While many of us have probably passed a car missing a part here and there, it’s very unlikely you just so happened to have the right piece to make the owner’s life a little bit easier and decided to it fix up on the spot. But that’s exactly what happened to the owner of a car with only three hubcaps who suddenly found his vehicle had a complete set. [More]
cars
Kia Recalling 256K Soul Compact SUVs Over Possible Steering Failure
By 11.13.15
Cars will take you wherever you want to go — that is, if you can point them in the right direction. That’s why steering is so important, and why Kia Motors is recalling more than 256,000 Soul compact SUVs in the United States, over concern that defective glue could make the steering system fall apart. [More]
GM Looking To Import Made-In-China Buick For U.S. Customers
By 11.12.15
General Motors’ Buick — perhaps the oldest existing name in U.S. car brands — is trying to re-introduce itself to younger American consumers who associate it with a stuffier generation. But Buick is a hit in China, with a number of models manufactured specifically for the local market. One of those cars — the Buick Envision — may end up being GM’s first China-made car to be imported to the U.S. [More]
Owners Help Police Track Stolen Tesla Through Mobile App
By 11.3.15
When a thief steals a car it can take owners days, week or even years to retrieve their property. Apparently that’s not the case when your vehicle happens to be a Tesla Model S: a Canadian couple was able to help authorities track their stolen car in real-time with the help of the Tesla mobile app. [More]
Fiat Chrysler Recalling 900K SUVs To Fix Issues With Airbag Deployment, Anti-Lock Brakes
By 10.30.15
Another day, another major car company announcing a recall: this time it’s Fiat Chrysler, which is calling back around 900,000 SUVs around the world to address problems with anti-lock brakes and how the airbags deploy. [More]
Bridgestone Buys Pep Boys Auto Service Retail Operations For $835M
By 10.26.15
Have we seen the last of Moe, Manny, and Jack – you know, the faces of the Pep Boys auto parts brand? It’s possible as the retail chain has agreed to be acquired by tire giant Bridgestone for $835 million. [More]
Study: Car Infotainment Systems Remain A Distraction, Despite Voice Command Functions
By 10.22.15
While it’s handy to use voice commands to make phone calls or change the radio station in your car — instead of taking your hands off the wheel to do so — according to a new study, infotainment systems still provide a distraction for drivers. [More]
Toyota Recalling 6.5M Cars Worldwide Because Windows Should Not Start Fires
By 10.21.15
Ah, fall: the time of year when you need neither the air conditioning nor the heat on in your car, but just need to roll the window down a few inches to feel that lovely autumn breeze. Unless you are one of the 6.5 million people in the world who own certain model Toyota and Scion cars, in which case rolling down that window might just smell like your driver’s side door catching fire. [More]
County Ticketing Cars For Lapsed Inspections While They Are At Garage To Be Inspected
By 10.12.15
Talk about low-hanging fruit… If you’re on the hunt for cars that have lapsed inspection stickers, where are you most likely to find them? Probably outside of garages that perform inspections. Garage operators in one Virginia county say they are being unfairly hassled by a zealous parking enforcement officer — to the point where one mechanic was arrested for allegedly assaulting the ticket-giver. [More]
Scarcity Of Public Charging Stations In California Is Turning Electric Vehicle Owners Against Each Other
By 10.12.15
Electric cars are pretty popular in California right now, but there’s one major problem facing all those owners — there aren’t enough charging stations for all those new vehicles hitting the streets. This has led to some bad behavior at the plug, so to speak. [More]
Nissan Versa And Micra Pedal Interference Problem Upgraded To Recall, Includes 300,000 Cars
By 9.4.15
Nissan plans to recall 300,000 vehicles in the United States from its Versa and Micra models due to problem with a console panel. That sounds harmless enough until you learn that the problem is that the driver’s shoe may catch on the panel, trapping that foot on the gas pedal and potentially causing an accident. [More]
Sam’s Club Wants To Help You Buy A Car
By 9.3.15
Earlier this year, Costco reported that it had sold nearly 400,000 vehicles of all makes and models at its stores across the country with the purpose of making its members happy. Today, Sam’s Club launched a similar endeavor that will put keys in the hands of the warehouse store’s faithful following. [More]
Police Return Woman’s Stolen Car With Drugs, Weapons Still Inside It
By 9.3.15
When your car is stolen, you can’t always expect to get it back. And if you are lucky enough to be reunited, you might then expect that a few things could be missing — nice electronics, your collection of road trip CDs featuring cool jams from the ’90s, etc. But in the case of a Calgary woman whose stolen car was returned to her recently by police, she was definitely surprised to find her missing vehicle had a few things it didn’t have when it went missing, including drugs, weapons and other illicit items. [More]
Fiat Chrysler Offers $100 Gift Cards To Get Your Recalled Car Fixed Already
By 8.31.15
The federal government has fined Fiat Chrysler $105 million for its failure to address vehicle defects and active recalls, and perhaps they’ve concluded that customers will respond to a cash incentive, not a cash punishment. Taking a break from desperately hugging General Motors, today the automaker announced an offer: car owners get $100 if they bring their vehicle in for repair, and an extra $1,000 or $2,000 trade-in incentive to buy a new car instead. [More]
Tesla Model S P85D Breaks Consumer Reports’ Ratings System
By 8.27.15 — Updated: 8.31.15
This story was first published by our sister publication Consumer Reports. [More]
CarMax Plays “Used Car Recall Roulette” By Selling Potentially Dangerous Vehicles
By 8.25.15
During the height of recallopalooza 2014, a coalition of consumer advocacy groups raised concerns about CarMax, alleging that the nation’s largest used vehicle seller was misleading customers with claims of “Quality Certified” cars and “125+ point” inspections while not revealing that some cars had been recalled for safety issues that had not yet been repaired. More than a year later, a new report shows that CarMax is continuing this practice, which one legislator has dubbed “used car recall roulette.” [More]
Hackers Cut A Corvette’s Brakes Wirelessly To Prove It Could Happen To Your Car, Too
By 8.11.15
General Motors gets to join Fiat Chrysler and Tesla in an unenviable lineup this week: Using cheap gadgets and text messages, researchers have proven they can hack that most traditional of cars, the Chevy Corvette. And worse still is that this line of attack will work on basically any car with a computer in it, which is to say… all of them. [More]
Tesla: Refer A Friend, Get $1,000 Off A $70,000 Model S
By 7.30.15
In the market for an electric car, but the high price tag scaring you away? Would $1,000 off be enough to spur you to purchase that $70,000-plus vehicle? That’s apparently what Tesla’s betting on. [More]
