NHTSA News

U.S. Auto Recalls Slow in 2017 From Takata-Boosted Pace

The number of U.S. vehicles recalled for safety or technical defects plummeted in 2017 after several years of record levels amid major auto safety crises. Manufacturers recalled about 30.7 million vehicles last year, down 42 percent from a record of …

Sidelined Transportation Rules Could Raise Safety Risk

President Donald Trump says his administration has ended more unnecessary regulations than any previous administration. In response to his orders, the Transportation Department has withdrawn, repealed, delayed or put on the back burner at least a dozen significant safety rules, …

Ford Adds 33K Rangers With Takata Airbags to Do-Not-Drive List

Ford and U.S. safety regulators are telling the owners of 33,428 Ranger pickup trucks in North America not to drive them because they have Takata airbag inflators “that are an immediate risk to safety.” A company investigation into Ranger inflators …

Auto Safety Agency Names 14 More Models in Takata Recall

U.S. safety regulators have released models from 14 different automakers that are being recalled to replace potentially deadly Takata airbag inflators. Documents posted Thursday by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration include many made by Ford, Nissan, Mercedes-Benz, Ferrari, Daimler …

GM Drops Steering Wheel, Gives Robot Driver Control

Next year, General Motors Co. will no longer need an engineer in the front seat babysitting the robot brain that controls its self-driving Chevrolet Bolt. The steering wheel and pedals will be gone, giving total control to the machine. When …

U.S. Regulators Working on New Policy for Autonomous Trucks, Trains

Federal regulators are taking the first step toward creating a policy guiding the development of autonomous transportation beyond self-driving cars to include trucks, buses and other ground-based modes. The U.S. Transportation Department will soon publish four requests for public comment …

Takata Adds 3.3M Airbag Inflators to Massive Recall

Japanese airbag maker Takata is recalling an additional 3.3 million faulty airbag inflators as it expands the largest automotive recall in U.S. history. The latest recalls cover frontal air bags in certain 2009, 2010 and 2013 vehicles made Honda, Toyota, …

Preventing Deadly Car Rammings

A deadly attack this week in Melbourne, Australia, in which a man plowed an SUV into a crowd of Christmas shoppers comes from the same playbook used by terrorists in recent years around the globe. Many new vehicles rolling off …

Unrepaired Takata Airbags Remain in Two-Thirds of U.S. Vehicles

Nearly two-thirds of the U.S. vehicles containing defective airbag inflators made by Takata Corp. remain unrepaired as automakers have made varying degrees of progress addressing the largest auto recall in U.S. history. As of mid-September, 20 million vehicles containing defective …

Smartphones Are Killing Americans, But Nobody’s Counting

Jennifer Smith doesn’t like the term “accident.” It implies too much chance and too little culpability. A “crash” killed her mother in 2008, she insists, when her car was broadsided by another vehicle while on her way to pick up …