHTSA

The Quality Report, since it was paid for by Toyota, has already come under attack for bias from organizations linked to product liability lawyers. Nonetheless, the Report describes Toyota’s attitude toward federal safety regulators as “adversarial.” Unintended acceleration or stuck gas pedal problems are implicated in thousands of incidents and more than 90 alleged deaths. Continue reading

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Honda Recalls New Civic for Fuel Leaks in Latest Quality Gaffe

Toyota of course was ultimately assessed record civil fines by the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration last year for its failure to promptly recall all of the vehicles affected by deadly unintended acceleration or stuck gas pedal problems. The “Toyota effect” now looms large over the auto industry since no automaker wants to be charged with a safety defect coverup. Continue reading

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Volvo Recalls XC90 Crossover for ZF Power Steering Defect

Volvo is recalling 2010-2011 model XC90 vehicles manufactured from 29 January 2010, through 16 August 2010. The power steering fluid may leak from the oil pipe connection at the steering gear valve housing from the ZF produced part. Continue reading

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Tougher Vehicle Economy Standards to Save Billions in Costs?

Pressure or advocacy groups rarely – if ever – acknowledge that higher fuel economy standards are controversial, and they usually don’t explore the soundness of their assumptions. (Ever see a California Air Resources Board assessment of the cost of its aborted electric vehicle mandate of the 1990s?) Continue reading

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NHTSA Investigating Ford Freestyle Models after 18 Crashes

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is investigating Ford Freestyle models after it received hundreds of complaints about engine surging.

At least 18 crashes are alleged after the minivans jumped ahead when the driver’s foot was not firmly on the brake pedal, according to the NHTSA defect investigation that started last week. Continue reading

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Chevrolet Recalls Colorado for Defective Windshield Wipers

Chevrolet is recalling 2011 model Colorado Pickup trucks because the windshield wipers can fail. GMC Canyon pickups are also affected by the recall that is caused by a loose nut in the wiper linkage. Continue reading

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Chevrolet Recalls Cruze for Transmission and Steering Defects

Chevrolet is recalling more than 200,000 Cruze compact cars for two safety related defects caused by improper manufacturing that can result in Cruze models rolling away while in park or the driver losing control of the steering. Continue reading

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Honda Expands Airbag Recall to 833,000 Honda, Acura Models

All automakers typically try to limit the number of vehicles covered in recalls or service actions to cut down on expenses and limit damage to their reputations. However, as investigations proceed the population of affected vehicles sometimes expands due to uncertainties around the root cause or inability to identify exactly how many parts are affected. Continue reading

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Kia Recalls Spectra and Sorento Models for Safety Defects

In the first recall, almost 60,000 Spectra cars from model years 2004-2007 are being recalled because of corrosion, which can lead to the fuel tank to fall and contact the road.

The second recall was promoted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) investigation into the sudden loss of power on 2011 Sorento 2wd vehicles equipped with automatic transmissions and 2.4-liter engines, when the intermediate driveshaft failed. Continue reading

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Toyota Recalls Tundra Pickups for Rear Drive Shaft Failures

Toyota Motor Sales (TMS), U.S.A. today announced it will conduct a safety recall on approximately 51,000, 2011 model year Toyota Tundra trucks to inspect the rear drive shaft. The rear drive shaft on Tundra models may include a defective slip … Continue reading

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Nissan Recalls Pathfinder, Infiniti QX4 for Rust, Steering Failure

Nissan Pathfinders from model years 1996-2004, and Infiniti QX4 SUVs from 1997-2003 are affected by regional recalls for vehicles originally sold in or currently registered in the following 20 states and the District of Columbia: Connecticut, Delaware, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Massachusetts, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington D.C., West Virginia and Wisconsin.

Critics of regional recalls for safety defects maintain that they do not address the entire population of defective vehicles. Automakers like them since it cuts the expense by limiting the inspection to fewer vehicles. Continue reading

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Toyota Recalls Rav4 and Highlander SUVs for Bad Airbags

Toyota has been aware of the problem since October of 2007, and changed the software in new vehicles in 2008, and yet did not recall the defective vehicles. Previous such coverups resulted in record fines imposed on Toyota by NHTSA in 2010 for failure to act promptly on a safety defect. Continue reading

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Truck Underride Guards Fail in Crashes so IIHS Wants New Rule

In 2009, 70% of the 3,163 people who died in all large truck crashes were occupants of cars or other passenger vehicles. Underride crashes makes death or serious injury more likely since the upper part of the passenger vehicle’s occupant compartment typically crushes as the truck body intrudes into the vehicle safety cage. Continue reading

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