News
-
Toyota Just Reversed Its Own Tacoma Playbook, and Nobody’s Talking About the Axles
Toyota did not spend $3.6 billion in San Antonio because it rediscovered patriotism. It spent that money because the math on where you’re allowed to build a profitable mid-size truck just changed, and the company is now paying to undo a decision it made only a few years ago. On July 6, Toyota Motor North…
-
Kia’s Telluride Fire Fix Failed, So Kia Is Recalling Its Own Recall
Kia isn’t just recalling nearly 463,000 Tellurides for a fire risk this week. It’s recalling the recall that was supposed to have already solved that fire risk two years ago. On July 2, 2026, Kia filed NHTSA campaign 26V430000, covering 462,869 examples of the 2020-2024 Telluride. The notice tells owners to park outside, away from…
-
Tesla’s Own Earnings Call Just Became Exhibit A in a Federal FSD Lawsuit
For nearly a decade, “Full Self-Driving” has been the priciest checkbox in the car business that doesn’t do the thing printed on the tin. Now a Model S owner in Frankfort, Kentucky has turned Elon Musk’s own words into the spine of a federal class action — and the sharpest thing about the case isn’t…
-
A Wasilla Diesel Mechanic’s Pardon Exposes the EPA’s Cold-Weather Blind Spot
Somewhere on the Dalton Highway this winter, a loaded semi will lose power at forty below zero — not because the engine failed, but because a sensor decided its emissions system wasn’t behaving. That scene never made it into the federal indictment against Mackenzie “Mac” Spurlock. It’s also the only way to understand why he…
-
Brussels Says Its Car Industry Is in ‘Mortal Danger.’ It Left Out Who Loaded the Gun
Stéphane Séjourné, the European Commission’s executive vice-president for industry, told the European Parliament this week that Europe’s car industry is in “mortal danger.” That’s not a phrase officials reach for over soft quarterly sales. He meant the kind that ends factories, towns, and careers. But sit through the full debate, not just the sound bite,…
-
Robotaxis Keep Driving Into Fire Scenes, and Washington Just Admitted There’s No Rule Against It
Every state in the country tests new drivers on the same handful of judgment calls: what to do when you see flares in the road, how to react to a trooper waving traffic through with his hands, when to yield to flashing lights you can’t yet identify. It’s in the manual. It’s on the written…
-
Stellantis, Wayve, and Uber’s Robotaxi Deal: What’s Real and What’s Hype
Here’s a fun exercise: read the Stellantis, Wayve, and Uber robotaxi announcement, then try to find a single thing in it you could put on a calendar. A launch date. A city. A vehicle. A price. A fleet size. Anything. You won’t, because there isn’t one. What the three companies actually announced on June 17…
-
Charlotte Red-Light Cameras Return in 2027: What Drivers Need to Know
Charlotte’s city council signed off on June 22 to put red-light cameras back at 10 of the city’s worst intersections, with the program expected to switch on in early 2027. If you’ve driven through Charlotte lately, the safety pitch writes itself — the city’s own Vision Zero program is built around the premise that traffic…
-
Ford’s First-Half 2026: Records, a 10% Drop, and What Both Really Mean
Ford spent the first week of July telling everyone how many records it broke in the first half of 2026. Read past the bullet points, though, and you find a quarter where total U.S. sales fell 10% to 549,200 vehicles. Both things are true at once, and untangling how gets you a much better picture…
-
Honda’s 15 Millionth Accord Sold — and Her Sister Bought the Next One
Honda just handed over the 15 millionth Accord it has sold in the United States, and in a piece of dealership choreography no PR team could have scripted, the very next car out the door — number 15,000,001 — went to the buyer’s younger sister the same afternoon. Both women drove home identical 2026 Accord…
-
Audi’s Q5 Subframe Lawsuit Isn’t About Rust. It’s About Dodging a Recall.
A class action lawsuit over a rusted subframe sounds like the kind of story you skim past. Read the actual allegations against Audi, though, and the rust is almost beside the point. The real story is about what a car company does when it discovers a structural defect early, manages it quietly for a decade…
-
Ford Recalled 110,000 Mustangs This Week — and Still Doesn’t Have a Fix for Either Problem
Ford told more than 110,000 Mustang owners this week that their cars have a safety defect. It didn’t tell most of them how it’s going to be fixed. Not yet, anyway. Buried inside the two recall reports Ford just filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is a detail that says more about how…
