Latest Auto Headlines
All the headlines from our Auto Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Autopilot Warning May Not Help Tesla in Crash Defense
Jul 18 2016 // Telling Tesla drivers its Autopilot feature doesn’t mean their cars can drive themselves may not be enough to keep Elon Musk off the hot seat if the technology comes up short. This month, two Teslas equipped with...
Who is an “Insured” in the Homeowners’ and Personal Auto Policy
Jul 18 2016 // Just because a person lives in the house does not mean he is an insured under the Homeowners’ (HO) or Personal Auto Policy (PAP). Nor does an individual necessarily have to live in the household to be insured on...
UK Auto Insurance Policyholders Embrace Telematics to Get Lower Premiums
Jul 18 2016 // Demonstrating a growing intolerance of mobile phone use at the wheel, a survey of 1314* motor insurance policyholders in the UK found that consumers want to be rewarded with lower premiums for not using their smartphones...
Man Playing Pokemon Go While Driving in NY Crashes Car Into Tree
Jul 18 2016 // A man is recovering from minor injuries he suffered when he crashed his brother’s car into a tree in central New York while playing Pokemon Go on his smartphone. Police in Auburn in the Finger Lakes region tell The...
Truck Driver in Deadly Georgia Crash Gets 5 Year Prison Sentence
Jul 18 2016 // A Louisiana truck driver charged in a fiery interstate crash that killed five nursing students in southeast Georgia was sentenced to prison Thursday – one year for each life lost – after he pleaded guilty to...
The ‘Pokemon Go’ Files: 10 Tales of Trespass, Robbery, Murder and More
Jul 15 2016 // The “Pokemon Go” craze across the U.S. has people wandering into yards, driveways, cemeteries and even an off-limits police parking lot in search of cartoon monsters, prompting warnings that trespassers could...
Caution: Millions of U.S. Drivers Are Angry, Aggressive or Enraged!
Jul 15 2016 // Nearly 80 percent of drivers expressed significant anger, aggression or road rage behind the wheel at least once in the past year, according to a new study by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety. The most alarming...
Industry Balks as Treasury Adopts 2% Formula for Defining Auto Insurance Affordability
Jul 15 2016 // If the average auto insurance liability premium paid by consumers in minority and low-income neighborhoods is more than 2 percent of the median income in those neighborhoods, the auto insurance will be considered...
At Least 2 Dead in Midwest Floods that Damaged Homes, Stranded Motorists
Jul 14 2016 // At least two people have died in flooding caused by powerful storms that damaged homes, washed out roads and stranded motorists in Wisconsin, Minnesota and Michigan. In northern Wisconsin, an 84-year-old Illinois man died...
Safety Agency to Investigate Complaints Over Harley-Davidson Motorcycle Brakes
Jul 12 2016 // The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said it would investigate some motorcycles made by Harley-Davidson Inc. after complaints of brake failure without warning. The investigation involves 430,000...
Passengers Barely Escape as Florida Sinkhole Opens Under Car
Jul 12 2016 // A woman and her 4-year-old grandson got a big scare when their SUV was partially swallowed by a 10-foot-by-10-foot sinkhole near the drive-thru of a South Florida McDonald’s. Broward Sheriff Fire Rescue spokesman...
Probe of Tesla Crash to Address Broader Safety Issues of Automation in Cars
Jul 11 2016 // For years, U.S. investigators have been calling for more automation on motor vehicles, such as sensors that slam on the brakes to prevent a crash. At the same time, the National Transportation Safety Board, in its probes...
Italy Car Insurance Tech Firm, Octo Telematics, Weighs Sale or IPO: Sources
Jul 11 2016 // Octo Telematics SpA, the Italian car insurance-technology company, is pursuing an outright sale alongside preparations for an initial public offering, according to people with knowledge of the matter. Octo, owned by...
Louisiana Drivers May Now Repay Auto Insurance Fines in Installments
Jul 11 2016 // Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards has signed a bill authorizing driver payment plans to repay the state Office of Motor Vehicles for the outstanding fines. Louisiana law requires drivers to have insurance on their vehicles....
Massachusetts Auto Insurers Hiking Rates
Jul 10 2016 // More than a million Massachusetts drivers will see their auto insurance bills increase by as much as 9 percent this year. Insurance companies and industry officials told The Boston Globe that cheaper gas and an improving...
Western National Purchases Nevada General and Affiliates
Jul 6 2016 // Western National Insurance Group of Edina, Minn. has completed the purchase all of the stock of Las Vegas, Nev.-based Nevada General Insurance Co., AIC America, and its wholly owned affiliates Auto Insurance America (New...
Indiana Man Gets 9 1/2 Years for Car Crash Fraud Scheme
Jul 6 2016 // An Evansville, Ind., man has been sentenced to more than 91/2 years in prison for paying people to stage car crashes to defraud insurance companies. U.S. District Judge Richard L. Young sentenced 57-year-old Michael W....
Guiding Massachusetts Teen Drivers Through ‘100 Deadliest Days’
Jul 6 2016 // One thing that James Butcher tells Massachusetts high school students is that he’s sure they want to enjoy a great life and come back for reunions after graduation. But that won’t happen if they “drive...
Tesla CEO Musk Defends Reporting Autopilot Fatality 9 Days After Accident
Jul 6 2016 // Tesla Motors alerted regulators to a fatality in one of its electric cars in partial self-driving Autopilot mode nine days after it crashed, the company said on Tuesday, defending its decision not to make the accident...
Transportation, Tragedy and Lessons from Tesla Autopilot Fatality
Jul 5 2016 // Every car on the roads is an accident waiting to happen. It’s about time Silicon Valley woke up to the fact. The boom in autonomous-driving technology offers the prospect of one day reducing the roughly 90 percent of...
