Uber has already dipped its toes into the world of delivery service. First with limited-time deliveries of sometimes-melted ice cream and cuddly kittens. Now the service aims to provide everyday items for consumers who just can’t make it to one of the many convenience stores littering the nation’s capital. [More]
Transportation & Infrastructure
Feds: Slaughterhouse Switched Out Unhealthy Cattle Heads During Inspectors’ Lunch Breaks
By 8.19.14
A federal grand jury has indicted the co-owners and two employees of the California slaughterhouse at the center of a massive beef recall earlier this year, and we’re now getting a better idea about how the plant allegedly got away with processing “diseased and unsound animals” that were “unfit for human food.” [More]
Map Of Most-Stolen Car Models In Each State Shows Car Thieves Need More Variety
By 8.18.14
Car thieves either don’t have much imagination or they don’t have much to choose from when selecting which vehicles to boost. A look at the most-stolen cars in each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia shows surprisingly little variety in terms of cars being swiped. [More]
Woman Sues GM Over Claims That Car’s Seat Heater Left Her With Third-Degree Burn
By 8.18.14
A 26-year-old Maine woman is suing General Motors after she claims a seat heater in one of its vehicles burned her so badly that she had to get a skin graft and was bedridden for months while she healed. [More]
Man’s License Suspended Over A Ticket From 1981 After DMV Fixes Its Typo
By 8.18.14
What’s the last thing you remember about that time you didn’t get a notice that your license was suspended? That’s right, you wouldn’t remember it if it never happened to you. One man found himself with a suspended license over a ticket from 1981, something he wasn’t warned about back then because the notification letter had his name misspelled on it. [More]
Ford Recalls The 2013 Escape For 11th Time; Also Recalls Focus Hatchback
By 8.18.14
The newly redesigned Escape isn’t working out too well for Ford Motor Company. Over the weekend, the carmaker recalled the compact SUV for the eleventh time. [More]
Ford Recalls 83,000 Vehicles Because Losing Power Or Rolling Away Isn’t A Perk
By 8.15.14
Another day, another round of cars that might roll away even if they appear to be in the “park” position. This time Ford is recalling more than 83,000 vehicles because a faulty part could cause them to lose power to roll away. [More]
Land Rover Recalls 40,000 Luxury SUVs For Passenger Airbag Issues
By 8.13.14
Safety is a priority for car manufacturers, if it wasn’t there likely wouldn’t be recalls at all. But since it is, the recalls keep coming, this time in the form of 40,000 Jaguar Land Rover luxury SUVs with potentially malfunctioning passenger airbags. [More]
Lyft Claims Uber Employees Requested Then Canceled 5,600 Rides
By 8.12.14
People cancel car service requests for any number of reasons – change of plans, not ready in time, trying to sabotage the company. Wait, what? Officials with ride-sharing service Lyft allege that reps for rival company Uber attempted to hurt Lyft by requesting-and-canceling thousands of rides. [More]
GM Recalls 269,001 Saturns, Chevrolets, Cadillacs, Buicks, And Pontiacs
By 8.8.14
Well, it’s the end of business on a Friday afternoon, so that means it must be time for another General Motors recall! As part of their apparent effort to recall every GM vehicle on the roads at least once, this afternoon the company announced the recall of 202,115 cars from current brands Buick, Cadillac, and Chevrolet, and from defunct brands Saturn and Pontiac. [More]
Hyundai Fined $17.35M For Failing To Issue Brake Recall For More Than A Year
By 8.8.14
If we’ve learned anything this year it’s that vehicle recalls are a big deal, and, as a car manufacturer, ignoring signs of a recall will most certainly land you in hot water with U.S. regulators. And so, Hyundai will pay more than $17 million for delaying a recall related to defective brakes. [More]
GM Advising Owners Of 182K Recalled SUVs To Park Outside Until Fire Hazard Fixed
By 8.8.14
Back on June 30, General Motors issued six separate recalls totaling more than 7.5 million vehicles in just the U.S. One of those recalls involved around 182,000 SUVs that were at risk for a fire because of overheating power window switches. It was the third time that GM had recalled these particular vehicles for this problem and it still isn’t fixed. Now the car maker is notifying owners to keep affected SUVs parked outside until the defect is repaired. [More]
Uber And Lyft Now Open For Business In Houston
By 8.7.14
When Uber and Lyft opened for business in Houston, the same thing happened that has happened in many cities with existing livery industries: taxi companies freaked out and sought help from the city government. Now both ride-sharing services are open for business in the city, with some additional rules in place that are intended to help traditional taxi companies compete with them. [More]
Uber’s New “UberPool” Sets Users Up With Strangers To Share A Ride, Split The Cost
By 8.6.14
Zipping around town telling a car where to go is a lovely luxury and all, but let’s face it — not everyone can afford to pay for a solo drive all the time. While you can already split rides with a friend traveling in your same car, soon Uber users will be able to share rides with perfect strangers using Uber Pool. [More]
Still Waiting For Your Fitbit Force Recall Check? Here’s What To Do
By 8.5.14
We’ve provided wrist-to-wrist coverage of the problems surrounding the FitBit Force, a wearable movement tracker that counts steps, measures flights of stairs, and occasionally induces rashes. We shared with you the first rash reports we saw, as well as reporting on the recall and its aftermath. It makes sense that readers would contact us when they can’t get their refunds. Are you still waiting for your check? Here’s what you should do. [More]
Feds Subpoena GM Over Subprime Auto Loans
By 8.4.14
After recalling more than 30 million cars and facing a number of investigations, it’s probably safe to bet that General Motors Company would like to put 2014 in the rearview mirror. Before that’s possible the company will have to get through five more months and a new federal investigation into its financing unit regarding subprime auto loans. [More]
Rental Car Companies Asked GM To Look Into Ignition-Related Crashes Years Before Recall
By 7.31.14
It’s becoming harder and harder for GM execs to claim that the company was largely unaware of the problems with the Chevy Cobalt and other vehicles with an ignition problem that has resulted in at least 13 deaths, dozens of accidents and the long-delayed recall of millions of cars. A new report shows that car rental companies have been telling GM to look into the issue since at least 2005. [More]
Uber Passenger Complains Of Spider Bite In “Filthy” Car
By 7.30.14
On Friday, the state of North Carolina received its first complaint against the app-based ride-sharing service Uber. The customer’s complaint? His driver arrived late in a “filthy” vehicle, and there were spiders inside the car. Which bit him. The spiders, that is, not the car. As far as we know. [More]
