Car Safety

  • 2013 Ford Focus Electric

    The NHTSA has recieved reports of Ford Focus Electric cars stalling while being driven, and is investigating the matter.

  • 2013 Tesla Model S crash test by NHTSA (Image: crashnet1 Youtube screen grab)
    2013 Tesla Model S Crash Tests: What Cars To Compare It To?

    Earlier this week, trumpets were blown for Tesla Motors [NSDQ:TSLA], whose Model S luxury electric sedan attained the highest-ever rating in the National Highway Traffic Safety Adminstration's crash tests. It's an impressive achievement, particularly for such a young automaker. And while the feds...

  • 2013 Tesla Model S crash test by NHTSA (Image: crashnet1 Youtube screen grab)
    NHTSA Rebukes Tesla Over Non-Existent "5.4-Star" Safety Rating

    Small and startup companies often resort to attention-getting publicity to further their causes. Occasionally they get their wrist slapped for overreaching. And that's what happened to Tesla Motors [NSDQ:TSLA] yesterday. In a statement both on its website and the SaferCar.gov site, the National...

  • 2013 Tesla Model S crash test by NHTSA (Image: crashnet1 Youtube screen grab)
    Tesla Models S Gets Highest Safety-Test Score Ever Awarded By NHTSA

    The Tesla Model S is no stranger to awards and high scores, but its latest accolade could be its most important yet. Its five-star National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) crash test rating was revealed a few weeks back, but Tesla Motors (NSDQ:TSLA) has now revealed the car's score is...

  • 2013 Smart Fortwo Electric Drive NHTSA crash test (Image via crashnet1.com)
    2013 Smart Electric Drive: 4 Stars Overall For Crash Safety From NHTSA

    The 2013 Smart Fortwo Electric Drive is the latest electric vehicle to have undergone the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's crash test procedures. Following frontal crash, side impact, and side pole impact tests, the Electric Drive was awarded four from a possible five stars overall...

  • 2013 Kia Soul  -  rated POOR in IIHS small overlap frontal impact test
    Which 2013 Small Cars Are IIHS Top Safety Picks?

    It's not hard to see why small cars have increased in popularity over the last decade or so. Always popular among some buyers for their gas-saving abilities, today's small cars are also now quicker, more comfortable, better-equipped and safer than ever before. IIHS has been discovering just how...

  • 2013 Tesla Model S

    The Tesla Model S electric sedan has become the latest car to be awarded a full five star crash test rating by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. While it's no surprise for modern cars to score highly in such tests, it's still an impressive feat for a young automaker like Tesla Motors, which hasn't had previous decades of safety technology development to call upon. The Model S scored a full five stars in frontal crash, side crash and rollover tests, for a five-star rating overall. ALSO SEE: Tesla Model S: So Safe, It Broke NHTSA's Testing Equipment It means the Model S joins...

  • 2012 Chevrolet Volt
    2012 Chevrolet Volts--Just Four--Recalled For Brake Valve Glitch

    It just may be the most minimal safety recall in history. General Motors said yesterday it would recall precisely four 2012 Chevrolet Volt range-extended electric cars to fix a potential problem with a brake component that could have safety implications. As reported in The Detroit News, the company...

  • 2013 Tesla Model S
    Tesla Model S Recall Announced For Rear-Seat Latch Bracket

    Tesla Motors announced this morning that it will conduct a partial recall of Model S electric sedans manufactured between May 10 and June 8 of this year to fix a potentially weakened left-rear seat attachment striker bracket. According to a post on the company's website and signed by CEO Elon Musk...

  • Lithium-ion battery pack for 2014 Chevrolet Spark EV electric car
    Lithium-Ion Battery Safety Tester Tightens Standards

    Electric cars aren't cut much slack in the mainstream media, and any issues are usually jumped upon before facts have time to surface. Recent high-profile battery failures have been seized with zeal whether automobile-related or not, but one product safety company is aiming to curtail that with...

  • Mitsubishi Outlander Plug-In Hybrid, 2012 Paris Motor Show
    Mitsubishi Issues Second Recall For Outlander Plug-In Hybrid In Japan

    Mitsubishi has recalled 4,313 of its Outlander Plug-In Hybrids in Japan to fix a potential defect that it identified last month. The company resumed production of the plug-in hybrid Outlander after discovering the cause of a fire in one lithium-ion battery pack at a dealership in Japan. The first...

  • The 2010 Toyota Prius
    Recall For Some 2010 Toyota Prius, Lexus HS 250h Models

    Toyota said today it would recall some 2010 Toyota Prius and 2010 Lexus HS 250h hybrid cars in the U.S. due to a potentially faulty brake-pressure accumulator. The component, said the company, may develop an internal crack due to metal fatigue caused by vibrations over the course of the vehicle...

  • 2013 Ford Fusion Energi

    The belief that electric cars must somehow perform badly in crashes is slowly being eroded, with many well-known examples scoring well in crash tests around the world. The 2013 Ford Fusion Energi, the plug-in hybrid variant of Ford's midsize offering, is the latest to join that list, with a top five-star score from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). That might come as little surprise, given the regular Fusion has already scored a top rating with the NHTSA and IIHS. Due to the plug-in car's subtle but important differences with the non plug-in Fusion though, the NHTSA...

  • 2013 Nissan Leaf
    2013 Nissan Leaf Electric Car Gets IIHS 'Top Safety Pick' Rating

    Nobody really wants to crash, but if you're unfortunate enough to do so it's nice to know your chances of escaping injury are better than most. That's the case with the 2013 Nissan Leaf, which has picked up a "Top Safety Pick" rating from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS). While the...

  • 2013 Tesla Model S
    Don't Cry: Tesla Model S Torn Apart For Safety's Sake

    Modern cars feel so substantial and safe they can often feel impregnable--you're just rolling along in your little bubble, protected from the world outside. The Model S, the luxurious electric car from Tesla Motors [NSDQ:TSLA] with its large body, incredible refinement and luxurious interior is...

  • 'Revenge of the Electric Car' premiere: Elon Musk arrives in a Tesla Roadster
    Tesla CEO Musk: Boeing 787 Batteries 'Inherently Unsafe'

    Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk is hardly shy and retiring. He tweets out random financial results, states as fact things that haven't quite happened yet, and regularly speaks his mind. Yesterday, he described the troubled Boeing 787 Dreamliner's battery pack design as 'inherently unsafe,' which could...

  • red 2012 Mitsubishi i
    Mitsubishi i-MiEV Electric Cars Recalled To Fix Braking Problem

    Mitsubishi Motors Corp. is recalling 14,700 Mitsubishi i, or i-MiEV electric cars over a brake fault. The global recall will fix a component of the brake booster system. In normal operation, an electric pump sends air to the brake booster, which applies extra force to that generated by the driver...

  • Lotus Safe & Sound noisemaker
    Noisemaking Rules For Hybrids, Electric Cars Proposed By DoT

    The U.S. Department of Transport has become the latest group to look further into noisemaking devices for electric and hybrid vehicles. Several pressure and safety groups have proposed such devices in the past, reasoning that the silent nature of cars using electric power at low speeds would prove...

  • Hiroshima University's iSAVE-SC1 inflatable electric car. [Image: Video screen capture]

    Generally, we'd advise that hitting a pedestrian with your car is something to best avoid. However, if worst came to worst, it'd be nice to know their chances of survival are as high as possible. That's the idea behind the latest unique creation from Japan, a soft, air-filled cusion car, hitting our screens via Autoblog. Never has being struck by a car looked so darn comfortable--at low speed at least, it looks no more risky than falling onto your newly-made bed. Constructed by students at Japan's Hiroshima University, the electric iSAVE-SC1 would certainly quell fears from pedestrians about...

  • Mitsubishi i-MiEV electric minicar crash-tested by ADAC, December 2010, screen capture
    Electric, Hybrid Badges Growing To Warn First Responders?

    Electric vehicles are as different when crashed as they are when moving, and that difference has led to changes in procedure for first responders to accident scenes. Police, fire and other services now receive training in order to deal with high-voltage systems in crashed electric and hybrid...

  • 2012 Coda Sedan
    Coda Electric Sedan: Only 2 Stars In NHTSA Frontal Crash Tests

    As part of standard procedure, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) crash-tests an example of each vehicle on sale, and assigns a rating based on how it performs. Most are expected to get four or five stars out of five these days--while all cars meet basic minimum safety...

  • Honda demonstrates Green Wave technology  -  Japan, 11/2012
    Honda Demonstrates 'Green Wave' Tech Designed To Ease Traffic

    Have you noticed how much poorly synchronized lights—or traffic that's trying to go faster than the lights permit—can add to congestion? A new system in the works from Honda aims to provide a simple interface for smoothing traffic flow, while increasing safety and gas mileage. The idea...

  • 2012 Fisker Karma during road test, Los Angeles, Feb 2012
    Sandy Flood Fire Followup: Fisker Karma Battery Not At Fault

    It's becoming an awkward, unfortunate routine. Somewhere, somehow, a Fisker Karma catches fire, and the company rushes in its inspectors and engineers to analyze the incident. A few days later, Fisker Automotive issues a statement explaining that the battery of the range-extended electric car isn't...

  • Michelin Pilot Super Sport tire fitted to the Ferrari F12 Berlinetta
    'Green Tires' Popularity Increasing, Grip Improving Too

    If you drive a hybrid or plug-in vehicle, chances are you're already familiar with 'green tires'. Also known as low rolling resistance tires, they're becoming an increasingly popular way of improving the fuel efficiency of cars, both in dedicated green vehicles and even regular cars. That...

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