One would assume that when shifting a vehicle into park that means all forward and backward motions of the vehicle have ceased. That apparently wasn’t the case for some Hyundai vehicles that are now being recalled in the United States and Puerto Rico for a transmission issue. [More]
Transportation & Infrastructure
Hyundai Recalls 880,000 Sonatas Because When You Put The Car In Park It Shouldn’t Continue To Move
By 7.30.14
Recording Industry Sues Ford, GM Over “CD-Ripping” Vehicles
By 7.29.14
While it’s usually perfectly legal for you to put the music you buy on a hard drive for your own use, the makers of the technology that rip your CDs into MP3s (or other formats) may be breaking the law if they don’t pay the recording industry piper. That’s why two of the country’s largest automakers are currently being sued by a music business royalties group. [More]
Notice Shows GM Knew About Bolt Issue In Camaro, Other Vehicles A Year Before Announcing Recall
By 7.29.14
The latest woe for General Motors may sound a bit familiar. It appears the car manufacturer knew of a potential safety problem — in which a loose bolt could cause loss of the driver’s seat function — before affected vehicles ever hit the market, but didn’t take action until issuing a recall earlier this month. [More]
Lyft Is Too Successful In New York City, No Cars Available
By 7.28.14
In New York City, early adopters of the car-summoning smartphone app Lyft got a special gift: fifty free rides with a fare of up to $25 each in the first fifteen days that the service is open for business. It’s an impressive promotion…or it would be if there were any drivers available. [More]
Nissan Expands Recall For Vehicles With Possibly Defective Takata Airbags
By 7.28.14
In a year marred by vehicle recalls, Nissan remained relatively under the radar with fewer than 500,000 cars recalled. But that changed on Saturday when the car company expanded a previous recall over defective Takata-produced airbags, bringing its total to more than 664,000. [More]
Former GM CEO Thinks Congress Would Have Gone Easier On Him Over Ignition Recalls
By 7.28.14
In the short time that she’s been CEO of General Motors, Mary Barra has repeatedly been called before federal lawmakers and investigators to answer for the car company’s record-shattering recalls, including the ignition-related problems that went ignored for more than a decade. But her predecessor at the GM CEO gig says he probably wouldn’t have received such tough interrogations from Congress. [More]
CPSC: Best Buy And Its Closeout Stores Sold Electronics And Furniture After Recall
By 7.25.14
Once an item has been formally recalled by the Consumer Product Safety Commission, it becomes illegal to sell that item. Yet the CPSC reports that Best Buy, Magnolia, Best Buy Private Auction, CowBoom, and TechLiquidators continued to sell products that had already been recalled in 2012 and 2013. [More]
Lyft Can Launch In New York City, Only Using Commercial Drivers
By 7.25.14
Two weeks ago, car-sharing service Lyft was supposed to launch in New York City, allowing car-owners to receive cash for driving strangers around. The state’s attorney general stopped the launch, saying that the company is a livery service in disguise and should be regulated as one. Today, the AG’s office announced that they’ve come to an agreement with Lyft, which will be able to launch in New York City using only already-licensed commercial drivers. [More]
Regulators Investigating Hyundai Because Seatbelts And Airbags Are Supposed To Work
By 7.25.14
Since there’s no point in having seatbelts or airbags in a car if they don’t function when needed, the National Highway Traffic Administration is looking into an issue that could knock out these safety features in some Hyundai vehicles. [More]
Hidden Listening Devices Found At Ford HQ; FBI Investigates Former Engineer
By 7.25.14
Like mismatched partners in a bad early ’90s buddy cop movie, Ford and the FBI are working together to investigate why a former engineer at the car maker may have placed listening devices in conference rooms at the Ford global HQ in Michigan. [More]
GM Expects To Pay Upwards Of $600 Million To Victims Of Ignition Switch Defect
By 7.24.14
Last month General Motors detailed its plan to compensate victims of crashes resulting from the long-ignored ignition defect, saying individual payouts could range anywhere from around $20,000 to the double-digit millions. Today, the car maker revealed how much it expects to pay in total when all this compensating is done. [More]
GM Recalls Another 718,000 Vehicles, Including Your Bitchin’ Camaro
By 7.23.14
Not to be outdone by Chrysler’s recent recall-a-thon, GM has announced six new safety recalls covering more than a dozen models, for a grand total of 717,949 vehicles. [More]
Chrysler Continues Recall Roll With Brand New Sedans, Trucks And SUVs
By 7.23.14
When purchasing a brand new vehicle, one probably doesn’t expect it to be recalled in the next two months. [More]
Now Chrysler Is Recalling 800K Jeep SUVs For Ignition Problems
By 7.22.14
The faulty ignition flu of 2014 is spreading among the car makers of greater Detroit. Months after General Motors began recalling millions of vehicles for defective ignitions that resulted in at least 13 deaths, and a month after NHTSA began looking into possible similar problems at Chrysler, the company has announced a recall of around 800,000 Jeeps to fix ignition switches that might turn off inadvertently. [More]
Possible Listeria Contamination Leads To Recall Of Fruit, Fruit Pies
By 7.21.14
There have been no recorded illnesses yet from batches of yellow peaches and nectarines, white peaches and nectarines, black plums, and pluots that may be contaminated with the nasty foodborne pathogen Listeria monocytogenes. The company has announced a recall, and Northeastern grocer Wegmans has also recalled pies made with affected fruit. [More]
New Minivan Feature Helps Parents Yell More Effectively At Their Kids
By 7.21.14
Sometimes it’s necessary to remind children very sternly that unbuckling their seatbelts in order to more effectively wallop their brother is not okay while you’re driving. At those times, a parent probably wants to make sure kids know they are not in a joking mood, but maybe need some help making sure they can yell effectively while driving. So why not let the car help? [More]
GM Orders Dealers To Stop Selling Used Cadillac CTS And SRX Vehicles Because Of Ignition Switch Issue
By 7.21.14
If you’re in the market for a used Cadillac, you might be out of luck. General Motors ordered its Cadillac division dealers to stop selling a number of older version models because of the ongoing ignition switch recall. [More]
Kia Recalls 52,000 Kia Soul Hatchbacks Because Loss Of Steering Can Cause A Crash
By 7.18.14
Not even the adorable – and now buff – Kia hamsters would be able to maneuver the 2014 Kia Soul if the steering system failed. But that shouldn’t be the case much longer, now that the car company has issued a recall of nearly 52,000 vehicles. [More]
