Car Safety

If you're in the market for a new vehicle, you might be tempted to go for something with high-tech safety features, like a collision-avoidance system. At the moment, though, most of that technology is tied to luxury rides or comes as pricey add-ons. But if you've got an Android smartphone, a new...

You can call U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood many things, but "slouch" isn't on the list. At a time when computing and social media are expanding to fill every corner of our daily lives, LaHood is pushing back, urging automakers to limit the technology included in new cars. Not only...

Car seats have a hard life. They're the one contact point in your car that you use 100 percent of the time, and they have to suffer hundreds of thousands of miles of your own and other peoples' rear-ends whilst remaining comfortable, and, above all, safe. The humble headrest is an oft-overlooked...

The high-mileage Lexus CT 200h hybrid has been named an Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) Top Safety Pick. The CT 200h was among a group of 13 small cars the agency recently tested; of those, six (including the Toyota Prius, Chevrolet Volt, and Nissan Leaf) received the accolade. Top...

Volvo, together with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), has issued a recall on 2010 and 2011 model year XC90 SUVs due to a potential fault affecting the vehicles’ power steering system. The affected vehicles, of which there are 350 units across the country, are those...

Airbags were once the scourge of the automotive industry; manufacturers claimed their expense would torpedo new car sales and decimate the automotive industry, while consumers weren’t thrilled about having an explosive charge (indirectly) pointed at their face. In the twenty or so years since...

Have you ever been motoring down the street and thought, "Well, okay, this is fine, but driving would be a lot more fun if it were more like a videogame"? So have we. Thankfully, the folks at Autoglass have, too. Autoglass put together a video envisioning the windshield of the future -- 2020 to be...

We all know about the dangers of driving under the influnce of alcohol or drugs, but how about driving whilst tired? Drivers falling asleep behind the wheel are said to cause more than 100,000 accidents per year in the United States, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration...

Some Citroën C3 Picasso models can be braked to a screeching halt by the passenger. And while that might sound right if it were say, a driver's ed car, it isn't. According to BBC News, the Picasso is now under recall in the U.K., after the network reported a 'passenger brake' issue, in which a...

In any sort of a car accident, you'd want to know that a baby or toddler travelling in a special seat would be protected as thoroughly as possible, and several regulations exist to ensure this is the case. What you might not be aware of is the damage the seats could be doing to your baby's health...

Vehicle-to-vehicle communication, V2V for short, is nothing new. In fact, automakers and governments alike have been working on the technology for the past several years. Most V2V systems work by warning drivers about potential danger from other vehicles. They do this by exchanging information...

Hear "left turn assistant" and you might think stereotypical images of helping drivers of a certain German marque to use their blinkers for once when turning, but you'd be quite wide of the mark... BMW's Left Turn Assistant is actually a safety system designed to help drivers turning left across...

A few years ago we reported on the trend that many new cars aren’t designed to accommodate America’s seemingly ever-expanding waistline, with even popular models like the Chevrolet Corvette ill-prepared to carry two occupants each with a weight of over 200 pounds. Alarmingly, it's not...

Just a few weeks ago Infiniti launched a new roadside assistance app for users of the Apple iPhone, and before that we saw MINI launch its own version, while Mercedes-Benz has had its mbrace assistance feature for what seems like forever. Now Audi is joining the fray with its own free roadside...

It's important to consider the source of the latest news of Robert Kubica's condition following the rally accident that saw him spear a guardrail and end up in the hospital from February until just a couple of weeks ago: Lotus Renault GP team boss Eric Boullier. But even if Boullier is biased...

The unthinkable can happen all too easily. In the large vehicles that many of us drive, a significant blind spot to the rear below the window line can hide children playing behind your vehicle, and the consequences can be tragic. As a result of as many as two children a week killed in back-over...

More and more cars are being offered with the added safety and performance of all-wheel drive, with the luxury segments in particular benefiting most from increased demand for the feature. Luxury brands typically offer rear-wheel drive as standard but in colder climates, such as in the Northern...

The 2011 Buick LaCrosse has been on sale for a while now but the big sedan has only now earned the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's five-star rating in the agency's latest round of testing. The latest results include top scores for both the driver and passenger in front and side...

Corrosion is the enemy of all cars, even modern ones, but particularly cars in the north. Road salt, water, snow, and ice combine to erode metal and bubble paint, making an eyesore of a car--and sometimes doing much worse. In the case of the 271,000 Nissan Pathfinder and Infiniti QX4 SUVs recalled...

Everyone knows that distracted driving is a big problem on the roads these days. U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood focuses most of his energy on combating the dangers of texting and driving -- presumably because it's more common with younger, less-experienced drivers -- but in fact, there...