The 2011 Honda Odyssey minivan is one of the first vehicles to earn a five-star crash rating under the new NHTSA ratings system. The NHTSA introduced a new crash rating system for 2011 and the Odyssey is only the second vehicle to earn five-star ratings in every seating position for every crash test. The only […]
Archive for the 'Safety' Category
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has released its Top Safety Picks for 2011. Each year, the IIHS tests new cars in front and side high-speed crashes, a rollover crash and evaluates the seat and head restraints for protection of the head and neck in rear impact crashes. Vehicles that earn a “good” rating, the […]
The NHTSA claims that despite praiseworthy efforts by Ford, many of the 14 million Ford vehicles recalled for a potential fire risk from 1999 to 2009 have not been repaired. Used car owners who may not know that there is a recall in effect for their vehicles are most likely to not have the repairs […]
Volvo Recalls Nearly 10,000 Vehicles For Faulty Airbags
Posted in Luxury vehicles, Recalls, Safety on Oct 21st, 2010
Volvo has found that the airbags on 9,746 vehicles may not deploy correctly and is issuing a recall to fix the problem. The recall affects 2010 and 2011 Volvo S80 and XC70 models, as well as 2010 V70 wagons and 2011 XC60 SUVs. The faulty airbags can be traced to “an intermittent fault in the […]
2011 Buick Regal Beats Lexus and Infiniti For Top Safety Pick
Posted in Buick, Lexus, Luxury vehicles, Safety on Sep 1st, 2010
The 2011 Buick Regal has been given a better rating by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety than the Lexus IS and Infiniti G37. The new Buick Regal was named a Top Safety Pick by the IIHS after receiving a “good” rating, the best possible, in the Institute’s front, side and rear crash tests and […]
Hybrid cars have been criticized as dangerous to civilians because they are too quiet. At low speeds, most hybrids, including the Toyota Prius, typically operate on electric power alone, which makes very little noise. That can be dangerous in cities where pedestrians, particularly blind or seeing-impaired people, rely on audio cues to tell if a […]
Nissan has revealed that it has an automatic accident avoidance system capable of preventing front-end collisions. Nissan’s Forward Collision Avoidance Assist Concept uses radar to detect objects in front of the vehicle and either assists in braking or stops the car if the driver isn’t responding. The system will be part of Nissan’s Safety Shield […]
The 2010 Lexus HS 250h will be recalled soon to fix a problem with the hybrid car leaking an excessive amount of fuel after a high-speed rear-end collision. During government crash tests, it was decided that the Lexus hybrid leaks more gas than is acceptable after being struck from behind. During the Lexus HS 250h’s […]
Black Boxes and Brake Override Systems May be Required in New Cars
Posted in Safety on May 28th, 2010
All cars and trucks sold in America might soon have brake override systems and black boxes. An auto safety bill that will require black boxes and brake systems, as well as other safety changes, has been sent to the House of Representatives for a vote. The House Energy and Commerce Committee was in charge of […]
Toyota Unintended Acceleration Blamed For 89 Deaths
Posted in Quality, Recalls, Safety, Toyota on May 26th, 2010
Unintended acceleration in Toyotas has been blamed for 89 deaths in the Unites States. The NHTSA has changed its estimation of the number of fatalities due to unintended acceleration from 52 to 89, according to the NY Daily News. The NHTSA says that is has received 6,200 complaints of sudden, unintended acceleration in Toyota vehicles […]