More than five million Jeep vehicles are being investigated by the federal government for deadly fuel-tank fires caused by rear-impact collisions.
updated: Fri Apr 20 2012 16:11:00
CNN's Drew Griffin investigates a Toyota engineering memo that suggests an electronic problem in a prototype car.
Toyota Motor Corp. has subpoenaed Sean Kane, an auto safety advocate and outspoken critic of the company, asking that he hand over his communications with the media, Congress, government agencies and individual Toyota drivers inquiring about sudden unintended acceleration.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration on Tuesday unveiled a new crash test dummy to be used to evaluate child safety seats and boosters made for children weighing more than 65 pounds.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has closed its investigation into a possible fire risk in Chevrolet Volt cars after finding little risk of fires in real-world scenarios, the agency said Friday.
Kia has announced the recall of nearly 146,000 vehicles with faulty airbag systems. The models affected are the 2006-2008 Kia Optima and the 2007-2008 Kia Rondo. Due to a flawed spring system that may become damaged over time, the driver's side airbag in these cars may not deploy properly in the event of a crash, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said in a recall alert.
Government safety regulators and NASA researchers were right to dismiss electronics problems as a likely cause for unintended acceleration in Toyota vehicles, according to a new report from the National Academy of Sciences.
General Motors is recalling the Chevrolet Volt to make changes that it says will help prevent fires from coolant leaks which may follow a severe side impact.
Federal safety regulators are investigating the safety of lithium-ion batteries after a fire started in the battery pack of a Chevrolet Volt three weeks after the vehicle went through a crash test.
The Fiat 500, an ultra-tiny minicar sold by Chrysler dealers, has earned a "Top Safety Pick Award" from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.
Italian automaker Pagani was to begin selling its $1 million, 700 horsepower Huayra supercar in the U.S. later this year but federal safety regulators have said "Not so fast."
The Nissan Leaf earned a top five-star rating in the federal government's new, tougher crash test rating system. Under the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's new rating system, all vehicles are given a single rating of one to five stars based on their scores in seperate front and side impact tests as well as resistance to rollovers.
Once feared for their dangerous rollover tendencies, high-riding SUVs are now much less likely to be involved in the deadly crashes than ordinary cars.
The Chevrolet Volt earned a top five-star rating in thee federal government's new, tougher crash test rating system. Under the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's new rating system, all vehicles are given a single rating of one to five stars encompassing front and side impact safety as well as resistance to rollovers.
The Chevrolet Volt and Nissan Leaf plug-in cars both earned top scores in crash tests, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety said Tuesday.
When the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration recently asked Ford to recall 1.3 million trucks over an airbag problem, Ford answered with a plan of its own. It only recalled a fraction of what the safety agency asked for.
Toyota is recalling 2.2 million vehicles to correct problems that can cause gas pedals to become stuck in floormats.
The word of the rocket scientists apparently wasn't good enough. The Washington safety lobby wants more proof that Toyotas are free from electronic gremlins.
Passenger vehicles will have to keep occupants, even those not wearing seatbelts, from going through the side windows during a rollover, according to a new regulation announced by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Thursday.
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety named 66 vehicles as "Top Safety Pick Winners" this year, more than double the number that earned the award last year.
Cars and SUVs don't stand bumper-to-bumper. That mismatch can turn what would have been minor rear-enders into massive repair bills for both vehicles if they crash, according to a new report from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.
The federal government unveiled the first round of crash test results Tuesday under new, more stringent testing designed to be simpler for car shoppers to understand.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration rolls out a new safety rating system Tuesday -- one with more rigorous standards.
Laws against using mobile devices to send and receive text messages while driving don't reduce crashes, according to a new study by the Highway Loss Data Institute.
Traffic deaths have hit their lowest level since 1950, the year fatalities behind the wheel began to be tracked, according to the latest government statistics.
The good news is that booster seats are getting safer. The bad news is that there are still some seats out there that may not protect your child in a crash, a report released Wednesday showed.
The new Ford Fiesta was chosen as a Top Safety Pick by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety on Wednesday, becoming the first minicar to win the top rating since the group added a rollover test to its requirements.
Those tiny electric cars you sometimes see on the road may be cheap, they aren't very safe, new crash tests show.
Toyota has announced that it will now check all of its SUVs for problems similar to the one uncovered by Consumer Reports in the Lexus GX 460 SUV.
Toyota asked dealers to temporarily suspend sales of the new 2010 Lexus GX 460 after Consumer Reports issued a safety warning on the SUV.
Watching the Toyota recall crisis unfold over the past few months has been like watching a wildfire on a windy day. Just when it would appear that the flames might be contained, another powerful gust sweeps through, stirring them up and blowing them still higher.
In response to Toyota's recent recall crisis, Consumers Union is calling for improvements in the U.S. car safety net to catch infrequent but fatal problems -- such as the troubled automaker's unintended acceleration -- more efficiently.
If you think Uncle Sam will whack Toyota with massive civil penalties for not acting promptly to fix issues with its cars, think again.
updated: Thu Feb 11 2010 15:49:00
The relationship between Toyota and the NHTSA is under scrutiny, as CNN's Deborah Feyerick reports.
Ford Motor Co. said Thursday that it will begin equipping certain vehicles with inflatable seat belts that the company says will help prevent injuries in auto accidents.
American car buyers have been shifting away from larger vehicles, fearing higher gas prices, but they could be leaving themselves vulnerable in a crash, claims the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.
You don't have to look too far into the past to find a time when automakers didn't see car safety as a "selling point." But over the last 30 years, car safety has become a prime factor in the minds of car buyers.
Four small sport utility vehicles received top scores in crash tests to be released Wednesday by the insurance industry, a sign of improvement compared with SUVs built earlier in the decade
The latest crash tests by the insurance industry raise safety questions about small pickups
The ultra-tiny Smart ForTwo earned top marks in side and front crash tests, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety said Wednesday. The two-seat car did not earn the Institute's Top Safety Pick designation, however, because it didn't earn top marks for whiplash protection.
If you don't eat, sleep and breathe cars, or devour car magazines in minute detail, there's a good chance you don't know all the technological terms that pop up in the media, new car advertising and literature.
The tiny Smart ForTwo, recently introduced in the U.S. car market, gave a less-than-stellar performance in its first crash test by the federal government's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
Midsize SUVs are becoming safer, but side and rear impact crashes remain a weakness, according to recent testing by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.
General Motors said it will recall 181,516 Chevrolet HHR wagons Wednesday after finding that some of the vehicles don't meet government standards for protecting occupants from head injury in a crash.
updated: Wed Jan 30 2008 17:06:00
CNN's Elizabeth Cohen reports on new study about children and possible overmedication.
Car makers are confident they can meet new government rules calling for a national fleet average of 35 miles per gallon. But it will take a big technological push, they say.
The number of new cars considered the safest by the insurance industry nearly tripled in the past year
Some car companies just can't leave well enough alone. After all, if you have the best-selling car eight of the past nine years, have projections to sell 420,000 more next year and your new model has won just about every automotive award available, except the Indy 500 Milk Bottle, why would you place the engineering equivalent of a graffiti mustache on it?
Every year, millions of dollars' worth of vehicles end up as masses of tangled sheet metal and twisted parts in crash tests across the country. Those tests have saved millions of lives since they began six decades ago.
While all offer reasonable protection from front impacts, there are big differences in side impact protection among six truck-based SUVs, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.
The 2008 Ford Mustang is the first convertible to ever earn five-star ratings in all crash tests performed by the federal government's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Ford announced Thursday.
Toyota Motor Corp. says it will recall floor mats in its 2007 Lexus ES 350 and the 2007 Camry models that, if not secured in place, could slip and get trapped under or over the accelerator. This could cause a car to accelerate even after the driver lifted his or her foot off the gas pedal.
New passenger vehicles will be required to provide head protection in side crashes for 2013 model-year vehicles, the government said Wednesday.
Luxury doesn't always buy complete car safety, according to a new report.
Recent recalls of toothpaste, toys, tires and other products have created a marketing nightmare for any company trying to sell Chinese products in the United States. And now they want to sell cars here.
Two-thirds of pickups, vans and sport-utility vehicles don't provide acceptable protection against whiplash in rear-end collisions, according to tests by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS).
It used to be horsepower. Then it was fuel economy. Now there's another number making its way into the big print in car ads: the number of airbags.
By now, you're pretty savvy when it comes to buying a new car. You know all about dealer-invoice pricing, depreciation and extended warranties. There's still one last chance, though, for the dealer to get the better of you. A new model's options list can be a minefield, and if you're not careful you could end up spending 20% or more above what you intended for your car. So it pays to know whether an option is good for you or just for the dealer.
The company that imported Chinese tires at the center of a recall demand by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration will recall the tires and replace them until the company, Foreign Tire Sales (FTS), has run out of funds.
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has added the Hyundai Santa Fe, a midsized SUV, to its list vehicles that earned the group's Top Safety Pick award.
That electronic safety systems on autos save lives isn't in doubt -- whether they should be fitted as standard to all new cars is the heated question throughout Europe.
New statistics released Thursday by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety show that, overall, driving has gotten much safer in the last 11 years.
Seat and head restraints in more than 60 percent of car models fall short of state-of-the-art protection for neck injuries and whiplash, a new study has found.
Following a botched infant car seat crash test that forced the withdrawal of the test results and a public apology, Consumer Reports announced it is changing some internal procedures and policies.
Ford's new Edge crossover SUV earned the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety's "Top safety pick" award, getting top scores for front, side and rear impact safety.
Consumer Reports, the consumer product testing magazine, announced Thursday that is withdrawing a recent report on rear-facing infant car seats after learning of a problem in the way some of the tests were conducted.
Most rear-facing infant car-seats on the market failed crash tests using tougher standards than the government uses, Consumer Reports said Thursday.
The Nissan Versa got top marks in crash test results released Tuesday by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, though bigger cars still offer greater safety than small cars, the Institute said.
After some changes to make the requirements more stringent, no U.S. models earned The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety's Top Safety Pick Award.
Side-impact airbags, particularly those that protect occupants' heads, have a major live-saving effect, according to research released Thursday by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration announced a proposed rule Thursday that will require Electronic Stability Control on all passenger vehicles in the United States.
Everyone's familiar with the idea of "black boxes" in commercial airliners. They keep a record of everything the aircraft does so that, in the event of an accident, investigators can reconstruct what happened in the minutes leading up to the crash.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has passed a regulation requiring car makers to inform customers when their car has been equipped with an Event Data Recorder, the agency said Monday.
The redesigned 2007 Toyota Camry earned the top score of "Good" in side and front crash tests performed by the Insurance Institute for Highway safety.
I regularly get expensive cars to test drive, and I've parked plenty costing $100,000 and more in the garage near CNNMoney.com's office. Attendants there usually have no problem putting them with - you know - the other cars.
This fall, Toyota will voluntarily recall nearly 160,000 Toyota Tundra pickups so that they can be made less safe for children riding in the front seat.
With better crash safety engineered into passenger vehicles and front airbags now required equipment, side impacts account for more driver deaths than frontal impacts in newer cars, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.
Buying a car for a teen driver can be expensive in a number of ways. Obviously, the car itself costs real money. Then there are insurance costs and the eventual repair and maintenance costs.
Below is a list of the trademarked names used by various car brands for their Electronic Stability Control (ESC) systems.
A new study by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety indicates that crash deaths on American roads could be reduced by one third if all vehicles were equipped with the Electronic Stability Control.
When the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety first started performing its own front crash tests in the mid-1990s, about half the vehicles scored "Marginal" or "Poor."
Name a car, and there's at least one award that its maker can brag about winning from the Automotive Award-Giving Institute, or some such entity. Even respected vehicle-rating firms collectively be...
The safest minivan isn't made by Honda, Toyota or Chrysler, according to recently completed tests by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. The Korean-made Kia Sedona earned the Institute's "Gold Top Safety Pick" award, getting top marks for front crash, side crash and whiplash protection.
The Ford Fusion midsized sedan, introduced last fall, earned an "Acceptable" rating in front crash tests by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. While that is the second-best possible rating, only one other midsize car design currently on the market failed to get the top "Good" rating in the IIHS front-offset crash test.
More than any CD changer, more than any heated or ventilated seat, the most sought-after option in a car these days is a full complement of safety features.
MONEY's car tests don't involve stopwatches. Instead, trunks are loaded up, kids shuttled, vehicles parallel-parked--in other words, what you do with your car in the real world. Value is the other ...
The Chicago Auto Show is usually not one of the bigger automotive events of the year, at least in terms of media attention. The fact that it comes fairly close on the heels of the Detroit Auto Show, the grand-daddy of them all, probably doesn't help. This year's show, however, included quite a few notable cars.
Automakers are again contemplating a test that would encourage the wider use of side airbags designed to protect passengers during vehicle rollovers, according to a report Thursday.
It used to be that if you wanted a car that was really safe, you paid for it. Safety was a luxury you found in expensive European cars like Volvo and BMW.
The Ford Five Hundred and Mercury Montego, when equipped with optional side airbags, earned a Gold "Top Safety Pick" award for large cars from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. The Audi A6 was given the Silver award for large cars.
Two minivans with standard side airbags earned "Best pick" ratings in the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety's first side-impact crash tests on minivans. Two other minivans without side airbags were rated "Poor."
These days, auto companies tout their crash-test ratings and advanced safety features in ads because they think safety sells. But might they be better off hawking cruise control and a full-sized spare tire?
Headrests in most minivans don't provide enough protection in the case of a rear-end crash, according to an insurance industry auto group.
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety gave two large luxury cars its top safety ratings in front and side impact crash test results released Sunday.
SUVs are more stable and less prone to rollovers than they were in 2001, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said Wednesday.
Eight large cars scored top ratings in frontal crash tests recently conducted by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.
After naming the Ford Focus as one of its recommended vehicles in March, then quickly dropping that recommendation following a "Poor" rating in a side-impact crash test, Consumer Reports magazine is now changing its system for rating cars.
The Federal crash-test program may understate rollover and side-impact risks, a newspaper report said Thursday, citing a government report.
The 2005 Volkswagen Jetta received the best score ever in a side-impact crash test performed by an insurance group.
The 2005 models of the Toyota Tacoma and the Dodge Dakota received the top safety ratings in both front and side crash tests, the government reported Wednesday, while the Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra got the lowest ratings.
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