News Category

Federal safety regulators are set to launch a real-world trial of an automobile safety network that allows motor vehicles to communicate with each other in order to improve overall safety on the road, report news sources. In August 2012, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration plans to start collecting data from a fleet of 3,000… read more

News sources report, an online safety video game is aimed at preventing collisions between trains and large trucks like the June 24 collision near Reno that involved a big rig and an Amtrak train and killed six. According to the Federal Railroad Administration, in 2010, 70 people died in 511 collisions between large trucks and… read more

According to news reports, four of the five biggest U.S. tobacco companies have filed a lawsuit alleging that new federally mandated warning labels meant to appear on cigarette packaging violate the companies’ free speech rights. The nine new labels at the center of the lawsuit were recently approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration…. read more

Findings from a recent study indicate that distractions like talking on the phone, texting and listening to music put pedestrians at greater risk of being struck by a motor vehicle while crossing the street, report news outlets. The University of Alabama at Birmingham study, conducted in a virtual-environment lab, focused on quantifying the dangers of… read more

News sources report, Hyundai plans to launch a customer service campaign to address reports of a steering issue in the 2011 Sonata. The initiative covers Sonata models built from September 2010 through May 2011 that have 18-inch wheels, including the SE and Limited models. The base Sonata comes with 17-inch wheels. The South Korean automaker… read more

Several Peterbilt dealers are getting behind the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s safety campaign “Buckle Up In Your Truck” by offering safety tools and discounts on service to truckers, report news outlets. The four Midwestern dealers, three in Iowa and one in Nebraska, are delivering the message to be safe by buckling up through two… read more

While much emphasis has been placed on texting as a serious source of driver distraction, less attention has been given to role unrestrained pets can play in distracted driving-related incidents. One health resource encourages restraining pets in vehicles, noting that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration categorizes unrestrained pets as a driving distraction. Keeping pets… read more

In a news release Thursday, the Network of Employers for Traffic Safety announced that the non-for-profit safety group in partnership with the U.S. Department of Transportation is offering a free toolkit to help combat distracted driving among employees, employee families, and the communities in which the company operates. The 2011 Drive Safely Work Week toolkit… read more

A pediatricians group is recommending that children ride in rear-facing safety seats longer than originally suggested, report media sources. According to the American Association of Pediatricians, children from infancy through age 2 (or until the child has outgrown the seat) should ride in rear-facing car safety seats. The three types of rear-facing safety seats are… read more

A new smart phone app is targeting texting while driving by disabling texting and calling capabilities on phones that are determined to be in a moving vehicle, report news sources. The PhoneGuard app, which runs in the background on Android and Blackberry phones, pings GPS satellites every few seconds to determine how fast the phone… read more

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is looking into possible flaws in the fuel systems of 2011 Volkswagen Jettas in the wake of several consumer complaints, report news sources. Seven complaints have reached the NHTSA’s Office of Defect Investigations from owners of VW Jettas outfitted with the 2.0L TDI diesel engine. The reports claim that… read more

Honda is recalling 1.5 million vehicles are being recalled due to an issue with the automatic transmission, report news sources. The recall stems for possible damage that can occur to the secondary shaft bearing of the automatic transmission. If a driver shifts quickly between reverse, neutral, and drive (for example, when trying to dislodge a… read more