Safety

Matt P. wrote today about a dragstrip Down Under that has banned EVs over fire-safety concerns.

Advanced driver assistance features are sometimes annoying and can even be frightening in some vehicles, but research has shown that the systems actually do help prevent collisions. AAA recently published the results of its recent study, which found that new vehicles equipped with automatic emergency braking (AEB) avoided 100 percent of collisions at speeds up to 35 mph.

Hyundai's hydrogen-powered Nexo crossover is in trouble with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) due to suspected hydrogen gas leaks. As you might expect, this poses a fire safety risk that necessitates a recall.

Every state except New Hampshire has seatbelt laws, but the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety found that the seatbelt warning systems in many new vehicles fell short of the latest standards it set in 2023. That said, more recent IIHS research shows that the systems have improved, with far more models reaching its highest “Good” scoring standard.

Ram is recalling nearly 130,000 examples of the 1500 pickup due to issues with the self-canceling turn signals. As recalls go, this one is a minor safety issue with any legitimate risks being mitigated by an attentive driver. However, it does put the affected vehicles out of compliance with Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS). It likewise doesn’t help the brand improve its reputation for reliability after Ram was forced to recall over nearly 1.3 million pickups over electrical gremlins just last month.

On Tuesday, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said that Volkswagen would need to recall 98,806 all-electric crossovers over an issue with the doors. The matter is effectively an expansion of a 2023 recall impacting the 2021-2022 VW ID.4. The recall now encompasses vehicles from the 2023 and 2024 model year.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has launched an investigation into basically every Jeep Wrangler and Gladiator from the 2021-2023 model years. The probe is looking into an estimated 781,459 vehicles over presumed electrical faults that could be causing fires. While nothing has been confirmed as of yet, it makes sense why the company is so adamant about how its upcoming Wagoneer EV will be of “perfect quality.”

Stellantis is about to be on the hook for an enormous recall involving one of its most popular models.

Ford is recalling 4,595 examples of the 2024 model year Mustang due to an issue with the rear suspension. Assumed production defects from the parts supplier may result in the rear suspension knuckles playing host to casting imperfections. In the worst case scenario, this can weaken the component and even cause it to fracture.

Ford Motor Co. is recalling 552,188 F-Series trucks sold in the United States over a transmission issue that can force the vehicle to downshift into first gear unexpectedly. Based on documentation from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the issue only pertains to vehicles from the 2014 model year F-150 pickups and mimics and earlier recall impacting 1.5 million trucks.

Earlier this year, the National Highway Traffic Highway Safety Administration updated its rules on automatic emergency braking, opting to require that almost all new cars and trucks carry the feature by 2029. Now, a group representing most major automakers is pushing back, saying that the requirements are “practically impossible with available technology.”

Toyota’s largest and newest SUVs have only been on sale for a little while now, but the automaker has issued a stop-sale and recall on the Grand Highlander and Lexus TX for an issue that could cause the driver’s side curtain airbag to deploy incorrectly.

A recall has been issued for just about every Karma Revero EV sold inside the United States over an intermittent issue with the turn signals that place the model out of compliance with the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS). While the defect isn’t dangerous in itself, the fact that turn signals could fail can exacerbate the likelihood of a crash.

If you’re unfamiliar with the Revero, don’t feel bad. Most people have never seen one.

Kia’s Telluride just went under a recall advisory over a defect pertaining to power seats. Based on documents filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the front power seat motor on the affected vehicles could overheat due to a stuck slide knob. Since the situation can result in a fire, Kia plans on recalling a whopping 462,869 examples inside of the United States.

Leaking clutch fluid could cause conflagration in some examples of the 2024 Mustang, leading Ford to issue a recall on the popular pony car.

In  further news about older Nissan vehicles getting the stink eye from regulators, the NHTSA is investigating over 74,000 decade-old Rogue Select crossovers for unexpected airbag deployment.

Think twice about sniffing a big hit of your car’s cabin air. Almost everyone loves the fabled new car smell, but a recent study suggests that some of that fragrance could be toxic to the people inhaling it. People reported on data from the Environmental Science and Technology publication that found toxic flame retardant materials in 99 percent of cars it studied.

Automakers are increasingly making advanced driver assist systems (ADAS) like automatic emergency braking (AEB) standard to meet tightening crash-test standards, but that feature will become required by law in 2029. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration recently finalized a rule requiring that AEB be included on all new vehicles by 2029.

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) announced it has updated its vehicle-to-vehicle front crash prevention test to account for higher speeds. Originally, the group was only running tests for things like automatic emergency braking below 25 mph. Now, it’s targeting higher speeds and obstacles of varying sizes. But the results aren’t any better. Out of the 10 small crossovers tested, only a single model garnered a good rating.

This week we sit down with Cody Stolle, research assistant professor at the University of Nebraska Lincoln and the assistant director at the Midwest Roadside Safety Facility, to discuss a lesser-known problem with EVs and road safety.

Audi’s all-electric e-tron subbrand continues suffering from battery issues, with the company recently issuing a recall for the GT sedan and its zestier RS variant. The issue is that the high-voltage batteries equipped to the models might short circuit, posing a fire risk to owners and whatever they’ve parked their EV next to. The recall report stipulates that Porsche warned Audi of the possibility of “thermal events” after realizing that some Taycan models were suffering from battery defects.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has announced that traffic deaths declined by 3.6 percent in 2023. While this is good news, the United States continues seeing per capita vehicle fatalities at the highest rate witnessed since the mid 2000s.

In 2023, the NHTSA reported 40,990. This is in contrast with the 42,514 on-road deaths cited for 2022. However, the U.S. witnessed a fairly staggering decline in vehicular safety starting around 2015 and we’re still seeing metrics that would be considered high from before that period.

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety occasionally updates its testing methods to keep pace with a rapidly evolving automotive industry, but there’s one thing that hasn’t changed with the new tests: Crash speeds. In a recent YouTube video, the IIHS detailed why it hasn’t increased crash-test speeds above 40 mph despite the fact that most highway drivers routinely hit much higher speeds.

I’ve been on a bender of buying and selling cars lately, which, in combination with my regular testing, has put me behind the wheel of a great number of new vehicles in a shorter time than usual. And, because of the seasonal influx of drivers from New York, New Jersey, and several southern states here in Maine, I’ve had the opportunity to use the horn in several of them. That has led me to an interesting question: Which car horns sound the most out of place?

Did you, like myself, once carry a stereo faceplate around because you felt like you had to remove it each time you parked or risk theft?

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) has cooked up a new ratings program to encourage automakers to implement even more electronic nannies, including the kind that watch your every move behind the wheel, because the current batch have been deemed inadequate.

“We evaluated partial automation systems from BMW, Ford, General Motors, Genesis, Lexus, Mercedes-Benz, Nissan, Tesla and Volvo,” IIHS President David Harkey said. “Most of them don’t include adequate measures to prevent misuse and keep drivers from losing focus on what’s happening on the road.”

Homeland Security was reportedly involved in stopping a street takeover in Conroe, Texas, after a prior event became violent when the police arrived. The takeover occurred in the wake of the Lone Star Throwdown, a truck-focused automotive meetup, with organizers complaining about the trend in the aftermath.

Updated European safety certifications may discourage global automakers from leaning so heavily upon touch controls in the future. While not a formal government regulator, the European New Car Assessment Programme (NCAP) is extremely influential in a manner similar to the United States’ Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS). These are the entities testing the crash worthiness of modern automobiles, or bench-marking industry safety standards, and Euro NCAP has elected to make distracted driving a major issue moving forward. By 2026, any vehicles sold within the European market will need to include physical controls to be deemed truly safe.

In a new recall, some members of the Grand Cherokee family will require a dealership visit to sort out a problem with upper control arm pinch bolts which may have been damaged during vehicle assembly.

The hackneyed old joke of a ‘loose nut behind the wheel’ causing a crash may be even more worn out than your author’s favorite Cole Haan loafers, but a manufacturing issue involving potential loose nuts on the axles of certain Toyota Tacoma pickup trucks is a very real problem which has led to a large recall.

Automotive designs and engineering are rapidly evolving, and new cars today look and perform differently than models from just a few years ago. That’s especially true for heavier, much quicker electric vehicles. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety updates its crash-testing criteria to account for the changes, which can often result in poorer scores in some categories.

Hyundai Motor Group bucked that trend in early testing this year, earning six Top Safety Pick + designations, the IIHS’ highest award, making it the most awarded automaker so far.

A new recall has been issued for numerous models in the Genesis family of vehicles, stretching all the way back to 2015 when about half of the vehicles in this safety alert were still named the Hyundai Genesis.

Of all the advanced driver assistance systems in the world, reverse automatic emergency braking (AEB) is my least favorite. Something about an alarm blaring and the vehicle violently braking for an unseen danger, which often does not exist, is not my idea of a fun day out. AAA doesn’t love the feature, either, and a recent study from the organization found that reverse AEB is only successful in preventing a tiny number of potential crashes.

Ford is said to be in early stages of dumping parking assistance features on future models because drivers aren’t using the feature enough. Active Park Assist has been around for over a decade at this point. However, the computer-guided parallel parking feature is supposedly not going to be appearing in future models as a way to help the automaker cut production costs.

Super Bowl commercials are lots of fun, but they sometimes spur controversy instead of lighthearted giggles. The Dawn Project, founded and helmed by billionaire CEO Dan O’Dowd, sponsored an anti-Tesla ad during the Super Bowl last weekend, but the group’s claims were almost immediately called out by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), whose logo The Dawn Project used without permission.

With New York City having decided to embrace European-style congestion charging as local residents express their displeasure, it might be wise to take time to look at other roadway initiatives that might soon migrate across the Atlantic to see how they’re fairing. Ultra Low Emission Zones (ULEZ) seem to be the next step, as they’re reliant on the same camera systems and vehicle tracking used for congestion taxes. However, they’re also following a similar trajectory as Britain's speed cameras in Europe. Disgruntled citizens have not only continued destroying the devices, they’re reportedly picking up the pace.

Don’t expect to see many SUVs in the background of future photos of the Eiffel Tower. Results of a weekend referendum have tripled parking rates for some types of vehicles in Paris, France. Based on weight, the new rules target out-of-towners who bring SUVs into the City of Light.

Tall hats at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration have indicated they have wrapped an investigation into the gear selector design found in some Durango SUVs and Ram pickup trucks.

There's been a lot of snow all over the country, including where I live, today. Which leads me to one of the most timeless of all QOTDs -- how do you handle the white stuff?

Many states’ highway departments post funny messages on roadside signs that warn drivers to buckle up, slow down, or watch for emergency vehicles. Despite the fact that they’re entertaining and get the message across, the federal government isn’t in on the joke and has released new guidance on the signs, asking state agencies to cut out the funny business.

We’ve often said that building cars is hard – and those difficulties don’t always end even after a company stops making them. It’s like bad news coming in even after one has turned off their phone. 

A Johns Hopkins School of Public Health’s Bloomberg American Health Initiative study, published late last year, has suggested that narrow streets are safer than wider ones.

It sounds counterintuitive. But let us dig in to see how the report came together.

Over the holiday break I saw some sort of minor Twitter/X spat between automotive journalists -- apparently one posted a picture of themselves driving and another took issue with hand placement -- and I got to wondering: Where on the steering wheel do you put your hands?

General Motors has issued a stop-sale order for the all-electric Chevrolet Blazer. As previously reported, the model has been criticized for presenting reviewers with electrical problems. That’s not what you want to see from any vehicle and absolutely intolerable on an EV. Even worse is the fact that the Blazer EV uses the Ultium platform GM claims is about to underpin its future lineup.

New research from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) is claiming that forward-collision warning and automatic emergency braking are less successful at identifying trucks and motorcycles. In a study that comprised more than 160,000 accidents, the IIHS asserted that these systems prevented accidents with regular passenger vehicles 53 percent of the time. However, motorcycles only benefited 41 percent of the time and trucks 38 percent.

Tesla is recalling over 2 million vehicles in the United States that have been equipped with its Autopilot advanced driver-assistance system. Efforts come after years of media attention and federal safety regulators suggesting that the system posed safety concerns. The automaker is reportedly issuing an over-the-air update that will add new safeguards against distracted driving.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has been formally investigating the EV manufacturer for the last two years and believes Autopilot poses enough of a safety risk in its current format to push for the recall. That makes this the largest example in the company’s history, encompassing just about every Tesla model ever produced.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is expanding a probe into over 500,000 late-model Hondas that could be suffering from a steering defect. Reports indicate that 2023 Honda CR-Vs, 2023 Acura Integras, and 2022-2023 Honda Civics could be affected. However, no formal recall announcement has been made and likely won’t be until the investigation has concluded.

Ford doesn’t sell the Fiesta, Fusion, or Lincoln MKZ in the United States anymore, but the automaker recently recalled all three for an interesting problem. High temperatures can crack part of the rear door latch, causing the door to open while driving.

Following eight reports of vehicle fires, Jeep has decided to recall 32,125 examples of the Wrangler 4xe PHEV in the United States. The vehicles come from the 2021-2024 model year, with roughly 13,000 being situated outside the U.S. While parent company Stellantis has said the vehicles can continue being driven, it's advising customers against charging them and has likewise recommended parking them outdoors away from anything you might not want burned.

Last week, on the day before Thanksgiving, a middle-aged couple in a Bentley met a fiery end under mysterious circumstances near the U.S.-Canada border outside of Buffalo, New York.

A recent study by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) has claimed that large, blunt-nosed pickups and SUVs pose a greater risk to pedestrians than other vehicle types. It’s quite possibly the most obvious outcome to any study we’ve ever seen and it seems to crop up every few years even though the vehicles in question just keep getting bigger and squarer.

New cars have all sorts of driver monitoring tech on board that can tell when a person is paying attention or has their hands on the wheel, but the National Transportation Safety Board feels there’s a need for more. The NTSB asked 17 automakers to add anti-speeding tech to new vehicles going forward, following an extremely deadly crash in Las Vegas last year that left nine people dead.

It turns out that bejeweling your car's interior isn’t just in bad taste – it can hurt you in a crash. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration recently released a consumer alert, warning people about “aftermarket steering wheel decals that could potentially cause significant injury or death.”

General Motors’ Cruise may be one of the first companies in the world to field driverless vehicles as part of a commercial endeavor. But this doesn’t appear to have endeared the brand to everyday people. The business appears to be loathed by San Franciscan residents and emergency response crews, who have only gotten angrier since state regulators allowed the business to expand operations. 

Sustained reports of mishaps and injuries involving the vehicles has encouraged the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to launch a preliminary investigation into the company — which may also explain why Cruise just issued a press release explaining how it’s going to remedy all of the above. 

Ford is recalling 238,364 Explorer SUVs over a defect that could result in a loss of motive power or possible rollaway risk. The issue stems from an issue with the subframe bushing and a rear axle bolt. Based on documents filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), Ford is worried that the rear axle horizontal mounting bolt may fracture under heavy torque loads.

Just when it looked like the Takata airbag inflator recall was finally wrapping up, U.S. safety regulators have indicated that 52 million inflators made by ARC have likewise been placed under consideration for recall. The circumstances are unpleasantly familiar. Like the Takata units that ran the risk of spraying cabin occupants with deadly shrapnel during a crash, the ARC inflators may also pose a serious risk to those they’re supposed to save.

On Monday, a pedestrian ended up being trapped beneath an autonomous test vehicle owned by Cruise. The incident took place in San Francisco (Fifth Avenue just south of Market Street) and has already become the subject of some rampant speculation as the company hopes to avoid another public relations nightmare.

Cruise quickly put out a series of statements via Twitter (now X) claiming the pedestrian was actually tossed in front of their robotaxi after being struck by a hit-and-run vehicle that was traveling in the accompanying lane. While the investigation is technically ongoing, numerous media outlets have run with the premise after having seen the on-board footage.

It’s a rare day this author gets to combine his interests of the automotive industry and the YouTube channel for security expert LockPickingLawyer. A video uploaded earlier this week provides opportunity for such a crossover.

Minivans are undefeated as family haulers, but a recent announcement from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) casts doubt on their ability to protect the precious cargo in their back seats. The crash-testing organization gave all four American minivans below-acceptable ratings in its new moderate front overlap test, which was recently updated with a stronger focus on back-seat protection and safety.

With crash statistics having taken a turn for the worse in recent years, analysts have been pouring over the relevant data to determine why. Though the resulting statistics can tell a lot of different stories, including which U.S. cities tend to boast the best and worst drivers.