Category: Auto Defects

Federal safety regulators are recommending after a fatal crash involving a Tesla in the Bay Area that California transportation officials should move faster to repair highway safety barriers that are damaged in collisions. According to a KTLA news report, the National Transportation Safety Board says California officials dialed to repair a Highway 101 safety barrier before the fatal March 2018 collision in Mountain View that killed engineer Walter Huang. …Read the rest »

General Motors is recalling almost 3.5 million SUVs and pickup trucks because their brakes may suddenly become very difficult to use. According to Consumer Reports, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has been investigating the problem for nearly 10 months. GM has been repairing the affected vehicles since December 2018 and issued a recall in Canada in June. …Read the rest »

A design defect in Tesla’s Autopilot was a critical factor in a crash that involved a Model S slamming into a fire truck along the 405 Freeway in Culver City in January 2018. According to a news report, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) also determined that the driver was overly reliant on the Autopilot feature and that the Autopilot’s design allowed him to disengage from driving. …Read the rest »

Ford Motor Company has issued widespread safety recalls affecting 10 vehicles including new versions of the its popular Ford F-150, F-Series Super Duty, Expedition and its bestselling Explorer SUVs, for several issues including seats that may detach in the event of a crash. According to a report in the Detroit Free Press, cars being recalled for other issues include the Ford Fiesta, Fusion and Edge. A list of Lincoln vehicles was also included in the recall announcement that came just before the Labor Day weekend. …Read the rest »

Toyota is recalling about 191,000 Corolla and Matrix cars to repair airbags that replaced defective Takata airbags but may have been damaged. According to a USA Today news report, the Japanese automaker announced that it would recall certain 2003 through 2008 model-year Corolla cars and 2005 through 2008 model-year Matrix cars. This recall involves about 135,000 vehicles in the United States that already had their faulty Takata airbags replaced. …Read the rest »

Volkswagen is recalling about 679,027 Jetta sedans, Beetle coupes and convertibles, GTI hatchbacks and Golf hatchbacks and wagons because of potential rollaway risks. According to Consumer Reports, it is possible in these vehicles to remove the ignition key when the shift lever is not in “park.” This recall only applies to vehicles equipped with an automatic transmission, a manual parking brake and keyless entry. If the driver removes the key from the ignition when the vehicle is not in park, there is a risk that the vehicle may roll away, which could result in a crash. …Read the rest »

Toyota is recalling about 14,215 of its 2019 RAV4 and RAV4 Hybrid SUVs because their rearview cameras may not activate when the vehicle is backing up. According to Consumer Reports, due to a faulty electrical connection, video from the rearview camera can fail to display when the vehicle is in reverse gear. The recalled vehicles include certain Toyota RAV4 and RAV4 Hybrid SUVs manufactured from May 27, 2019, through July 11, 2019. …Read the rest »

The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has opened a preliminary evaluation into the Subaru Forester after getting multiple complaints about the vehicle’s malfunctioning airbag sensor. According to a CNET report, in total, NHTSA has received 51 complaints so far. Currently, this investigation covers 553,692 Foresters from the 2016 to 2018 model years although it is only an estimated number so far. …Read the rest »

The Center for Auto Safety announced this week that it sent a letter to CEOs of rideshare companies including Uber, Lyft, Juno and Via, demanding that they remove recalled vehicles from their platforms. The center is a non-profit consumer advocacy organization based in Washington D.C. Uber and Lyft have the ability to remove recalled vehicles from their platforms at the push of a button, said Jason Levine, the center’s executive director. He said these corporations that claim to be “technology companies” refuse to use that technology to take this obvious step to decrease the danger to drivers and passengers from vehicles that haven’t been repaired for safety defects. …Read the rest »

More than100, 000 Ford cars are being recalled because of seatbelts that could fail to work properly during a crash. According to a news report, Ford issued a safety recall for select 2015 Ford Fusion and 2015 Lincoln MKZ vehicles for an issue involving seatbelt anchor pretensioners. In the vehicles that are affected, increased temperatures generated during deployment of the driver of front-passenger seatbelt pretensioner could degrade the tensile strength of the cable below the level that is required to restrain an occupant. …Read the rest »