Car Safety and Safe Car Stories

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1. Is the 3,000-Mile Oil Change a Thing of the Past?

   A few months ago I wrote and recorded a car care tip that aired on XM Satellite Radio. To the best of my recollection, the tip was an answer to a question addressed to me from a listener in California...

2. Maintenance is the Key

   An internal combustion engine relies on regular maintenance of various systems to continue running trouble free. I constantly run across people that brag about the fact that they have gone some ridicu...

3. Avoid Problems With Proper Maintenance

   Dear Tom, I have a '91 Chevy Lumina with about 95,000 miles. Twice last summer and once last week it stalled while driving. I took it to my mechanic who didn't fin...

4. Air Conditioning 101

   It's that time again, when you turn on the A/C to chill out from the summer heat and all you get is hot air! Ughhhh! How do you restore that refreshing, cool air to your vehicle's interior cabin so yo...

5. What Kind of a Shop Should I Use

   For years people have asked me this question quite frequently ... what kind of shop should I use for automotive repairs, a dealership or an independent shop? I have shied away from answering it becaus...

6. Build a Relationship with Your Repair Shop

   After reading an article penned by a fellow automotive professional, I was inspired to share my thoughts on the value of developing a relationship with the people who take care of your vehicles. The a...

7. ASE and I-CAR Certifications

   I get this question all the time. Apparently, it's a monetary concern for many people. They are under the misconception that anyone who is "handy" and somewhat schooled can fix a car. So why pay more...

8. Communication is Key

   In today's hectic fast-paced world, it's easy to forget the importance of thorough communication in any transaction. There is evidence of this constantly in the auto repair business. A common part of...

9. Finding a Good Repair Facility

   For those of you who are schoolteachers, you will understand what I am about to relate. You lay out a lesson plan to teach a particular topic, for example, how to solve a basic algebraic equation. You...

10. Brake Performance is Important

    Your vehicle carries some pretty valuable cargo. Let's talk about a major safety aspect of your car, the braking system. Being "out of sight, out of mind," the braking systems on most people's cars go...

11. Keep an Eye on Your Brakes

    Your vehicle carries some pretty valuable cargo. Let's talk about a major safety aspect of your car, the braking system. The braking system on most people's cars goes unnoticed since it is "out of sig...

12. How Disc Brakes Work

    With all the hoopla going on about the GM Brake Repair Litigation Settlement (on 1988 - 1993 Chevy Lumina, Buick Regal, Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme, and Pontiac Grand Prix automobiles), I thought I'd d...

13. Antilock Brakes

    Most passenger vehicles are coming out with ABS, otherwise known as Antilock brakes. Let's take a look at their design and function. ABS uses wheel speed sensors, a hydraulic control unit, and a compu...

14. Top Auto News Stories Feed

    Most passenger vehicles are coming out with ABS, otherwise known as Antilock brakes. Let's take a look at their design and function. ABS uses wheel speed sensors, a hydraulic control unit, and a compu...

15. New Security Rules for Driver's Licenses

    WASHINGTON (Jan. 11) - Americans born after Dec. 1, 1964, will have to get more secure driver's licenses in the next six years under ambitious post-9/11 security rules to be unveiled Friday by federal...

16. Snow Tires 101: Why to Buy Them

    I remember driving in eastern Pennsylvania one winter following my brother home on an hour-long trip. It had snowed earlier that morning, and by the time we got on the road the plows still hadn't reac...

17. Ford Recalls 1.2 Million SUVs, Trucks

    DETROIT (Dec. 6) - Ford Motor Co. said Thursday it is recalling 1.17 million trucks, sport utility vehicles and vans to fix an engine sensor that could lead to engine stalling. The recalled vehicle...

18. Texting While Driving

    Maybe you've been tempted. Sitting at the wheel in traffic, you hear the familiar beep of a text-message alert. Maybe your boss wants the latest numbers from today's sales meeting, or a friend wants t...

19. Most Recalled Cars of 2007

    It's been the kind of year when the total number of recalls almost seemed to match auto industry production figures. In August, Ford Motor Co. announced it was recalling 3.6 million vehicles, mostl...

20. Toyota Recalls Lexus and Other Models

    TOKYO (AP) - Toyota began recalling 264,000 luxury passenger vehicles over faulty fuel pipes Thursday, including 49,000 flagship Lexus cars sold overseas, the company said. Included in the recall a...

21. Drunk Driver Detection

    TOKYO (AP) -- Toyota is developing a fail-safe system for cars that detects drunken drivers and automatically shuts the vehicle down if sensors pick up signs of excessive alcohol consumption, a news r...

22. The History of Car Safety

    Proponents of automotive safety have had to fight an uphill battle over much of the past century. But now the auto industry has responded to regulatory pressure and growing consumer demand with a rang...

23. 2008 Top Safety Picks from IIHS

    The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) awarded thirty-four 2008 model vehicles the Top Safety Pick rating, more than double the number of vehicles that earned the rating in 2007. Eligible v...

24. Driving Stupid

    Is it just your imagination, or do many of your fellow motorists lack even a rudimentary grasp of traffic laws? Well, if a test administered by GMAC Insurance is any indication, one in six people c...

25. Confessions of a Tow Truck Driver

    Many of us probably don't think about the tow truck business that often. We're grateful when one randomly stops on the road when we're broken down (if they ever stop at all). We may think about them w...

26. Weapons of Mass Distraction

    If every accident report filed with insurance agencies were true, America's roads would be a wild freak show of deer large enough to span four lanes and rockslides that toss boulders and trees into th...

27. Quick Car Safety Check

    A little yellow warning light appeared on the dash of my minitruck restoration project over the summer. As a good motorist, I took it to a local mechanic who advised me that it was nothing to worry ab...

28. Easy Tire Changing Tips

    A month ago I was driving down a South Carolina back road when the car in front of me lost the tread off one of its back tires and the driver quickly veered off onto the shoulder. The tread actually c...

29. First-Time Fines

    Whether you are a newly licensed driver, a veteran behind the wheel or a lucky person who's avoided tickets all your years, the fear that you will be pulled over for a first-time infraction probably h...

30. How a Car is Crash Tested

    Every year, millions of dollars' worth of vehicles end up as masses of tangled sheet metal and twisted parts in crash tests across the country. Those tests have saved millions of lives since they bega...

31. How Safe Are Today's Midsize SUVs?

    Contrary to what most believe about SUVs, you actually may not be safer on the road in a midsize model, according to new test results from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. In fact, many car...

32. How Our Readers Got Out Of a Ticket

    This is Not a Warning Submitted by: MaurDrisc I was pulled over in a residential L.A. neighborhood for an illegal left turn. The officer asked me if I knew what I'd done....

33. How Our Readers Got Out Of a Ticket

    This is Not a Warning Submitted by: MaurDrisc I was pulled over in a residential L.A. neighborhood for an illegal left turn. The officer asked me if I knew what I'd done....

34. Tips to Thwart a Car Thief

    Thieves targeted Charlotte and Stevan Arbona's car three times. Twice, their Honda Accord had the air bags stolen out of it right in front of their Brooklyn home. The thieves broke a back window to...

35. States with Highest Speed Limits

    Some drivers would say that the United States is a crazy quilt of speed limits, with an emphasis on the "crazy." Since 1995, states have been free to set their own maximum speed limits, leading to...

36. Safest Minivans

    In the fall of 1983, Lee Iacocca and an associate named Hal Sperlich staked much of Chrysler Corporation's then-precarious financial...

37. Backseat Drivers Companion

    People who like to drive rarely enjoy being driven and are often tempted to second-guess the driving of others. Usually, it's not a good idea. Here's a Backseat Driver's Companion, a short list...

38. Speeding Tickets

    Depending on where you live, speeding ticket fines can range from the puny to the punitive. In July, Virginia began charging most speeders an additional $1,050 fine on top of its usual $300, with...

39. Tips from a Police Officer

    There are few things more nerve-wracking, or more anxiety-producing for even the most law-abiding driver, than seeing the flashing red and blue lights of a police car in your rear-view mirror. It d...

40. Car Accidents

    "It came out of nowhere." This is frequently heard from people involved in car accidents. Although it's not true in terms of where a driver came from, car accidents can seemingly come from nowhere and...

41. Auto Emergency Tool Kit

    New motorcycles usually come with a pretty decent set of basic tools with which you can handle almost any minor breakdown -- and even a few not-so-minor ones. But with cars, it's different. Only...

42. Road Rage and Aggressive Driving

    Do you live in one of the nation's worst cities for road rage? If you live in a major metropolitan area on either coast, chances are you do. If you live in the Midwest or northwest, odds are that you...

43. Americas Worst Traffic Traps

    They have nicknames: "Hillside Strangler," "Mixing Bowl," "Spaghetti Junction" and "Orange Crush." They drive commuters crazy. They stall commerce. They waste fuel. And fixing them? Nothing doing....

44. Safest Family Cars

    For years, many drivers around the country have had a conviction that when it comes to vehicle safety, that SUVs were the overriding wheels of choice and further, the bigger the SUV the better. "I...

45. Top 10 Safest Cars: Entry Level

    There was a time, and not so long ago, when entry level-priced, smaller cars were considered best buys for value but questionable purchases for safety. Whether valid for all vehicles of that...

46. Police Driving School

    After the cop pulled me over, he marched up to the window of my car, leaned over so I'd be sure to hear him, and barked loudly, "You're not trained to drive that fast!" Fact is, I am, and although I'd...

47. Many Teens Admit Risky Driving Habits

    DETROIT -- Teen drivers admit that they're prone to text messaging, talking on cell phones and hauling their friends around in the car. A joint survey conducted by AAA and Seventeen magazine of 1,00...

48. New Car Smell

    Ah, that new car smell, that eau de car-logne; it does an ego good while it does a wallet bad. And now it turns out, it can do bad things to your health, too. All these years, while we were being o...

49. Unusual Driving Laws

    Some antiquated state driving laws are flat-out crazy. Got a housecoat? If you're a woman, it's illegal to wear one while driving in California. But what about modern rules of the road that seem very...

50. Common Driving Mistakes

    It's a familiar scenario. You're on your way to work, maybe running 10 minutes late, and you're trying to make up for lost time. So you put your foot into it a little bit more and also decide to multi...

51. 10 Ways to Avoid a Cop Giving You a Speeding Ticket

    People who get speeding tickets are often guilty of more than simply driving faster than the posted limit. Their chief offense? It's getting noticed in the first place. That's the first domino to fall...

52. 2007 Safest Cars

    If you're going to get creamed in a car, might as well make it an Audi A4. That's because it's one of the safest cars on the road, according to data we consulted in forming this year's list of most...

53. 10 Worst Cities for Speeding

    Detroit is the worst place to speed in the country, according to the Speed Trap Exchange, a Web site where users can post the whereabouts of speed traps all over the country. In anticipation of ho...

54. Insurer Tattles on Kids Who Speed

    Safeco Insurance unveils a teen driving package Tuesday that notifies parents when their young driver speeds, breaks curfew or drives outside of an agreed-upon area. Parents can also use the Internet...

55. 2007 Safest Cars

    If you're going to get creamed in a car, might as well make it an Audi A4. That's because it's one of the safest cars on the road, according to data we consulted in forming this year's list of most...

56. Older Drivers Are Growing Problem

    DALLAS -- As his 90-year-old neighbor struggled last May to set out on a morning drive to the store, David Prager began to worry. Elizabeth Grimes, a widow who had lived on Meaders Lane for 50 year...

57. Survey Finds Miami the Worst Road Rage City

    MIAMI, Florida (AP) -- For the second consecutive year, rude Miami drivers have earned the city the title of worst road rage in a survey released in May. Miami motorists said they saw other drivers...

58. Pain in the Neck

    NEW YORK (April 5) - Head restraints in several passenger vehicles provided marginal or poor protection against neck injuries and whiplash, the insurance industry reported Thursday in new crash test r...

59. Fender Benders Busting Wallets

    WASHINGTON (AP) - Those minor fender benders might cost more than you think, according to new crash tests released Thursday by the insurance industry. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety fou...

60. Fender Benders Busting Wallets

    WASHINGTON (AP) - Those minor fender benders might cost more than you think, according to new crash tests released in March by the insurance industry. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety fou...

61. Most Recalled Cars

    Last week, Honda Motor announced a global recall of 45,000 Civic Hy...

62. 800,000 Cars recalled by Volkswagen

    NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Around 800,000 Volkswagen vehicles have been recalled Monday because of faulty brake lights, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said . The 790,000 vehicle...

63. Simple Safety Inspections

    So you have cabin fever and need to get out on the open road before you go crazy? There are some things you need to do before you jump in your car and head out. Below is a walk -- through of how to in...

64. Is Small Safe?

    Rising fuel prices and growing environmental concerns among consumers elicited a new mantra from automakers this year: "Small is good." Hond...

65. Striving for Perfection

    Toyota was built on details. After decades of study and refinement, the company has developed thousands of pages of guidelines that lay...

66. What Do Drivers Do?

    CINCINNATI, Jan 22 (Reuters Life!) - Talk on the phone while you're driving? Fix your makeup? Check e-mail? You're not alone. A survey released on Monday shows 81 percent of Americans do more than...

67. Drunk Driver Detection

    TOKYO (AP) -- Toyota is developing a fail-safe system for cars that detects drunken drivers and automatically shuts the vehicle down if sensors pick up signs of excessive alcohol consumption, a news r...

68. States With Worst Roads

    In a January report, Louisana displaced Pennsylvania as having the worst roads in the nation. Never having taken the top spot in the worst roads category, Louisiana is no rookie to the top five on the...

69. Who Pulled You Over?

    That navy blue sedan behind you with the flashing blue light on the dash is probably a cop -- but it could be a creep using police paraphernalia to get you to pull over. How to tell the difference?...

70. Six Teen Driver Do's and Don'ts

    If you'd like to keep your newly minted teen driver out of trouble behind the wheel, tack this checklist to the fridge: Pre-emptive driver's ed -- You'll give your teen a real edge if you s...

71. The Moving Target

    As urban areas continue to push outward and displace animals from their natural habitats, and as formerly empty rural lanes become plagued with traffic, collisions between cars and the animals seem an...

72. Avoiding an Accident

    According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), there have been an average of 41,000 highway fatalities in the United States per year since 1993. Sadly, a great many of these...

73. Roadside Assistance

    If you haven't been new-car-shopping in a few years, you might not be aware of a valuable perk that nearly all automakers-even including aspiring Korean brands like Kia, Hyundai, and the late Daewoo-a...

74. Back-to-School Safety

    Pedestrian-vehicle injuries are a leading cause of death for children ages 5 to 14. Kids are back from summer camp, school is in session again and school buses are out plying the streets. That means d...

75. U.S. Highway Deaths Increase in 2005

    WASHINGTON (AP) - Traffic deaths in the United States reached their highest levels since 1990, the government reported Tuesday, fueled by an increase in motorcycle and pedestrian fatalities. The N...

76. Car Survival Kit

    Many drivers believe that a car comes complete with a set of keys and a full tank of gas. It isn't so -- and a first encounter with emergency will teach even the best driver how prepared they aren't. ...

77. Safety First

    Modern vehicles are designed to provide protection for adult-sized people, but it's the parents' responsibility to provide the necessary special protection for those smaller folks. With many different...

78. Garage Safety Tips

    For enthusiasts like us, the garage is an important place where we like to store our beloved vehicles, work on projects, or just spend time tinkering -- and it's also where we unload the groceries. Ye...

79. Night Driving Tips

    Between midnight and 6AM is the riskiest time for crashes, because there are fewer drivers yet more accidents than any other time of the day. Holidays and vacations may put you in situations where you...

80. A Quick Guide to Recalls

    We've all heard the word "recall" tossed around at one time or another, but it can be hard to pin down what it actually means -- in an automotive context anyway. With both the government and auto manu...

81. Crash Tests Explained

    As a car shopper, you'll want to know if the vehicle you’re thinking about buying is, within reasonable limits, as safe as possible. After all, you’ve most likely heard that the survival rates in ca...

82. Accident Prep 101

    Surviving on Richmond Highway means you have to be flexible, and you have to have some experience with carnival bumper-car rides. I see a fair share of cars that have been through accidents that only...

83. Study Shows 10,000 Lives Could Be Saved

    WASHINGTON (AP) - Ten thousand fatal automobile crashes a year, nearly one-third of all such accidents, could be prevented if more vehicles were equipped with technology that helps to keep them from r...

84. Top 10 Safest Cars

    Although the term “safest” might be open to a lot of interpretations, we mean it like this: Which cars are most likely, according to the crash tests and available facts and figures, to keep their oc...

85. Future Safety Advances

    NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - When the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety first started performing its own front crash tests in the mid-1990s, about half the vehicles scored "Marginal" or "Poor." T...

86. Defensive Driving 101

    Defensive driving means that you're on guard and ready for what might happen -- cautious, yet ready to take action and not put your fate in the hands of other irresponsible drivers. According to Natio...

87. Safety Matters

    These days, there are more cars that can go 200 mph than there are cars with top safety ratings. Way more. That's because the speed and styling of supercars seem to attract more customers to a br...

88. Crash Tests Show Benefits of Side Air Bags

    WASHINGTON (April 17) - For motorists seeking greater protection in crashes, test results released Sunday by the insurance industry show the benefits of paying for optional side air bags. Version...

89. Flat-footed

    Of all the major automotive safety developments of the past decade, run-flat tires might not immediately come to mind, but they're one of the most important. Over time, they'll make being stranded alo...

90. SUVs Earn Highest Ratings in Crash Tests

    WASHINGTON (AP) - Seven sport utility vehicles earned the government's highest ratings in providing protection in front-end and side crashes, according to test results released Thursday. The 2006...

91. Your Tires Are Talking

    Reading the tread of your tires can foretell the future, sort of like reading your palm, or tarot cards. But it doesn't cost you $1.95 a minute with Miss Cleo to figure out if your tires are good or b...

92. Teen Driving Troubles

    The Iraq war has cost around 2,500 Americans their lives so far -- but that's peanuts compared with the mayhem being attributed to teenage drivers. According to a recent study by the American Automobi...

93. Rules for Safe Driving

    Beyond acquiring basic car control skills -- and exercising good judgment behind the wheel -- there are a few basic rules for safe driving that everyone should know -- and follow: Don't tailgat...

94. Drowsy Driving Dangers

    You might be reluctant to admit it, but most likely at some time you've pushed on a bit too far when you were tired and should've pulled over to rest. Instead, you kept going and nearly fell asleep at...

95. Teen Driving Tips

    If you'd like to keep your newly minted teen driver out of trouble behind the wheel, tack this checklist to the fridge: Pre-emptive driver's ed -- You'll give your teen a real edge if you st...

96. Crash Ratings Explained

    It's one of everyone's worst nightmares: the phone call where you learn that a loved one has been in an accident. I know. It happened to me. It was a hot summer day and I arrived home around...

97. Safety Seat Debate

    It's something that's ingrained in us early on in our roles as parents and caregivers: Young children should be buckled up in a safety seat whenever they are in a car. Recently, however, that commo...

98. Does Size Matter?

    Consumers shopping for a fuel-efficient vehicle will probably gravitate toward smaller cars. But by doing so will they put themselves at risk in the event of an accident? The cold hard facts...

99. Safe Bets for Your Family

    It's easy enough to pick out a fast car -- or a pretty one. Or the least expensive one, for that matter. But safety's more subtle. Unlike engine size or horsepower, it's not there on the window sti...