The Truth About Cars » Crime & Punishment

The Empire Strikes Back: NHTSA Says Harrison Crash Was Driver Error, Japanese Police Recommends Charges Against Prius Driver

Bertel Schmitt — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 10:53:16 +0000

Black box data in New York and Japan shows that crashing Prius drivers had their feet on the wrong pedals and wrongly blamed their cars. In Harrison, NY, the NHTSA declared that the cause of the Prius incident was driver error. “Computer data from a Toyota Prius that crashed in suburban New York City show that [...]

Report Warns Of Private Car Repo Dangers

The Newspaper — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 17:56:53 +0000

Private companies that repossess automobiles without the involvement of law enforcement are creating potentially deadly situations, a report released Thursday by the National Consumer Law Center (NCLC) warned. The Boston, Massachusetts-based non-profit legal advocacy group examined the consequences of turning car seizures over to private firms, particularly during the recent economic downturn. “In just the past [...]

America Lives At 70 Miles Per Hour

Edward Niedermeyer — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 16:09:53 +0000

Based on anonymous driving habit data from customers in 45 states, GPS navigation firm TomTom reckons that Americans tend to drive at about 70 MPH on the freeway, regardless of the posted speed limit. More specifically, most Americans tend to stay within a few miles per hour of the speed limit on interstate freeways. The [...]

Partnership for Advancing Road Safety Is New Photo Enforcement Industry Front Group

The Newspaper — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 14:03:17 +0000

The photo enforcement industry announced on Friday the creation of a new red light camera and speed camera advocacy group. The Partnership for Advancing Road Safety (PARS) describes itself as an organization that seeks to use best practices to reduce the number of accidents and fatalities on American highways. The group’s number one priority is [...]

Russian Traffic Police Use Motorists As Human Roadblock

Edward Niedermeyer — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 22:43:52 +0000

From the “how did we miss this?” file comes this story of Russian police pulling motorists over and using them to create a human roadblock. This incident built on anger in the wake of another recent incident [via the NY Times] in which the vice president of Lukoil apparently bribed police to cover up an [...]

West Virginia To Turn School Buses Into Ticket Machines

The Newspaper — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 14:35:11 +0000

Faced with a $120 million budget deficit, West Virginia lawmakers are turning to school buses to bring in desperately needed revenue. The House of Delegates voted 98-0 Saturday to give final approval to House Bill 4223 which allows county school boards to deploy buses to issue $500 automated tickets. The proposal becomes law with the [...]

The Sikes Aftermath: Lead Balloon Boy Going Down

Bertel Schmitt — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 14:20:47 +0000

A few days ago, James Sikes and his runaway Prius was all over news. Until we mentioned that something is fishy. Sikes’ driving skills were put in question. Stories about a wife swapping website emerged. Stories about bankruptcy. Stories about an unpaid lease on the Prius. And sundry other stories. Quickly, Sikes turned into Balloon [...]

Cop Car Friday Finale: Hot Rod 1953 Fords And Hemi Chryslers (And Other Vintage Oddities)

Paul Niedermeyer — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 21:20:01 +0000

There’s lots of places to find old cop car photos, but I was perusing a 1953 Popular Science at bed time the other night, and remembered a story about the just-opened NJ turnpike and its new fleet of cop cars. Here are one of each of the fleet of 23 Fords and stealthy Chryslers. The [...]

FOX: Is Sikes A Balloon Boy?

Bertel Schmitt — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 17:47:42 +0000

Two days ago, Ed Niedermeyer received a tip from an anonymous tipster that James Sikes, the guy who couldn’t stop his runaway Prius until a cop pulled up next to him and told him to, is, well, a bit exposed. The tipster pointed out that a James Sikes had also started a business called Adultswinglife, LLC. [...]

What’s Wrong With This Picture: To Protect, Serve And Haul A Little Ass Edition

Edward Niedermeyer — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 15:20:53 +0000

Ford’s new Taurus-based Interceptor will be available with the 3.5 liter Duratec, or the twin-turbo Ecoboost engine. Front wheel drive is standard, and AWD will be an option. But then, if you got to use other people’s tax money to buy your work ride, would you really save the few bucks by not buying the [...]

New Ford Police Interceptor Will Be Taurus-Based

Edward Niedermeyer — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 22:31:30 +0000

When Ford announced that it would be building an “all-new” Police Interceptor model, speculation was rampant. At the time, we noted: GM went to Australia for their police-duty RWD platform, might Ford do the same with a Falcon-based interceptor? Or is this the prelude to Panther 2.0? Or, as common sense seems to dictate, is the [...]

You Can Kill Your Wife – As Long As You Do It In A Prius

Bertel Schmitt — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 09:23:36 +0000

On September 19, 2008, William Hippsley, 74, was behind the wheel in the parking lot of a shopping center in Brigg, South Humberside, UK. Outside, his wife Brenda, 69, helped him park his car. Suddenly, Hippsley’s car shot forward, dragged his wife 130ft across the parking lot – and killed her. The car was a Toyota [...]

Virginia State Police Help With Budget Crunch

The Newspaper — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 16:34:10 +0000

A federally funded ticketing blitz in the state of Virginia landed a total of 6996 traffic tickets this weekend. The blitz, dubbed “Operation Air, Land & Speed” coincided with frantic efforts by state officials to close a$2.2 billion budget deficit. Supervisors ordered state troopers to saturate Interstates 81 and 95 to issue as many tickets [...]

Toyota Discredits Gilbert. Gawker Calls Brian Ross A Faker

Bertel Schmitt — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 14:38:15 +0000

Last week, Professor David W. Gilbert testified at a house hearing and said he had replicated the unintended sudden acceleration in Toyota’s vehicles. Toyota, and their testing lab Exponent tried Gilberts method and said he was right. “But Toyota said it also created the same response in vehicles made by competitors, which it said rendered [...]

Many NHTSA Complaints Unverifiable

Bertel Schmitt — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 12:36:12 +0000

Just as Paul Niedermeyer, Edmunds, Consumer Reports or anybody else who has the time to download and analyze 103.1 Mbytes worth of customer complaints to NHTSA, Toyota is pouring over the data. However, their attempts are being thoroughly frustrated. According to The Nikkei [sub], Toyota found out that oftentimes complaints submitted to the NHTSA “either are [...]

Washington: Legislature May Allow Cops To Seize Cars At Will

The Newspaper — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 14:01:55 +0000

Police in Washington state will have the power to take any car for at least twelve hours under legislation passed unanimously by the state House earlier this month and considered by a Senate committee yesterday. State Representative Doug Ericksen (R-Ferndale) introduced what he called “Hailey’s Law” which would make it mandatory for police to grab [...]

Ask The Best & Brightest: Should Dimitrios Biller Testify Before Congress?

Edward Niedermeyer — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 22:43:20 +0000

Tomorrow the Senate will be taking its shot at the Toyota scandal, with hearings scheduled before the Committee on Commerce, Science & Transportation. Giving testimony will be three Toyota executives including Yoshimi Inaba, NHTSA Administrator David Strickland and Clarence Ditlow of the Ralph Nader-founded Center for Auto Safety. Conspicuously absent from the list is Dimitrios [...]

The Eternal Quest To Explain The Unknown

Bertel Schmitt — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 13:26:26 +0000

A quiet Sunday. Time to fire up Google and put in “Toyota AND [cause OR reason].” We come up with ample explanations why Toyota is not called Toyoda. Or why Peiping turned into Peking, and then into Beijing. What about the causes of sudden acceleration? Let’s see what we find. (If you have other things [...]

Rep. Souder And The Denso Distraction

Edward Niedermeyer — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 17:30:26 +0000

News that the FBI had raided three Japanese supplier companies in the Detroit area came in the middle of yesterday’s epic Toyota hearings, adding to the day’s chaos and misinformation. The FBI said clearly at the time that Denso, Tokai Riko and Yazaki were raided as part of an antitrust investigation, which we now know [...]

Über-Porsche Gemballa: Company Bankrupt, Boss Missing, Detectives in Johannesburg

Bertel Schmitt — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 19:00:59 +0000

When I met Uwe Gemballa the first time, he looked like he could be the manager of the local strip club down the road: Shoulder long bleach blond hair, a flashy watch, a suit to match the watch, the shirt unbuttoned down to the chest. I then found out that he had brought a Porsche [...]

Toyota Hearings Begin Today

Edward Niedermeyer — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 14:47:58 +0000

The House Energy and Commerce Committee kicks off the week’s Toyota-related festivities on Capitol Hill today, with the first round of hearings scheduled for 11 am Eastern. Testifying will be Toyota Motor America’s Jim Lentz, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, Southern Illinois professor and ABC’s ghost hunter David Gilbert, Safety Research and Strategy’s Sean Kane, as [...]

Florida Court Rules Red Light Cameras Illegal

The Newspaper — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 13:59:16 +0000

A Miami-Dade County Circuit Court judge has ruled that red light cameras may not be legally used to issue traffic citations in the state of Florida. Judge Gerald Bagley yesterday dismissed charges against motorist Richard Masone who had received a red light camera ticket in the mail from American Traffic Solutions (ATS). The company operates [...]

Never Mind The Politics: Here’s The Toyota Criminal Investigation

Edward Niedermeyer — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 21:17:40 +0000

Even if Toyota hadn’t antagonized the ruling party, its congressional hearings would have been a posture-fest anyway. Congress can’t do much about Toyota’s recent behavior besides name, shame and tell the NHTSA to do a better job next time. Sure, the lights and cameras of congressional theater might get Akio Toyoda to sweat a little, [...]

California: Longer Yellows Nearly Eliminate Violations

The Newspaper — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 15:23:51 +0000

Redflex Traffic Systems of Australia succeeded last week in blocking efforts to end red light camera ticketing in Loma Linda, California. While several members of the city council expressed a desire to uproot the automated ticketing machines, Redflex insisted that could not be done unless the city paid $534,558 in early termination penalties. The council [...]

This Car Is A Death Trap!

Cammy Corrigan — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 10:29:46 +0000

For those of you who’ve read my work, you’ll know I’m no stranger to controversy. So, this next piece, will be a little, well, dark, shall we say? In the above picture, what do you see? It’s a classic VW Beetle. Nothing bad there. But this particular Beetle has caused a huge amount of grief [...]