News
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A Heathrow Parking Firm Promised a Covered Compound. Customers’ Cars Got a Field.
A Heathrow meet-and-greet firm left customers’ cars in a field, on roadsides and in the airport’s own short-stay lot. The case shows what a driver gives away with the key fob, and what to check before handing it over.
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Tulsa Deputy Logged a ‘Traffic Violation’ Before He Saw One, Then Pulled a Month of Plate-Reader Data. A Judge Tossed It.
A federal judge in Tulsa ruled a month-long, warrantless plate-reader search was a Fourth Amendment search. The deputy logged a ‘traffic violation’ before he had seen one.
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Argentina Signed Off on Toyota’s $1.3 Billion ‘Electrified’ Plant. Toyota Still Hasn’t Said What Goes in It.
Argentina granted Toyota 30 years of tax and customs stability for an unnamed electrified vehicle at Zárate. Toyota’s final approval, and the choice between a battery Hilux and a hybrid, are still pending.
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Georgia’s Lift-Kit Law Exempts Basically Every Pickup Since 2011. A Wrongful-Death Suit Wants a Jury to Draw the Line.
Georgia’s 2024 suspension law exempts any truck with federally compliant stability control. A Gwinnett wrongful-death suit over a lifted F-150 asks a jury to decide what the statute no longer does.
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L.A.’s Kia and Hyundai Theft Wave Will Last Until at Least 2042, UCLA Says, and It’s Headed for Poorer Neighborhoods
A UCLA study using LAPD data says immobilizer-free Kias and Hyundais will be stolen in Los Angeles until at least 2042, while the settlement’s restitution window closes in 2027.
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Cops Pulled Over a Waymo With ‘No Driver, No Hands, No Clue.’ California’s Answer Is a Ticket With No Fine.
Since July 1, California police can write up driverless cars. The notice goes to the company and the DMV, and unlike a human driver’s ticket, it carries no fine.
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Tow Yard Wanted $960 to Hand Back a Petersburg Woman’s Stolen SUV, She Says. A Police Report Made It Free.
A Petersburg, Virginia, woman’s 2008 Volkswagen Tiguan was stolen from in front of her house at 6:30 a.m. on July 28. By July 31, she said, officers had found it less than a mile away and had it towed to Marby’s Garage & Towing on West Washington Street. When she went to pick it up,…
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Massachusetts Cop Let Two Stolen Challengers Go at 100+ MPH. One Came Back and Found the Stop Sticks, Police Say.
Auburn, Massachusetts, police say an officer let two stolen Dodge Challengers go at more than 100 mph rather than chase. One came back. Fleeing police in the state still carries a $100 fine.
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Thieves Took an Arizona Family’s Kia From the Driveway and Ditched It at a Church. A $4.5 Million Fund Could Pay Them Up to $2,250.
A Kia Sorento disappeared overnight from a family’s driveway in the Mountain Vista Ranch neighborhood of Surprise, Arizona, in early September. A few days later it turned up in a church parking lot a few blocks from the house, with little missing from inside and damage that cost the family hundreds of dollars to repair,…
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Chicago’s Speed Cameras Spat Out a Ticket Every 17 Seconds in 2024. Most Were for 6 to 10 MPH Over.
City records show Chicago mailed 1.84 million speed camera tickets in 2024. The $35 tier for 6 to 10 mph over produced most of them and two-thirds of the money.
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Ford Paid $10.5 Million in 2001 Over Grading Managers on a Curve. Now It’s Back in Court Over Job Bias.
A Sept. 28 federal employment-discrimination suit against Ford lands nearly 25 years after the company settled over grading managers on a fixed curve.
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Kansas Makes Dealers Post a $50,000 Bond to Protect Buyers. Two Wichita Customers Had to Sue to Get Any of It.
Two Sunset Auto Sales customers got $20,600 back from a Kansas dealer bond, not the dealer, after a lawsuit and a denied claim. How the $50,000 bond works, and where it runs out.
