Issues
Wesley Chapel fashion model dies in New Jersey accident
7/30/06
TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — A young woman who died in a fiery auto crash on the New Jersey Turnpike last weekend has been identified as a promising fashion model from Florida.
New Jersey State Police confirmed today that 19-year-old Heather Bratton was the passenger who died at the scene of a three-car collision at about 5 a-m on July 22nd. A statement on the Web site of her booking agency, Women Management, says she was en route to a flight at Newark International Airport.
New federal traffic safety chief faces daunting to-do list
Deb Price / Detroit News Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON — When Nicole Nason recently took over as chief of the powerful National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, her dad gave her two gifts.
The first was a motorcycle helmet that saved his skull — and probably his life — when he was thrown from the Harley he rode as a Long Island, N.Y., highway cop. The second was a photo of the bashed-in Pontiac Catalina he and Nason’s mom walked away from without serious injuries after being hit by a drunken driver in 1979.
Nader and Ditlow ask GM to stop misleading OnStar ads and disable dangerous OnStar features
May 15, 2006
Richard Wagoner
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
General Motors Corporation
300 Renaissance Center
Detroit, MI 48226
Chet Huber
President
OnStar
400 Renaissance Center
Detroit, MI 48226
Dear Mssrs. Wagoner and Huber:
Ventilation system suggested to save kids in hot cars
By RALPH VARTABEDIAN , Los Angeles Times
An urgent federal government warning solved one crisis for children in the mid-1990s, but laid the groundwork for another tragic problem a decade later.
After small children were killed by powerful air bags in the early 1990s, the federal government issued a recommendation put all babies in rear-facing carriers in the rear seat and put young children in the rear seat, as well.
Grieving couple urge Ford to do more
 Friday, January 20, 2006Howells, who lost children in fiery limo wreck, say they want to ensure safety
By James RomoserJOURNAL REPORTER
MOCKSVILLE
The parents of three sisters who died in 2003 in a limousine fire said yesterday that their two-year legal battle with Ford Motor Co. illuminated a serious fuel-tank safety problem and made other limos safer.
Family, Ford settle wrongful-death lawsuit
 Thursday, January 19, 2006Sisters were killed when limo was hit from behind, caught fire
By James RomoserJOURNAL REPORTER
The family of three sisters who burned to death in a limousine wreck on Interstate 40 reached an out-of-court settlement with Ford Motor Co. yesterday, ending a wrongful-death lawsuit over the design of the vehicle’s fuel tank.
Hybrid history
Powertrains of the future have a past
Don Sherman
Automotive News | June 12, 2006
The greatest challenge every pioneering auto builder faced was finding a suitable source of power.
Petroleum-fueled internal combustion powerplants, steam engines and electric motors were equal hopefuls in the drive to replace horses with horsepower. When one contraption lacked the gumption to climb hills, resourceful horseless-carriage builders simply added a second power source, as if they were harnessing another mare to the team.
Raising fuel standards could save auto industry
January 26, 2006
1983-1995 Ford/Lincoln/Mercury Ignition Module Stalling
On December 9, 2002, after five years of litigation, a settlement was reached in a national class action in California, Howard v. Ford Motor Co., that reimbursed owners for ignition module failures that occurred within the first 100,000 miles, and extended the warranty to 100,000 miles for any vehicle still under this mileage.