Source: Automotive News (April 25, 2016) – AutoNation is changing one of the key tenets of its policy not to sell any vehicle with an open recall. The retailer now will allow some recalled vehicles to go to wholesale auction if lack of replacement parts causes lengthy repair times. With a lack of replacement parts creating…
Push For Change Builds On Several Fronts Source: Automotive News / February 8, 2016 The powerful auto dealer lobby won a key legislative battle in December when a ban on selling used vehicles with open safety recalls was left out of the highway bill President Barack Obama signed into law. But now the lobby and…
Source: New York Times / February 3, 2016 In the latest sign that automakers are still struggling to understand the scope of the Takata airbag crisis, Honda Motor said on Wednesday that it would expand its recall by more than a third in North America. The latest action, for 2.23 million vehicles in the United States, reveals…
Source: Tire Business / January 23, 2016 The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has launched a public awareness campaign aimed at improving consumer response to tire and vehicle safety recalls. The campaign—titled “Safe Cars Save Lives”—urges consumers to check for open recalls at least twice a year and to get their recalled vehicles fixed…
Source: New York Times / November 3, 2015 -In the stiffest civil punishment ever imposed in the auto industry, federal regulators levied a penalty of up to $200 million on Takata, the maker of millions of faulty airbags, for failing to disclose the defect to regulators in a timely manner. Takata is being fined $70…
After an 18-month battle with a safety agency, Recaro agreed to a recall of child safety seats. Source: New York Times, September 20, 2015 – The recall seemed to be straightforward enough: Recaro Child Safety needed to fix some of its car seats so that they would not break free during a crash. But the…
Letters to auto makers including Tesla from U.S. regulators say scope of recalls may expand Faulty Takata air-bag inflaters have been linked to eight deaths world-wide Source: Associated Press, September 28, 2015 – Seven more companies including electric-car maker Tesla Motors Inc. could be facing recalls because they use air-bag inflaters made by Takata Corp., according to letters they received…
NHTSA today announced that is has expanded its recall of cars with Takata airbags to 33.8 million vehicles across 11 auto manufacturers. Takata has also finally agreed to declare them defective, and has entered into an agreement that it will cooperate fully with all NHTSA actions, testing of remedies, and notifications. “The admission made by…
NHTSA critical of the pace of repairs to older models involved in gasoline-tank fires Source: Wall Street Journal April 28, 2015 – Federal regulators will decide within the next two weeks whether to reopen a probe into older Jeep models involved in fiery rear-end crashes and be “as aggressive as possible” when weighing measures to…
Source: CBS 13 April 30, 2015 – For the last several months, Rick Seim says whenever he gets into his 2006 Honda CR-V he slides his seat back as far as possible. In January, Seim heard that his CR-V made it on the recall list – alerting him to a potentially deadly defect in the…