I read this story just a few minutes ago, and frankly, I’m having a horrendous time trying to actually FOLLOW this, and me with a bachelor’s degree in business administration!

This is the long and tortuous story of a young man named Ryan Brennan, a seventeen year old with his own landscaping business.  He worked hard, saved up five grand, and asked his folks for some help getting a loan to buy a used car–a 2004 BMW.  His folks agreed–he had a third of the car down, for crying out loud!–and they bought the car.

The car now sits in his driveway, the Brennans are making payments, and the state of New Jersey will not allow them to drive it.

Congratulations, kid, you just got screwed by the government.  Welcome to real life.  But here’s the WHOLE story–advance warning: if you have any aversion to sleazebag behavior you’re going to want to leave right now.

The title is held by Automotive Financing Corp. — or AFC — in Carmel, Ind. AFC is what’s called a “floor planner,” basically a bank that provides cash so used car dealers can order cars from auctions or other dealers to put on their lots. It lent $9,800 to Galaxy to park the car on the lot to attract Ryan Brennan back in May.

What should have happened is this: after the Brennans paid for the car with the $5,000 in Ryan’s savings and $10,000 loan from PNC, Galaxy should have paid the $9,800 to AFC and obtained the title to give to the Brennans — with a lien in favor of PNC.

But Galaxy never paid AFC and AFC never released the title — in fact, in August, months after the Brennans bought the car, AFC reregistered it as a “repossession” in Arkansas.

See that?  A little chicanery here, a little shuck-and-jive from a car dealer there, and boom.  Kid can’t drive the car he shelled out cash for.  What’s worse, the floor planner will clear the title, IF the Brennans repay that ninety eight hundred bucks. IN ADDITION to the fifteen they shelled out for the car in the first place!

The bank that made the loan on the car refused to talk about it, and poor Ryan can’t drive his car.  Sounds like angry calls need to go to the DMV….

GM is just starting to get their footing in the industrey back but that doesn’t mean they are prone to production problems. Their latest recall deals with 185,903 2004-2009 trucks including the Chevy Colorado, GMC Canyon, Isuzu I-280, Isuzu I-290, Isuzi I-350, and the Isuzu I-370.

This particular recall concerns the vehicle’s brake-lamp switch that, due to a production error, could possibly malfunction which means they either won’t work, or will stay lit while the car is on. This is a safety hazard because drivers behind a vehicle with a malfunctioning brake-lamp don’t know when the car is slowing down increasing the probability of a crash.

Like always, GM and the NHSTA say that you can bring your car to a local dealership to get the problem diagnosed and fixed if needed.

Kia has recently iussed a recall for their Optima sedan of the model years 2001-2004 and effects up to or over 36,538 vehicles.

Don’t fret yet as the recall only concerns vehicles sold in the following states:

Connecticut

Delaware

Illinois

Indiana

Iowa

Maine

Maryland

Massachusetts

Michigan

Minnesota

Missouri

New Hampsire

New Jersey

New York

Ohio

Pennsylvania

Rhose Island

Vermont

West Virginia

Wisconsin

District of Columbia

These states were singled out as they were all deemed to have a high rust threat level due to the use of road salt.

Anyways, the recall says that internal corrosion of the front subframe could lead to the connection of the lower control arm coming seperated which could lead to wheel misalinghtment, stress in steering or increased tire wear.

As always, Kia and the NHTSA say to go to your local Kia dealer for an inspection and a repair if necessary.

Read (Autoblog)

And I thought Pontiac’s problem was widespread — Nissan has recently issued a recall dealing with Murano’s manufactured from 2003-2007, 362,981 to be exact.

This problem focuses on the intake air ducts with could potentially become seperated from the intermediate resonator found in the air intake system due to accelerated aging of the duct material. This problem could potentially have the Murano’s stalling out while in use making for a huge safety hazard.

Nissan says that Murano owners should have a chat with their dealers who will fix the problem free of charge.

Read (KickingTires)

Hyundai and the NHTSA have recently announced not one, not two, not even three, but four separate recalls for four seperate problems.

First up is the motherload, affecting over 500,000 vehicles from 2005-2008. Apparently, these units all share a potential problem with their stop lamp switches that could cause brake lights to not light up when the brake pedal is pressed.

Second, affecting almost 200,000 vehicles from 1999-2004 is a problem exclusive to states that salt their roads to melt ice. Apparently, these vehicle’s front sub-frames are sensitive to this salt and could potentially cause the lower control arm to separate from its mount. Yikes.

Third, affecting over 170,000 vehicles from 2001-2003, is another problem exclusive to states that salt their roads. Due to excessive corrosion caused by the salt these vehicle’s lower control arms have the possiblity of failure.

Lastly, affecting 85,000 vehicles from 2001-2003, is again for the salty states and deals with the rear trailing arms of the vehicle’s suspension failing due to, again, excessive corrosion.

Hyundai is telling everyone who meets the criteria to head to their local dealers where their vehicles will be inspected and repaired if need be.

Having recently been told by the government to prepare for a June 1st bankruptcy filing, GM has yet another problem on their hands. Recently issuing a recall for a staggering 1.5 million vehicles that deals with the engine possibly lighting on fire, the future looks grim for GM.

Apparently in late 90’s and early 00 model cars fittedwith a 3.8 liter V6 there is a chance that oil could be leaked into the exhaust manifold upon hard breaking. And with oil on the exhaust manifold comes the possibility of a spark that could spreak 

Some of these engines may leak engine oil that could end up on the exhaust manifold during hard breaking. If the manifold becomes hot enough, it could cause a fire to start which could then spreak to the spark plug wire channel which would cause all sorts of a mess.

GM is telling owners of these cars to bring them to the dealer immediately where they will be fitted with 2 spark plug wire retainers for free effectively squashing the problem.

Read (KickingTires)

I know you love Range Rovers and so do I. I would understand how this news would affect your spirits. And especially if you happen to own one made during 2003-2005! Almost 20,000 units have been recalled as they may have misaligned front driveshafts. If you don’t take care of the problem that might result into an unwanted accident of some sort. There’s no point in endangering your family right? After January 6, 2009 you will be able to schedule appointments with Land Rover to repair yours. Hopefully nothing wrong will happen in the mean time.

via Good Car Bad Car

It seems that BMW has issued a recall on 200,000 of its vehicles due to the fact that the front passenger airbag may not deploy during a crash. Hmm, seems serious.

BMW goes on to say that the recall will effect the 2006 3 series, 2004-2006 5 series, and the 2004-2006 x3 SUVs.

Apparently, the NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration), has found that small cracks could develop in the seat detection unit that could lead to the airbag getting unintentionally deactivated. Luckily, BMW lets us know that no injuries or accidents have been tied to this problem.