Audi has recently announced that they will be issuing a recall for over 10,000 of their A3 and TT vehicles of the 2006-2010 model years.

The recall is over a potentially massive problem; a spring that keeps the fuel tank ventilation valve shut. If, under whatever conditions, this spring were to come loose gasoline could leak into the engine causing a massive fire or worse.

If you have one of these vehicles in question you most likely have nothing to worry about unless you get a call from VW of America but if you want to be on the safe side head over to your local dealership and have them check it out.

via autoblog

Tags: A3, Audi, fuel tank, Recall, safety hazard, spring, TT, ventilation valve

Continue reading...

If your daily driver is a Toyota Camry, Corolla, Vios or Yaris and you are situated in China, definitely read on — Toyota has recently announced that they are recalling 688,314 sedans manufactured in China. Apparently, the vehicles in question shipped with a defective electronic window control system caused by excessive lubricant.

Reports suggest that this problem could potentially escalate and result in overheating of the door panel and in extreme cases, melting. You wouldn’t want that now would you?

Read (Gasgoo)

Tags: Camry, china, corolla, electronic window control, lubricant, safety hazard, vios, Yaris

Continue reading...

Here’s something that is ridiculously obvious but still needed some official study to make it official: Texting while driving will increase the likeliness that you will get into a crash.

This study comes to us from the Virgina Tech Transportation Institute that suggests texting while driving will increase your chance of crashing by 23x. To put this into perspective, the NHTSA says that driving while on the phone or with a .08 blood-alcohol level only increases your chance of a crash by 4x.

This really shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone as when you’re texting your eyes are situated on the handset rather than the road for prolonged periods. The bad news is that this will be extremely hard to police as those who text usually keep the phone in their laps or otherwise out of view from those looking into the car.

Read (New York Times)

Tags: Driving, nhtsa, safety hazard, study, Texting, virgina tech transportation institute

Continue reading...

VW and the NHTSA have recently issued a recall that will effect up to 14,416 Touareg SUVs of the 2007-2009 model years. Unfortunately, the car’s spoiler won’t cause the entire vehicle to take flight but the spoiler itself? That’s a different story.

According to VW the spoiler attached to the back of the effected Touaregs poses the threat of possible coming loose from the vehicle and causing all sorts of havoc. The problem deals with loose fastening struts connecting the spoiler to the car.

VW owners can head to their local dealership if they have an effected vehicle where the problem will be fixed for free.

Read (Autoblog)

Tags: detachment, nhtsa, Recall, safety hazard, spoiler, touareg

Continue reading...

Canadian motorists get a shot in the arm as Canada’s House of Parliament will be giving its motoring consumers and small businesses relief by overwhelmingly passing its Right to Repair Act, C-273, in a vote of 247 to 18.

“Although Canada’s consumers and businesses must still wait for the legislation to go through several more phases before it becomes law, the House of Parliament chose to help consumers overcome the high costs of new car dealership repairs by allowing them to have a choice of where, how and by whom to have their vehicles repaired,” stated Ray Pohlman, president, The Coalition for Auto Repair Equality (CARE).

The reasons for the Motor Vehicle Owners’ Right to Repair Act continue to remain and grow. Vehicles that are 1994 and newer are equipped with computers that control the repair and service information on most of the vehicles’ systems, including, but not limited to: air bags, brakes, ignition keys and systems, check engine light, tire pressure, oil changes, electronics and steering mechanisms

The only way for motorists to have these systems and their “entire” vehicle repaired and parts replaced is to return to the new car dealerships. This has created a safety hazard for those who need immediate repairs but may not be near the new car dealership or ANY new car dealerships, hurts low and fixed income motorists, hurts fuel efficiency, cleaner air and jobs.

(Source) Press

Tags: air bags, auto repair, brakes, canadian motorists, equality, fixed income, fuel efficiency, house of parliament, motor vehicle, new car dealership, new car dealerships, oil changes, pohlman, safety hazard, shot in the arm, small businesses, steering mechanisms, tire pressure

Continue reading...