Issues
The self-driving car industry just acknowledged it has an image problem
For the driverless car industry, 2018 saw technology breakthroughs. Unfortunately, the year also was a public relations disaster. An experimental Uber driverless car, with an inattentive “safety driver” at the wheel, ran over and killed a woman walking her bicycle across a highway in Arizona. A U.S. Senate bill that would have allowed hundreds of…
'Danger to the public': Car safety investigations on hold amid federal government shutdown
Federal workers must go without pay, national parks are a mess, and now vehicle safety investigations are on hold. The agency responsible for investigating defects in the nation’s cars, trucks and SUVs does not plan to do so during the government shutdown. It’s the latest in a growing list of impacts caused by a political test of wills…
As I-75 turns more deadly, what can be done?
GAINESVILLE — Nashville resident Mark Quarles said he and his wife make the drive from Tennessee to the Orlando area on Interstate 75 several times a year to visit family, and he has noticed how speeding increases once motorists cross into Florida, particularly from Lake City south. Quarles made the trip over the Christmas holiday…
Sergio Marchionne: Oddly Honored Despite Fighting Deadly Jeep Recall
Here’s what The Center for Auto Safety’s executive director Jason Levine said recently said about how Marchionne should be remembered: “To the safety community, Mr. Marchionne’s legacy will forever be hitched to making a backroom deal which kept deadly defective Jeeps on the road.” There’s a lot of hard-to-believe stuff happening in the world and…
Uber says it’s relaunching self-driving cars with major safety upgrades
“Uber’s got a long way to go to build that public trust, particularly when we’re talking about driverless cars.”
Report says 16.7M faulty Takata air bags still on US roads
Jason Levine, executive director of the nonprofit Center for Auto Safety, said it’s taking too long to replace all of the inflators. “The numbers speak for themselves: In a matter of weeks there will be over 25 million unrepaired recalled Takata air bag inflators remaining on the roads, 10 years after this process started and…
Magnuson-Moss Overview
In 1975 Congress adopted a piece of landmark legislation, the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act. The Act was designed to prevent manufacturers from drafting grossly unfair consumer warranties and to make it economically viable for consumers to bring warranty suits by providing for the award of attorney’s fees. States built on the themes of the Magnuson-Moss Act…
Opinion: Driverless car bill a disaster waiting to happen
Despite almost daily reports of crashes or non-responsive technology on public roads involving driverless cars, Congress is trying to hitch a new law to Santa’s sleigh in the form of the year-end-keep-the-government-open spending bill, just ahead of a new majority come January. Today, all motor vehicle operators, particularly commercial drivers, are required to pass a…
Exploding sunroofs: A look at why the investigation has dragged on for half a decade
“It’s not just happening frequently, it’s happening across manufacturers, said Jason Levine from the Center for Auto Safety.” “This appears to be, from all accounts, a defect that is well documented,” Levine said. “And when something is defective, it’s on that manufacturer to take care of it. And, if not, people do have the ability to…
Opinion: AV START threatens public safety and driverless car potential
In the final days of this session, the U.S. Senate may vote on legislation that would essentially turn our public streets into proving grounds for driverless cars that are not ready for prime time. The AV START Act (S. 1885) would allow for widespread sale of these nascent systems under the guise of safety, but…