Advanced vehicle safety features hold great promise. Once they are installed in large numbers of vehicles, they could help reduce or even eliminate crashes caused by human error. When they can’t avoid a crash altogether, they can often reduce its severity. Assuming...
Month: January 2021
NTSB: Electric vehicle battery fires risk first responders
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) says that the guidelines electric vehicle manufacturers have established for dealing with battery fires are inadequate. Furthermore, industry research and safety standards regarding high-voltage lithium ion battery fires...
Ford recalling 2.7 million vehicles to replace driver side airbags
The Takata airbag recall was the largest automotive safety recall in U.S. history, and it’s still going on. Worldwide, approximately 100 million airbag inflators have been recalled from vehicles manufactured by 19 major automakers. The automakers all sourced their...
New safety tech to look out for: rear automatic emergency braking
If you’re in the market for a new car, you may want to consider one that comes with rear automatic emergency braking (AEB) in addition to the more common front AEB. A new analysis finds that rear AEB could cut collision claims and property damage liability by 10% and...
Hyundai, Kia recall more vehicles for fire hazard
If you own a Hyundai Tucson SUV from the model years 2016-2021 or a 2019 Kia Stinger sedan, you should immediately stop driving the vehicle and park it outside. This is because there is a defect that could cause a fire. A free repair will soon be available. Hyundai...
Emptier streets led to more traffic fatalities this year
The pandemic caught many of us off guard. It led to a cascade of job losses, lost economic activity and stay-at-home orders that kept many people off the roads. The freeways were empty, or almost empty, for the first time in memory. People generally drive less in a...