News
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Ford’s New Safety Chief Used to Regulate Ford. That’s Exactly the Point.
Ford is simultaneously the most recalled automaker in America and, per J.D. Power, one of its best-built. Hiring a 13-year NHTSA veteran as Chief Auto Safety Officer explains why both things are true at once.
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China Isn’t Sneaking Into Europe’s Car Factories — Stellantis And Nissan Are Handing Over The Keys
Picture an Opel dealer in Zaragoza a couple of years from now, selling a compact crossover that shares its underpinnings with a car nobody outside Europe has heard of: the Leapmotor B10. Same lot, same blue-and-white lightning badge that’s been on Opels since before most of us were born. Different DNA entirely. That scene, not…
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AirPods and a Tesla’s Cameras Cracked This Georgia Car Theft
There’s a category of car theft that requires no skill whatsoever, and Forsyth County just produced a textbook example of it — along with an unusually modern ending. According to the account the Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office published on its Facebook page, a woman stopped at a Primrose School in the Cumming area on Aug.…
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Dolly Parton’s Last Automotive Venture Was Built for Truckers, Road-Trippers, and EV Drivers
The singer’s Tennessean Travel Stop brought fuel, truck amenities, food, retail, and EV charging together at I-65 in Cornersville, Tennessee. Rest in peace, Dolly Parton. This is a look at one of her final road-facing ventures—and a small reminder that the Queen of Country understood the people who make America move. At Exit 22 on…
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Kia Settles Over Optima and Sportage Windows Falling Into Doors
If you owned a 2016 or 2017 Optima or a 2017 Sportage and remember the specific noise a door makes when the glass suddenly isn’t attached to anything, there’s money on the table. Not a lot of money. But money. Kia America has agreed to settle Le Beau, et al. v. Kia America, Inc., Case…
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Honda’s Threat to Skip a New Factory Isn’t About Honda. It’s About a Trade Deal Stuck in Limbo
When a Honda executive stands in front of reporters in Washington and says the company might not build its next North American factory, that isn’t a manufacturing update. It’s a message aimed at trade negotiators, delivered in public because private memos don’t move anybody. Honda Executive Vice President Noriya Kaihara told reporters at a roundtable…
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Tesla Autopilot Crash Data: The Regulatory Gap Every Driver-Assist Owner Should Know
Tesla is throwing a party in Austin on September 3 to launch the Cybercab, a two-seat pod with no steering wheel and no pedals. The invitation, sent to sweepstakes winners from its robotaxi app, promises attendees a look at full autonomy. It also specifies that your plus-one can’t be a content creator, which tells you…
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Street Outlaws Racer Dies Following Crash at Ohio’s KD Motorsports Park
The drag racing world lost one of its own this weekend. Chris “Block” Gordon, a longtime fixture on Discovery’s Street Outlaws: Fastest in America, died Saturday night following a crash at KD Motorsports Park in South Webster, Ohio. Racers and fans know the eighth-mile facility by its nickname, “The Hill,” a reference to a roughly…
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Thailand’s Auto Tax Overhaul: Why Japanese Carmakers Are Fighting Back
When a prime minister flies 5,700 miles to New Zealand and spends part of the trip insisting that nobody is leaving his country, the honest read is usually that somebody is packing. Anutin Charnvirakul made exactly that denial on August 21, telling reporters in Wellington that Japanese manufacturers are not relocating their production bases out…
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Dodge Is Recalling the Durango’s Spoiler a Third Time Because the Last Two ‘Fixes’ Never Actually Fixed It
Stellantis just told federal safety regulators it is recalling about 74,578 Dodge Durangos because a rear spoiler might not be attached to the roof correctly. That’s not the story. The story is that this is the third time in five years Dodge has recalled this exact part for this exact problem, and this time the…
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Toyota’s Grand Highlander Skipped the Screen Door on Its Grille, and Now the Feds Are Asking Why
Every three-row family SUV needs a face aggressive enough to look like it could tow a boat, even if it never will. Toyota gave the Grand Highlander one of the biggest, most wide-open grilles in the segment. Now the federal government wants to know if that face is letting rocks fly straight through to the…
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GM’s Fix for Its Self-Destructing V-8 Was Basically an Oil Change. Nearly 7,000 Owners Say That Didn’t Work.
General Motors already recalled 597,571 trucks and SUVs to fix a defect that can cause its 6.2-liter V-8 to destroy itself from the inside. For most of those owners, the actual repair amounted to an engine inspection, a new oil fill cap, a fresh oil filter, and a switch to thicker oil. Nearly 7,000 of…
