Take a moment before you pop that pizza in the oven or start the clock on your microwaveable frozen meal: Nestlé USA is recalling almost three million total boxes of frozen food, including some DiGiorno pizzas, Stouffer’s lasagnas and Lean Cuisine meals. [More]
Transportation & Infrastructure
Volkswagen U.S. CEO Steps Down Amid Emissions Scandal
By 3.10.16
Six months after Volkswagen admitted to using “defeat device” technology to skirt emissions tests on its so-called “clean diesel” cars, the carmaker’s U.S. chief has stepped down.
Perdue Recalling Applegate Farms Chicken Nuggets That May Include Extra Crunchy Plastic Pieces
By 3.7.16
Everyone loves a good crunch when biting into a chicken nugget, but if that texture is imparted by inedible plastic pieces, well, that’s a problem. To that end, Perdue Foods is recalling about 4,530 pounds of Applegate Farms chicken nuggets over concerns that the products may be contaminated with wayward plastic. [More]
Starbucks Sausage, Egg & Cheese Muffin Recalled For Listeria Concerns
By 3.7.16
A company that makes Starbucks’ pre-packaged Sausage, Egg, and Cheddar Cheese on English Muffin has issued a recalled for the breakfast sandwich over concerns that they may be contaminated with Listeria. [More]
N.Y. Driver Charged With A Felony Learns There’s No Such Thing As A DIY License Plate
By 3.4.16
If you’re in a bind and don’t have valid registration for your vehicle, whipping out some cardboard and colored markers for a little DIY project is not the way to go, unless you want to end up with a felony charge on your hands. That’s the lesson police say one New York woman learned when she was caught driving with a license plate of her own creation. [More]
Regulators Investigating 420,000 Ford Trucks For Brake Failure Issue
By 3.4.16
After receiving dozens of complaints from consumers about brake failure, federal regulators have opened a probe into 420,000 of Ford’s most popular truck brand, the F-150. [More]
Customer Claims Uber Driver Staged Vomit Scene To Collect Bogus $200 Cleaning Charge
By 3.3.16
If you own a car that you use to drive strangers around in, it’s a nasty, expensive surprise when one of your passengers vomits up their dinner/night on the town in your car. But one Uber customer says she was hit with a $200 fine for a phantom puking session that never happened while she and her friends were in the car. Instead, she claims the driver faked the whole thing just to collect the dough. [More]
Toyota Recalls Nearly 200,000 More Vehicles Equipped With Takata Airbags
By 3.2.16
The often criticized piecemeal approach to recalling vehicles equipped with shrapnel-shooting Takata airbags continued today as Toyota announced the recall of nearly 200,000 cars in the U.S. [More]
NHTSA: Recalling All Takata Airbags Wouldn’t Make Cars Safer
By 3.1.16
Frustrated by a piecemeal approach of recalling batches of affected vehicles here and there, lawmakers and safety advocates recently pushed for a recall of all cars equipped with shrapnel-shooting Takata airbags. But federal safety regulators say that this sort of all-at-once recall may actually do more harm than good. [More]
DMV Report: Google Self-Driving Car Hit City Bus While Changing Lanes
By 2.29.16
Google has been quick to point out in the past that its self-driving cars haven’t been at fault for any of the accidents they’ve been involved in. In what could be the first incident that’s the driverless car’s fault, a California Department of Motor Vehicles report says a Google Lexus hit a city bus while in autonomous mode. [More]
Former Uber, Lyft Drivers Are Selling Their Vehicle Decals Online
By 2.29.16
The bright pink mustaches and the “U” decals used to designate ride-sharing vehicles for Uber and Lyft have found a second purpose: making their owners quick cash on sites like eBay. While selling the insignias might be a good way for former drivers to pad their wallets — sometimes by thousands of dollars, it means the decals might be used for other purposes. For that reason, always be sure to double check the license plate, and driver’s name before getting in a hailed vehicle. [Business Insider] [More]
Tesla Can Continue Selling Cars Straight To Consumers In Indiana For At Least A Year
By 2.26.16
Electric car-seeking Indiana residents can still buy their new Tesla without having to go out of state, at least for the time being. State senators have tabled a bill that would have banned the carmaker from selling vehicles under its current, often controversial, straight-to-consumer business model. [More]
Judge Gives Volkswagen Until March 24 To Come Up With Fix For Dirty Diesels
By 2.25.16
Volkswagen has one month to come up with a plan on how to fix nearly 500,000 diesel-engine vehicles that contain “defeat devices” to skirt federal emissions standards, a judge overseeing class-action suits against the carmaker declared on Thursday. [More]
If You’re Still Eating Raw Sprouts, You May Want To Rethink That
By 2.25.16
Sprouts are a tasty addition to a salad, a sandwich, or a stir fry, but they’re also grown in water and usually eaten raw. That makes them excellent vehicles to bring a variety of foodborne pathogens straight from the farm or processing plant to your mouth. Over a year ago, we wondered whether everyone should just stop buying and eating sprouts, and since then, the sprout-growing industry hasn’t done anything to make us change our minds. [More]
Mars Recalling Candy In 55 Countries Because Eating Plastic Isn’t So Sweet
By 2.23.16
U.S. candy maker Mars has issued a recall in 55 countries over concerns that some candy bars and other sweet treats might contain an ingredient that isn’t nutty, nougaty, chocolatey, or otherwise delicious: plastic bits. [More]
Takata Airbag Recall Could Expand To Cover 90M Units
By 2.22.16
The nation’s largest vehicle recall could soon be even bigger: federal safety regulators are currently discussing the possibility of expanding Takata’s shrapnel-shooting airbag recall to cover another 70 million to 90 million inflators. [More]
Report: Regulators Ask VW To Produce More Electric Vehicles To Make Up For That Emissions-Cheating Stuff
By 2.22.16
While hundreds of thousands of consumers in the U.S. continue to wait for Volkswagen to create a plan to fix vehicles that cheat emission standards, federal regulators are apparently looking to the future, asking the carmaker to produce more electric vehicles in the country as a sort of penance for its use of “defeat devices” in diesel cars. [More]
