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.
Despite winning a trophy case worth of awards -- including Motor Trend Car of the Year and North American Car of the Year -- the Chevrolet Volt plug-in car has failed to meet GM's sales expectations.
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.
Every auto show, these days, is "all about plug-in cars and hybrids," they say. Everyone's gawking at the cherry on top while few notice how different the ice cream underneath is.
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.
Last month, for the first time in 26 years, more Ford F-150 pickup buyers opted for V6 engines rather than the more traditional V8.
About two dozen people have asked General Motors about turning in their Chevrolet Volt electric cars in the wake of an investigation into possible battery fires following severe crashes, a spokesman for the automaker said Tuesday.
Federal safety regulators announced Friday that they have opened "a formal safety defect investigation" into the Chevrolet Volt over concerns the electric car's battery may pose a significant fire risk.
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.
Ford has begun to take orders for its first plug-in passenger car, the Focus Electric, in New York, New Jersey and California.
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.
General Motors, maker of the Chevy Volt plug-in hybrid, will sell a small totally electric car beginning in 2013, the automaker announced Wednesday.
General Motors will unveil the most powerful convertible Chevrolet has ever made at the Los Angeles Auto Show in November.
The Chevrolet Volt, General Motors' plug-in car, has earned a recommendation from Consumer Reports magazine.
For all the excitement generated by every new hybrid car introduction, there is one little problem. In case you haven't noticed, hardly anyone is buying them.
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."
In a little-noticed development recently, Ford announced that it had received EPA certification for a new engine in its best-selling Explorer.
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.
The New York City Police Department has a new cruiser that will be silently plying the city streets very soon.
Ford will soon produce a competitor to General Motors' Chevrolet Volt.
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.
It'll be years before automakers can take the training wheels off their electric car making divisions, but how many years is an open question.
Faced with complaints of battery packs in Civic Hybrids dying prematurely, American Honda Motor Co. offered a free software upgrade last summer to fix the problem. Many owners say it only made things worse.
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.
In its effort to put 1 million electric cars on the road by 2015, the Obama administration's proposed budget supports a plan to give $7,500 directly to electric car buyers rather than make them wait for a tax credit.
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.
In an effort to put 1 million electric cars on the road by 2015, the Obama administration has proposed a plan that would put up to $7,500 directly in the hands of car buyers without having them jump through any tax hoops.
President Barack Obama's goal of putting 1 million electric cars on U.S. roads by 2015 could run into a huge roadblock -- the American consumer.
updated: Thu Feb 03 2011 09:02:00
CNN's Martin Savidge speaks to "the car coach" about the growing market for electric cars.
Chrysler Group is working on a new hybrid minivan that doesn't use batteries or electric motors to drive it, the automaker announced with the Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday.
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.
At the 2011 Detroit Auto Show, Toyota is asking "What's the plural of Prius?"
Ford unveiled the Focus Electric at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas Friday promising an electric car that's fun to drive.
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.
If you want to buy an electric car today, good luck, it's slim pickins. But fast forward three years and you could be facing more plug-in choices than you'll know what to do with.
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.
Even if they aren't always terribly accurate, EPA fuel economy estimates have at least made it easy to compare the gas mileage of one car to another. But now that plug-in cars are entering the market, things are about to get much more complicated.
General Motors will unveil a hybrid version of its popular Buick LaCrosse sedan this week at the Los Angeles Auto Show. But don't expect GM to call it a hybrid.
GE said on Thursday that it will buy 25,000 electric vehicles for its fleet through 2015 in the "largest-ever" purchase of electric cars.
The Nissan Leaf will carry a price tag of $32,500, but some California residents could drive one for just about $17,000 -- roughly the cost of a typical gas-powered compact sedan.
General Electric will order "tens of thousands" of electric cars in about a week, the conglomerate's chief executive said Friday.
updated: Thu Oct 28 2010 11:36:00
The Bolivian Andes could contain almost of third of the world's lithium - the power source of choice for electric cars.
Major car manufacturers are poised to launch their electric vehicles and expectations are so high Nissan says it has closed its U.S. waiting list with 20,000 pre-orders.
updated: Wed Oct 20 2010 09:24:00
CNN's Ali Velshi talks to the CEO of a company who won an award for creating a car that gets 100 miles to the gallon.
Chase Ballew had miscalculated a little bit. He was bringing home some furniture from Ikea in his electric-powered truck, and there wasn't enough charge to get him all the way to the house.
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.
They may be cleaner than their gas-guzzling cousins, but manufacturers are increasingly concerned that electric cars' near-silent motors could pose a problem for pedestrians navigating city streets.
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.
When I talk to my motorcycling friends, many of them are hankering for an electric motorcycle. But only, they stress, if it's a motorcycle, not a motor scooter. One friend explained that to motorcycling types, a high-end electric motorcycle would be like going from a Ferrari to a Tesla: "If I was used to driving a Ferrari and you put me in a Tesla I would love it." In other words, high-end Harley riders are not a group interested in the two-wheeled version of, say, a Fiat or Tata.
General Motors is building an experimental fleet of electrically powered Chevrolet Cruze compact cars that will have a driving range of up to 100 miles without using any gasoline.
Toyota Motor Co. will put out six all-new hybrid vehicles worldwide by 2012, a Toyota spokesman confirmed.
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.
When the Lincoln MKZ Hybrid sedan goes on sale in the fall, the price will probably surprise a lot of people. The sticker price will be $35,180 -- exactly the same as the non-hybrid version of the car.
Shai Agassi wants to put the world into electric cars whose batteries can be swapped out at one of his futuristic "gas" stations. But just as the cells in flashlights and laptops need lithium to run, so do -- swappable batteries or not -- electric cars. And some are now saying that will make lithium, in our increasingly battery-dependent society, increasingly hard to come by.
Moving ahead with a partnership announced in May, Toyota is working on a potential new electric car with California's Tesla Motors, a source at the Japanese automaker said.
Coulomb Technologies on Wednesday said it will build 4,600 electric vehicle charging stations in nine regions of the U.S., funded by $37 million in grants.
Toyota's announcement that it is making a $50 million investment in upstart electric car maker Tesla got the auto industry's attention this week.
Those tiny electric cars you sometimes see on the road may be cheap, they aren't very safe, new crash tests show.
General Motors is recalling about 40,000 Chevrolet Corvette sports cars because of a problem in which repeatedly adjusting the position of the steering column can cause the cars' electronic stability control activate when it shouldn't.
Toyota Motor Sales has announced plans to recall about 50,000 Toyota Sequoia SUVs because of a problem with their Vehicle Stability Control systems that can cause the vehicles to hesitate or slow down at low speeds.
For a few days, Ford could boast of having the most powerful V6 in the segment with its 305 horsepower Mustang engine. But then General Motors revealed that the 304 horsepower rating on its Camaro V6 wasn't actually official. The official rating, it turned out, was 312.
Toyota Motor Corp. has announced a recall of 2010 model year Lexus GX 460 SUVs related to an increased risk of rollover.
Shai Agassi is a man on a mission -- an ambitious one to wean the world off its oil addiction and turn everyone into electric car drivers.
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.
Nissan announced Tuesday that its Leaf electric car will come with a sticker price of $32,780. But after a federal tax credit of $7,500, the car will only set you back about $25,280.
BMW will supply transmissions, cooling systems and hi-tech diesel engines for start-up police company Carbon Motors, the two companies announced Monday.
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.
Carlos Ghosn -- in shirtsleeves -- walks briskly into a conference room on the 21st floor of Nissan's global headquarters in Yokohama, Japan. Awaiting his arrival are 15 executives in two ranks of chairs. Subject of the meeting: how to spread the news about Ghosn's pet electric-car project.
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. announced Thursday that it will ask owners of its Ford Fusion Hybrid and Mercury Milan Hybrids sedan to bring their car into their Ford dealer to replace software that operates the car's braking system.
The Toyota Prius, America's most popular hybrid car, will become a family of vehicles, Toyota announced at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit Monday.
If you're looking forward to parking a brand-new electric car in your garage soon, be prepared to spend some money getting that garage in shape.
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.
The "Valley of Death," in auto-industry-speak, is a metaphorical desert where emerging technologies reside while car executives figure out which of the experiments ought to make their way into actual cars.
Tesla Motors turned profitable for the first time in July, when the electric car manufacturer shipped a record 109 vehicles, the company said Friday.
The federal government on Wednesday named which companies will get $2.4 billion in stimulus grants to develop batteries, parts and programs for electric cars.
Drivers looking for fuel efficiency and performance may cheer Ford's efforts, but for Mustang fans who demand a burbling V8, fuel economy takes a back seat to tradition.
The cars of the future will run on electricity, most major automakers agree on that. What they don't agree on is how soon drivers will be ready to fully embrace electric power and how aggressively to push electric cars.
Honda's new hybrid-only Insight, touted as a low-cost competitor to the Toyota Prius was dealt a major blow Monday after it failed to get a thumbs up from the influential magazine Consumer Reports.
It wasn't too long ago that the thought of buying a reliable car from Korea seemed laughable. Today, Korean vehicles are common fare and automakers from India are getting ready to invade the U.S. market.
Exxon Mobil Corp. said it will unveil an electric car Tuesday through a test-drive and car-sharing program in Baltimore.
Daimler AG and Tesla Motors announced Tuesday that they will partner to manufacture electric cars.
Regardless of whether you're talking politics or automotive technologies, the voting and driving public often gravitates to what's new and fresh.
Much has been made of the electric car driving to the rescue of ailing automobile manufacturers and saving the planet at the same time. But what if that eco-savior came on two wheels instead of four?
updated: Wed Apr 22 2009 13:02:00
Japan's top two automakers in a worldwide battle for the eco-minded consumer. CNN's Kyung Lah reports.
FORTUNE's Brainstorm: Green conference is not even 24 hours old as I write this and already we've had a lot of memorable moments. Here are some of the things we've heard so far:
Loading weather data ...
© 2013 Cable News Network. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
|