May 17, 2024
S. Kane, E. Liberman, N. Black The automotive safety community is remembering David James Biss as a researcher, safety advocate, a crashworthiness and occupant protection expert, whose analyses made significant contributions to outing defective designs, and a kind and gentle man. Biss passed away on Feb. 15, at age 79, of complications from multiple myeloma. […]
April 1, 2024
S. Kane, E. Liberman, N. Black The Hyundai Kia theft saga greeted the new year with a bang. Among other things: deaths in crashes involving stolen vehicles, an alleged kidnapping involving a theft attempt, a new municipal lawsuit, and another bright idea from Hyundai and Kia to protect vehicles which could not be fixed with […]
October 17, 2023
On April 27, Safety Research & Strategies petitioned the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for rulemaking to revise the compliance test for FMVSS 114, Theft Protection and Rollaway Prevention. The request was prompted by the rising crashes, deaths and injuries linked to Hyundai/Kia vehicles with inadequate theft protection, and by NHTSA’s reluctance to take any […]
October 3, 2023
Late last month, Hyundai/Kia recalled nearly 3.4 million vehicles, warning owners to park their vehicles well away from structures – like a house or garage – because a leak in the ABS module can cause an electrical short and lead to a fire. Hyundai’s campaign involves 13 different MY 2011-2015 models for a total recall […]
May 3, 2023
Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) 114 Theft Protection and Rollaway Prevention began its life in 1969 as solely a theft protection standard in response to a wave of amateur car thieves and the attendant mayhem on the road. By the late 1980s, that rule began to tackle the problem of rollaways caused by the […]
March 17, 2023
A state court jury has awarded $9.7 million in damages to the family of Jose Chicas, a New Mexico man who died under the wheels of a rollaway 2015 BMW X5 nearly five years ago. The December 14 verdict came after an 11-day trial, in which the jury recognized that BMW was aware of the […]
February 15, 2023
Fourteen crashes, eight deaths, uninsurable vehicles and auto theft numbers through the roof – that’s the mayhem trailing traditionally keyed, unprotected Hyundai-Kias that appear to violate Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 114 Theft Protection and Rollaway Prevention. But press releases from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the automaker describe the rollout of a […]
September 27, 2022
It’s been four years since the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration published an analysis of Non-Traffic Surveillance Data, which includes an estimate of the annual toll of rollaway injury and deaths. But the newest numbers are out, and despite some wonky data – blamed on the pandemic – rollaway is pretty much the same threat […]
September 9, 2022
It took an act of Congress, but within the next 18 months, NHTSA is supposed to promulgate a new law compelling manufacturers to implement an automatic engine idle shutdown for keyless ignition vehicles. In two months, NHTSA is supposed to submit a report on anti-rollaway technology to Congress. In the meantime, some manufacturers have already […]
July 29, 2022
Neil Black, Tom Mueller On February 25, Ken Rothfield was backing down his driveway at about 7:30 a.m., and noticed that there was barely enough room to ease his vehicle between the brick wall jutting out to his left, and his wife’s Toyota on the right. He pulled a bit forward of the wall, with […]