Car Safety
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With all eyes turned to the 2012 Paris Auto Show, Nissan has quietly announced that its all-new 2013 Nissan Altima has been awarded a 5-star overall rating by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in its New car Assessment Program (NCAP) Awarded top marks for both frontal crash and side crash protection, the 2013 Altima was given a 4-star rating for rollover protection. Fitted with a raft of safety features as standard, including driver and passenger seat airbags, front and curtain airbags and vehicle dynamic control, the 2013 Altima starts at $21,500. Opt for the 2.5-liter, dual...
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House Bill Demands Safety, Jobs Analysis Of Gas-Mileage Rules
Politics is at best a messy and adversarial process. Add in a presidential election and the currently polarized political mood, and anything at all done by government is usually exploited for political gain--by one side or another, often by both from different stances. Which seems a good lens to...
John Voelcker -
Some Small Cars Generate Big Insurance Claims
Car safety has improved in leaps and bounds over the last few decades, with several technological advancements helping not only to protect you in an accident, but also prevent them in the first place. Even so, statistics from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), Highway Loss Data...
Antony Ingram -
2013 Smart ForTwo: Strong Enough To Wear A Full-Size SUV As A Hat
You either like the 2013 Smart ForTwo minicar, or you don't. Few are ambivalent to a shape and a concept so divisive as the Smart, but U.S. sales would suggest that rather more people dislike it than appreciate its cheeky nature. One popular misconception about the ForTwo from those rather less...
Antony Ingram -
Four Small Cars Get IIHS Top Safety Pick Designation
Four new 2013 vehicles have picked up 'good' ratings in the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety's (IIHS) crash tests. The Acura ILX, a small luxury car, the new Ford Escape crossover, and the Subaru BRZ and Scion FR-S sports car twins have all been awarded the IIHS top award for good performance...
Antony Ingram -
Fisker Karma Fire Due To Faulty Cooling Fan, Recall Underway, Factory Says
Well, that was quick. On Saturday, just eight days after a fire badly damaged a 2012 Fisker Karma, the company has completed its forensic investigation, announced the cause, and started a recall for the part in question. Fisker concluded that the fire was caused by an internal fault in a sealed...
John Voelcker -
While Fisker's new CEO may be getting headlines today, the company continues to grapple with fallout from Friday's fire in a 2012 Fisker Karma. Over the weekend, Fisker had issued a statement saying it was investigating the incident. Yesterday, the company issued a further statement. In the release, Fisker said that its investigations have determined the fire did not start in the car's lithium-ion battery pack or its electric-drive components, or due to the car's exhaust routing. In fact, Fisker said, the fire's origin appears to its investigators to have been outside the engine compartment...
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Second Fisker Karma Fire Casts Fresh Doubt On Plug-In Hybrid
Given the hurricane of bad publicity for the Chevrolet Volt last year over a battery-pack fire (in a crash-testing vehicle, a week after it was wrecked), any fire at all in a plug-in car is one too many. So the occurrence of a second fire among only 1,000 Fisker Karma range-extended electric luxury...
John Voelcker -
BMW ActiveE Safety Recall For Possible Power Steering Failure
BMW is recalling its ActiveE electric cars to replace a potentially faulty component whose failure could leave drivers without power steering. According to the text of the recall, "variations in electrical current" may occur within the electric power steering, leading to a sudden loss of the power...
John Voelcker -
2011-2012 Chevrolet Cruze: Recalled For Safety Modifications
General Motors is recalling 413,418 Chevrolet Cruzes in the U.S. to modify the engine shield under the vehicle. The recall, which affects 2011 and 2012 model year vehicles, is designed to fix the engine shield to prevent liquids becoming trapped in it, creating a fire risk. GM will also fix some...
Antony Ingram -
Huge 2012 Chevy Volt Crash Proves Its Safety Credentials
Ever since a battery pack from a 2012 Chevrolet Volt caught fire weeks after it was subjected to tough National Highway Traffic Safety Administration tests in a laboratory, critics of General Motor’s plug-in hybrid have been quick to question its safety credentials. But after a Toyota Camry...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
BYD e6 Electric Taxi Burns After 112-MPH Drunk Supercar Driver Crash
Over the weekend we heard the disturbing news that a BYD e6 electric taxi in Shenzhen China had burst into flames and killed three of its occupants after being hit by a speeding drunk driver. According to eyewitness reports, the BYD e6 taxi, one of around 400 e6 electric taxis being used in the...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Oh dear. This could get ugly. The owner of a new 2012 Fisker Karma that burned to the ground in Sugar Land, Texas, is trading accusations with Fisker. The fire destroyed two other cars and damaged the garage it was stored in and other parts of the house. The owner reported a smell of burning rubber before he parked the car. Fort Bend fire marshal Robert Baker said last week that the Karma was the cause of the blaze. He noted that numerous inspectors from Fisker had arrived on the scene to conduct their own investigation. Last Tuesday, Fisker issued a statement noting that the car's...
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Tips For Checking Your Tires: Improve Gas Mileage, Safety
Round, black, and easily forgettable--that's your average car tire. Often, we don't think about them until we need to change them, whether the tread is wearing low or we get a puncture. However, it's well worth considering them more often, as not only are they vital to your safety, but tires also...
Antony Ingram -
Is It A Hybrid Or Electric Car? In Massachusetts, Check The Plate
These days, unless you’re an ardent fan of hybrid or electric cars, it can be pretty hard to tell them apart from their gasoline equivalents. For the average motorist it isn’t an issue, but for first responders attending the scene of an accident, it’s important to know what a...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
NHTSA Closes Chevy Volt Battery-Pack Fire Safety Investigation
Well, it's all over but the shouting now. This afternoon, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration issued a statement saying it had closed its investigation into the causes of a fire in the battery pack of a Chevrolet Volt range-extended electric car. The statement said the agency had...
John Voelcker -
Prius Unintended Acceleration: Electronic Faults Untraceable
A new report from a National Academy of Sciences panel has said that the NHTSA was justified in closing a probe into Toyota's 2009 and 2010 unintended acceleration cases. More than 8 million Toyota and Lexus vehicles, including models like the Toyota Prius hybrid, were recalled worldwide to fix...
Antony Ingram -
Fisker Issues Recall And Personal Apology For Software Glitch
A bug in supplied software has prompted Fisker to issue a second recall for Karma models, and owners will get a personal apology from Henrik Fisker himself.
Kurt Ernst -
An animation released by General Motors depicts the modifications to Chevy Volt that will be performed by dealers to strengthen the battery compartment.
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Chevrolet To Offer Volt Modifications Against Battery Fire Risk
GM announced today that it would offer a "customer satisfaction" initiative that provides modifications to roughly 12,400 Chevrolet Volt range-extended electric cars to reduce the chance that the battery pack could catch fire days or weeks after a severe accident. The safety "enhancement" is meant...
John Voelcker -
Tsunami-Damaged Nissan Leafs Show Strength Of Battery Packs
When we wrote last year about the 2011 Nissan Leaf being waterboarded for your safety, little did we know an even sterner test was about to challenge the safety of Nissan's electric car. The devastating and tragic results of the March tsunami shook Japan to the core, and resulted in the country's...
Antony Ingram -
Volt Owners Speak Up, Say It's Safe, Rave About Their Electric Cars
It's been a tough few weeks of publicity for the Chevrolet Volt, the extended-range electric car that's the green halo vehicle at General Motors. Now, despite sales below GM's announced target and an NHTSA inquiry into fires in the lithium-ion battery pack several weeks after they were involved in...
John Voelcker -
Today's Volt Update: GM Buyback, Owners Rally, Sales Goal Unmet
Phew. Yesterday was quite a day indeed in Chevy Volt land. A bevy of news items hit the wires, following Monday's offer of loaner cars to Volt owners who weren't comfortable with their cars' safety until the NHTSA finishes its investigation into battery-pack fires in cars that had been wrecked in...
John Voelcker -
Chevy Volt Electric Car Buyers Unfazed By Fire Reports
While a handful of Chevrolet Volt extended-range electric cars have been destroyed in fires, potential Volt buyers are not deterred by sensationalist media reports around the blazes, says trade journal Automotive News.
Thomas Bey