There may be a reason why people have trouble seeing while driving at night, and it’s not their eyesight. A new rating of the headlights of more than 30 midsized car models gave only one model a grade of “good.” Of the rest, about a third were rated “acceptable,” a third “marginal” and a third […]
Big Freight Railroads Won’t Meet Safety Technology Deadline
Three of the biggest freight railroads operating in the U.S. have told the government they won’t meet a 2018 deadline to start using safety technology intended to prevent accidents like the deadly derailment of an Amtrak train in Philadelphia last May. Canadian National Railway, CSX Transportation and Norfolk Southern say they won’t be ready until […]
Gov’t: 10th Death Linked to Exploding Takata Air Bags
A Ford pickup driver killed last month in South Carolina is the 9th person to die in the U.S. and the 10th worldwide because of defective Takata air-bag inflators that explode, firing off shrapnel-like shards, government safety officials said Friday, as they announced a new expansion of the largest auto safety recall in history. Based […]
8th U.S. Death Due to Takata Air Bag Explosion Identified
A teen driver who died a few days after a July car crash near Pittsburgh has been tentatively identified by the government as the eighth death in the U.S. due to an explosive air bag made by auto parts maker Takata, federal transportation officials said Wednesday. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration officials also announced […]
NTSB: Recall System for Faulty Tires Is ‘Broken’
Only about 1 in 5 defective tires is being removed from the road through the safety recall process, a federal accident investigations board said Tuesday. The recall system is “broken” because manufacturers are unable to contact most tire owners to warn them, according to a report from the National Transportation Safety Board. Read more: The […]
New Auto Safety Technologies Leave Some Drivers Bewildered
Many Americans buying new cars these days are baffled by a torrent of new safety technology. Some features will automatically turn a car back into its lane if it begins to drift, or hit the brakes if sensors detect that it’s about to rear-end someone else. There are lane-change and blind-spot monitors, drowsiness alerts and […]
NTSB: Collision Avoidance Systems Should Be Standard in Cars
Automakers should immediately include as standard equipment in all new cars and commercial trucks systems that automatically brake or warn drivers to avoid rear-end collisions, the National Transportation Safety Board said in a report released Monday. The systems could prevent or mitigate more than 80 percent of the rear-end collisions that cause about 1,700 deaths […]
NTSB: Collision Avoidance Systems Should be Standard in Cars
Automakers should immediately include as standard equipment in all new cars and commercial trucks systems that automatically brake or warn drivers to avoid rear-end collisions, the National Transportation Safety Board said in a report released Monday. The systems could prevent or mitigate more than 80 percent of the rear-end collisions that cause about 1,700 deaths […]
Amtrak CEO Vows to Put Safety Technology into Operation
An emotional Amtrak CEO pledged to lawmakers Tuesday that safety technology that could have prevented a deadly derailment last month in Philadelphia will be put into operation, while Democrats and Republicans exchanged barbs over whether Congress or the Obama administration is most to blame for railroads not installing the technology. “We are responsible for the […]
Lawmakers Likely to Question Amtrak on Safety Tech
Federal safety regulators and Amtrak officials face questions at a congressional hearing Tuesday on why technology to slow trains that are going too fast wasn’t in place before last month’s deadly derailment in Philadelphia. The hearing by the House transportation committee comes amid rising concern about rail safety. There have been seven major passenger and […]