Recall News

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BY JEFFREY McCRACKEN
FREE PRESS BUSINESS WRITER

August 18, 2004

The federal agency that oversees auto safety has decided — based largely on arguments from automakers and their Washington, D.C., lobbyists — that reams of data relating to unsafe automobiles or defective parts will not be available to the public.

 
New Cover-Up Allegations Hobble Japan’s Fourth-Largest Automaker

By Anthony Faiola
Washington Post Foreign Service
Tuesday, July 6, 2004; Page E01

YOKOHAMA, Japan — Shiho Okamoto was killed while walking home from a neighborhood video store with her two young sons when a 220-pound wheel fell off the front axle of a Mitsubishi truck moving behind her. The wheel crushed Okamoto’s skull and spine.

By YURI KAGEYAMA
AP BUSINESS WRITER

TOKYO — Katsuhiko Kawasoe, the former president of scandal-plagued Mitsubishi Motors Corp., was arrested Thursday on charges related to a cover-up of auto defects suspected in a fatal accident.

Five other Mitsubishi officials, including a former president and vice president of the automaker’s truck unit, were also arrested, and police said all six were in custody.

Japanese automaker adds 26 defects to four made public in 2000.

11:26 AM CDT on Wednesday, June 2, 2004

Associated Press

TOKYO  Japan’s Mitsubishi Motors hid 26 defects in its cars from regulators for years in addition to four problems it publicized in 2000  to avoid issuing recalls for the vehicles, the company said Wednesday.

The automaker said it would immediately start recalling the affected cars, estimated at over 160,000 and most of them sold in Japan.

04/15/04

Christopher Jensen
Plain Dealer Auto Editor

Honda is recalling about 600,000 of its popular sport utilities and minivans in the U.S. and Canada because the automatic transmissions may fail, the automaker announced Wednesday.

The five-speed transmissions made in Russells Point, Ohio, near Marysville are used in some 2002, 2003 and early 2004 Honda Odyssey minivans as well as 2003 and early 2004 Honda Pilot sport utilities. Also covered are 2001 and 2002 Acura MDX sport utilities.

Despite early woes, sales are strong

By Richard Truett
Automotive News / August 25, 2003

Fired employee battles Chrysler in courtroom

By Bill Vlasic / The Detroit News

DETROIT — Paul Sheridan sifted through the pile of police reports, depositions and legal briefs, and stopped at the autopsy photographs of Nancy Lou Whitt.

He had seen dozens of autopsies in more than 100 product-liability lawsuits. But the Whitt case shocked him.

Insurer’s problems force tough choices

By Donna Harris
Automotive News / June 30, 2003

Five thousand dealers who sold service contracts under the financially troubled Smart Choice program may have to choose between two evils – pay off hefty repair claims themselves, or tell angry customers to slug it out with insurers.

Either way, some dealers could lose.

Center for Auto Safety
Public Citizen
Consumer Federation of America
U.S. Public Interest Research Group
Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety

April 22, 2003

Dr. Jeffrey Runge, Administrator
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
400 7th Street SW
Washington DC 20590

Dear Dr. Runge: