Toyota and Lexus recalling 645,000 vehicles for air bags that may fail to deploy

Toyota is recalling 645,000 vechilces worldwide for a serious electrical problem that stops airbags from deploying in the event of an accident. This covers Toyota Prius and Lexus RX and NX SUVs. Also covered are some Toyota Alphard, Vellfire, Sienta, Noah, Voxy, Esquire, Probox, Succeed, Corolla, Highlander, Levin and Hilux models. All were produced from May of 2015 to March of 2016.

Toyota says says an open electrical circuit could occur over time. That would set off an air bag warning light and could stop the side and front air bags from deploying. Toyota will notify owners by letter in starting in late March.

Source: CTV News

GM recalling 51,640 SUVs due to defective fuel gauges

GM is recealling 51,640 SUVs from their Buick Enclavee, Chevrolet Traverse and GMC Acadia lines from the 2014 model year. The recalled models were built between March 26 and Aug. 15 of 2013. The key defect is the engine control module software that leads the fuel gauge to read inaccurately. This could result on sudden stalling when the vehicles run out of fuel.  

GM doesn’t know of any crashes or injuries related to the problem and  dealers will reprogram the software for free, starting immediately. The company will also notify owners by mail. This follows an earlier recall in March for faulty airbag wiring that  illuminates the airbag warning light while leading to failure of deployment.

Source: TIME

Sale of Nest Protect smoke alarms halted while flaw is resolved

Nest CEO Tony Fadell released a letter announcing that due to a discovered flaw in a feature that allows consumers to wave their hands to turn off the alarm. This "Nest Wave'  feature could be turned on unintentionally which would compromise the device's effectivity.

"We feel that the best and safest thing to do is to immediately disable the Nest Wave feature to resolve the issue and remove any safety concerns.," Fadell notes. "While we fix Nest Wave, we have also halted sales of all new Nest Protect alarms to ensure no one buys an alarm that needs an immediate update." To this end, sales of Nest Protect smoke alarms have been halted until a solution is found.

"Once we have a solution that ensures Nest Wave works as intended, we will update our software to turn this feature back on. This will only happen after extensive testing and once we have received approval from safety agencies in the US, Canada and UK. We expect this to take at least two or three months and we’ll continue to update you as we have more information."

Under pressure: Chrysler recalls 2.7 million Jeeps for safety inspection

Overturning their initial decision to not recall Jeep Grand Cherokee and Jeep Liberty models due to possible cissues with the placement of their gas tanks, Chrysler has agreed to inspect and repair all Jeep Grand Cherokee models from 1993-2004 and Jeep Liberty models from 2002-07. Owners of these vehicles should take them to dealers who will give the Jeeps “a visual inspection of the vehicle” and if necessary “an upgrade to the rear structure of the vehicle to better manage crash forces in low-speed impacts.”

“Chrysler Group regards safety as a paramount concern and does not compromise on the safety of our customers and their families," Chrysler said in a statement. Check this site for more information.

Source: Automedia.com

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