After earlier test drives up and down the East Coast last winter, the next obstacle for the Tesla Model S in its quest for acceptance was the task of setting up superchargers across the country, to enable the kind of American road trip everyone says they’re planning to take someday. Anyway, you can now drive cross-country in a Tesla, but you’ll just have to take a bit of a detour. [More]
Transportation & Infrastructure
Recall Of 200K Pacifiers: While A Baby With A Mustache Is Cute, It’s Not Worth Choking Over
By 1.30.14
Look that baby! She’s got a mustache and a tiny little beard! Isn’t that just so adorable, because see, babies can’t grow facial hair and also she’s a girl? Sure, it might be cute, but the company behind three novelty pacifiers, Fred & Friends, has announced it’s recalling 200,000 over safety concerns. Namely, that a baby could choke on some of the parts included. [More]
Toyota Halts Sale Of Popular Vehicles, Because The Possibility Of A Seat Fire Is Bad
By 1.30.14
Seat heaters provide a warm, cozy welcome to your frigid car; that is as long as it doesn’t catch fire. That possibility has Toyota halting the sale of its most popular vehicles after discovering the padding in seat heaters doesn’t meet flammability standards. [More]
Gree Adds 21 Models Of GE Dehumidifiers To Massive, Slow Recall
By 1.30.14
If you have a GE dehumidifier in your home, time to check the serial number: Gree Electric Appliances has recalled 350,000 dehumidifiers sold between April 2008 and December 2011 because they could potentially overheat and cause a fire. If this recall sounds familiar, it should: Gree already recalled 2.2 million dehumidifiers sold under brand names that you might recognize like De’Longhi, Frigidaire, and Kenmore. Customers have complained to Consumerist that this recall has been slow and crappy. [More]
Bodum Recalls Starbucks French Presses: Shattered Glass And Boiling Water Are A Bad Combination
By 1.29.14
Do you know what really doesn’t go together? A quart or so of boiling water, a plummeting glass container, and a lot of brown-colored, stain-tastic liquid. That’s been the terrifying result for some people who paid $40 for a pretty rose gold colored French press at Starbucks. [More]
Family Of 6-Year-Old Girl Hit By Uber Driver Suing The Company For Wrongful Death
By 1.28.14
The family of a six-year-old girl who was struck and killed during a traffic accident in San Francisco involving an Uber driver is now suing the company for wrongful death. But Uber claims that because the driver didn’t have anyone in his car at the time, the company isn’t responsible. [More]
Why Picking Up Extra Money Through Ride-sharing May Not Be So Wise
By 1.27.14
Ride-sharing services like Uber and Lyft have been in the news lately, mostly because of the controversial pricing structure and clashes with the taxi industry that these companies are trying so hard to disrupt. If all of this coverage has made you think, “Hey, I want to drive strangers around for some extra cash,” that’s possible with Lyft or the lower-end UberX service. There may be a danger that you hadn’t anticipated, though. [More]
Flushmate III Toilet System Recalled Because Toilet Explosions Are Very Bad
By 1.24.14
Words that you never want to see in close proximity to each other: “toilet,” “explosion,” and “shatter.” That’s why the Flushmate flush-assist system has been recalled, though: one of the welds in the system can break, shattering the toilet tank and posing an “impact and laceration hazards to consumers,” as the Consumer Product Safety Commission elegantly explains. [More]
GetTaxi Claims Uber Employees Played Dirty By Ordering, Then Canceling A Bunch Of Cars
By 1.24.14
Just as badly as you want a car to whisk you away through the snowy streets, so do the companies that run those car services want to be the ones to provide you with your ride. And it sounds like it’s getting dirty out there, with one rival of service Uber claiming company employees pulled the nasty trick of ordering up a hundred of its cars and then canceling. [More]
January Food And Supplement Recall Roundup: Dairy Invasion
By 1.24.14
Undeclared dairy products seem to be showing up in lots of places where they aren’t wanted: candy, gluten-free bread mixes, and even dietary supplements. Welcome to the January Recall Roundup for edible items. [More]
Consumer Reports Pulls Recommendation For Honda Fit After Poor Crash Test Results
By 1.22.14
Earlier today, we told you how all but one of the subcompact cars (aka mini cars) tested by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety received failing marks in the important small overlap crash test, and the Honda Fit earned the lowest scores of the entire group. As a result, our co-workers at Consumer Reports have decided they can no longer recommend this particular vehicle. [More]
Better, Stronger, Faster? New Federal Safety Rules Proposed for Child Car Seats
By 1.22.14
From a parent’s perspective, frequent changes in car seat regulations and standards can be daunting. Still, safety is paramount, and so the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is proposing a round of new safety standards for child car seats. [More]
Mini Cars Are Mega Failures In New Crash Test Results
By 1.22.14
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (better known as the people that get paid to smash cars into walls) recently put 11 mini cars — including well-known models like the Fiat 500, Honda Fit, Hyundai Accent, and Toyota Prius C — through its newest form of crash-testing. The results were not good, with only one of the tested vehicles earning an overall “Acceptable” rating. [More]
Badvertising History Lessons: Women Can’t Drive, Men Can’t Bake, Fancy Cheese Is A Requirement
By 1.17.14
Let’s face it: The past was terrible. Sure, wax on about the “golden era” and pine nostalgically for the “good old days,” but if we can learn anything from advertising in days gone by, it’s that sexism sells. In an effort to show how far we’ve come and take a bit of shine off the past, we present Consumerist’s Badvertising History Lessons. This week, sexism is an equal opportunity -ism. [More]
Pennsylvania Voters Can Skip The DMV, Voter ID Law Struck Down
By 1.17.14
Just thinking about going to the Department of Motor Vehicles induces anxiety and a stomach churn so bad I can’t move. Pennsylvania residents with the same hatred of the never-ending lines and long wait will be happy to know a judge struck down a portion of the state’s voter ID law that requires voters to have a photo identification card in order to cast a ballot. [More]
Sears, Kmart Recall Kenmore Fan Heaters Because They Are Not Supposed To Catch Fire
By 1.15.14
While flames have long kept humans warm during cold weather, fire is not the intended output of a Kenmore heat fan. That’s why Sears and Kmart have recalled 43,000 of the fans and will be issuing refunds to customers who bought them. [More]
Consumer Reports: Recalled Calphalon Blender Is Safe With Blade Repair
By 1.14.14
Our ice-crushing colleagues down the hall at Consumer Reports have good news about the recalled Calphalon XL 9-speed blender. Once it’s repaired, the blade no longer blends itself and the appliance is now considered safe for consumers to use. [More]
Here’s Why Your Next UberX Ride Might Cost Less Than It Used To
By 1.10.14
Regular Uber customers likely know about how much their rides costs, so if you suddenly see a cheaper rate pop up on your phone for the UberX service, it’s not just that you look really nice that day or have a fairy cabmother. I mean, you might, but in reality Uber is lowering rates in some areas to get more customers. [More]
