Latest Auto Headlines
All the headlines from our Auto Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Minicars Perform Worst in Frontal Crash Test, Says Insurance Safety Institute
Jan 22 2014 // Minicars such as the Fiat 500 and Honda Fit performed worse than any other vehicle segment in a frontal crash test that mimics what happens when a car hits another vehicle, utility pole or tree. Of the 11 minicars tested...
New Federal Safety Rules Target Bus, Truck Firms with Repeat Violations
Jan 22 2014 // Intercity bus and truck companies with a continuing history of safety problems will be easier to shut down under regulations published online last Friday by the Federal Motor Carrier Administration, an agency under fire...
State Farm Raising Auto Insurance Rates in Louisiana
Jan 21 2014 // State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance, which covers about one in every three cars in Louisiana, is raising insurance rates for drivers. The company announced on Jan. 17 that the increases will average 3.4 percent,...
Car Use No Longer Growing in Developed World, But Why?
Jan 20 2014 // Car use appears to have leveled off and even started falling in many of the world’s advanced economies long before the global downturn in 2008, according to transport experts. The slowdown brings to an end several...
Maker of 3-Wheeled Vehicle Seeks Exemption from Mississippi Helmet Law
Jan 17 2014 // A company that plans to make a three-wheeled vehicle is seeking a change in Mississippi’s helmet law. Elio Motors wants Mississippi to specify that a helmet won’t be required in its “autocycle,” an...
Autonomous Vehicle Testing Regulations for California Coming Soon
Jan 16 2014 // If you think Google when you think about autonomous vehicles driving the streets, you’re leaving out the rest of the players in what some see as the future of the auto industry. If fact, there are enough players in...
Ohio Treasurer Withdraws Insurance Claim, Sells Damaged Vehicle for $938
Jan 16 2014 // Records show Ohio treasurer Josh Mandel’s failed Senate campaign sold a vehicle totaled in a March wreck shortly after questions arose over the continued use of the vehicle, averting an insurance review that might...
Carmakers At Nevada Show: Driverless Cars Need Legal Framework
Jan 13 2014 // The future of driving is right around the corner. Hydrogen- and solar-powered vehicles are on the streets. So are cars that can get you through stop-and-go traffic while you sit back and send texts from behind the wheel....
Policing the ‘Dark Side’ of Internet of Things
Jan 13 2014 // The futuristic world of self-driving cars, eyeglasses that e-mail and trash cans that call for pickup is running into the old-fashioned pace of doing business in Washington. Companies from Google Inc. to Bayerische Motoren...
Failing to Make the Case for Rate Regulation
Jan 13 2014 // In 1988 California voters enacted Proposition 103, in one stroke changing the state’s law regulating insurance rates from one of the least restrictive to one of the most restrictive in the nation. In the 25 years...
2 New Mexico Cities Opening Car Charging Stations
Jan 13 2014 // Two New Mexico cities are preparing to begin operating public charging stations for electric vehicles. In late December 2013 Gallup opened a Tesla Motors supercharger station and Farmington is scheduled to open one this...
Ohio’s Financial Responsibility Law in Effect; Will Higher Auto Insurance Rates Follow?
Jan 13 2014 // While Ohio has traditionally had some of the lowest auto insurance premium rates in the country, going forward some Ohioans may see their rates rising. That’s because an increase in the state’s minimum limit of...
National Interstate Launches New Ambulance Insurance Product
Jan 10 2014 // National Interstate Insurance Co. has launched a new insurance program targeted towards for-profit emergency and non-emergency ambulance transportation operations. The company will began accepting applications on January...
New Rail Oil Tank Car Safety Standards Expected This Month
Jan 10 2014 // U.S. officials have promised to issue within weeks new safety standards for the kind of tank cars involved in a spate of fiery derailments in recent months, a lawmaker said on Thursday. Rail cars carrying crude oil out of...
Hike in Auto Insurance Rates Expected in Illinois
Jan 9 2014 // Illinois drivers should get ready to pay more for insurance. Northbrook-based Allstate says in a regulatory filing that rates for customers will climb between 2.5 and 3.5 percent later this month. Esurance rates are rising...
Qualitas Aided by Pena Nieto Car Insurance Law: Corporate Mexico
Jan 7 2014 // Mexico’s President Enrique Pena Nieto is giving the car insurance market a boost with a plan to mandate policies on federal highways in the country, where almost three in four drivers lack coverage. Congress approved...
Pennsylvania Insurance Department Offers Tips for Winter Storm Victims
Jan 6 2014 // The Pennsylvania Insurance Department offers the following advice and tips about homeowner’s and auto insurance policies in wake of last week’s winter storm. First, damage to the house and its contents caused...
State Farm Among First Advertisers on Pandora Car Radio Service
Jan 6 2014 // Pandora Media Inc., the online radio service, has begun selling advertising that only listeners in automobiles will hear, creating a potential new revenue source. BP Plc, Taco Bell, Ford Motor Co. and State Farm insurance...
Northeast Digs Out From Major Winter Storm
Jan 3 2014 // The massive winter storm that impacted the Midwest and Northeast over the past couple of days is moving into the Atlantic on Friday, while very cold temperatures and dangerous wind chills are moving in behind the system,...
Ohio’s Financial Responsibility Law in Effect; Will Higher Auto Insurance Rates Follow?
Jan 3 2014 // While Ohio has traditionally had some of the lowest auto insurance premium rates in the country, going forward some Ohioans may see their rates rising. That’s because an increase in the state’s minimum limit of...
