Car Safety

Following a recent investigation into the harmful effects of a new type of refrigerant used in the air conditioner in the latest 2013 SL Class, Mercedes-Benz has decided to issue a recall on the luxury convertible to replace the substance with a safer version. The refrigerant in question is...

A few weeks ago, discussions emerged among BMW owners of a faulty oil pump issue that could lead to catastrophic engine failure, without warning, in the 2013 BMW M5 and M6, including both Coupe and Convertible. Today, that issue has become a recall. The official NHTSA notice explains the problem...

Volvo is paving the way for the implementation of Car-2-Car and Car-2-Object communication systems in its own vehicles with the signing today of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with fellow members of the CAR 2 CAR Communication Consortium being run in Europe. The consortium’s goal is to...

GM’s OnStar may have been the first to offer drivers a panic button and a help button for on-the-road emergencies or questions, but in the years since OnStar’s launch the technology has become widespread. Today, help buttons are offered in telematics systems from Hyundai (Blue Link)...

Under-inflated tires wear quicker, consume more gasoline and pose a potential blow-out risk as the tire heats up or comes unseated from the rim of the wheel. Despite the risks, Goodyear says that most drivers (without TPMS technology) only check tire pressure about once per year. In 2011, Goodyear...

The regular Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG has proven to be more than capable of being the official safety car in Formula 1, but nevertheless a more potent model is set to take over the role from this weekend’s Singapore Grand Prix onwards. That more potent model is the SLS AMG GT, which gets a bit...

The purpose of front and rear bumpers on automobiles is self-explanatory: at low impact speeds, bumpers are supposed to absorb energy and prevent body damage to a vehicle. In that regard, they’re passive safety devices, coming into play only when a low-speed accident occurs. The best kind of...

Europe’s SARTRE (SAfe Road TRains for the Environment) project, first established in 2009, has come to an end, with the results proving positive for all those involved. One of the partners was Swedish automaker Volvo, which is now looking at integrating some of the findings in its production...

Lamborghini has issued a recall for certain versions of its Gallardo supercar due to a potential fluid leak from the affected models’ power steering hoses. The affected cars are from the 2004, 2005 and 2006 model years, of which 1,491 examples are currently in the U.S. The recall affects both...

Top safety marks for the Subaru and Scion sports car twins prove light and small doesn't have to mean unsafe.

Volvo is recalling some 300 model year 2013 S80 sedans and XC70 wagons to correct a software error in the Central Electronic Module relating to the Tire Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS). As delivered, the cars will display a “TPMS Service Required” message after some 15 minutes of...

In 2010, 3,092 people died in motor vehicle crashes involving a distracted driver, while some 416,000 were injured in crashes involving driver distraction. Traveling at 55 mph, a driver covers some 300 yards, blind, in the 4.6 seconds it takes to send the average text. Those numbers aren’t...

Let’s face it: there are more cars and drivers on the road than at any other time in U.S. history, and the sheer pace of modern life ensures that many behind the wheel are sleep deprived, distracted, over-confident in their ability or some combination of these risk factors. Recently, Ford...

Safety sells cars, especially when shoppers are looking for a new family vehicle. No other automaker has done as much to market safety as Volvo, probably since safety has been a primary focus of the Swedish automaker for decades. Its latest internal review of accident data shows that the risk of...

Coinciding with a similar program being run in Germany, the U.S. Department of Transportation is about to start a trial of technology relying on car-to-car and car-to-object communications. The hope is that cars, either through warnings made to their driver or through autonomous systems will be...

A recent incident involving a Fisker Karma that caught fire while parked on a roadside in Woodside, CA, has been discovered to have been caused by a faulty cooling fan. The fire, which took place on August 10, is the second time that a Fisker Karma has caught alight, though the reasons surrounding...

Mercedes-Benz is recalling the vehicle due to fears part of the dash might break off and become a projectile when the airbags are launched.

Getting a perfect score in the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety’s (IIHS) round of crash tests just got that much harder, with the agency introducing a tough new test it says will help spur automakers into improving protection of occupants during severe frontal crashes. The latest test...

As we move closer and closer to a future that involves fully autonomous cars, it’s becoming clear that systems developed for the self driving cars of tomorrow are making cars of today safer. Recent studies prove that technologies like collision detection, lane departure warning, adaptive...

Yesterday we brought you the first details about a new initiative taking place in Germany where a number of firms, including major automakers, are working to develop a common standard for future car-to-car and car-to-object communication technology. Called “Safe Intelligent Mobility -...