Car Industry Controversies and Consumer Issues

This living topic delves into various controversies and consumer issues within the car industry, focusing on deceptive sales practices, quality problems, legal battles, and safety concerns. The content covers new FTC regulations aimed at protecting car buyers from bait-and-switch tactics and hidden fees, quality and profitability issues faced by Tesla's Model 3, a class-action lawsuit against Subaru for defective piston rings, and a study identifying the most dangerous cars on the road. Additional articles explore the implications of allowing Mexico-domiciled trucks on U.S. highways, Volkswagen's controversial direct-to-consumer sales approach, the rising costs of car ownership, and VW's struggle with reliability and quality in both traditional and electric vehicles.

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Electric car charging program unplugged by Trump White House

Trump orders suspension of $5 billion program to build EV charging stations

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If you've been thinking of buying an electric vehicle (EV), you might want to be sure there are already charging stations convenient to your home or office, because a $5 billion federal program to build more of them has just been axed by the Trump Administration.

In a memo issued last week, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) ordered states not to spend any funds allocated to them under the Biden Administration's program to build out a national EV charging network.

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2025
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2023
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NHTSA opens probe into Tesla steering issues

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has opened an investigation into complaints about steering issues in the 2023 Model 3 sedan and Model Y crossover utility vehicles.

The agency said it has received some complaints from Tesla owners who reported either losing power steering control or complete steering control. One owner said the loss of control resulted in a crash.

During the pandemic, Tesla began modifying software so it could use different semiconductors when supply chain issues created shortages. Tesla has recalled some Model S and Model X cars to address power steering problems attributed to a software update that didn’t go quite right.

ConsumerAffairs reviewers have on occasion, mentioned various issues related to steering their Teslas.

‘Awkward and dangerous’

Lars, of Manhatten Beach, Calif., told us he considers the new yoke steering wheel in his 2022 Model S “awkward and dangerous.”

“I'm not sure how they got this approved but it is super disappointing,” he wrote in a ConsumerAffairs review. “I'm sure there will be some people who like it, but it is not safe.”

Amanda, another Tesla owner from Atlanta, told us she has issues with the quality of her Tesla, including how the steering wheel was put together.

“My vehicle also has some screws missing in the steering wheel but they don't allow you to go to the service center for this,” Amanda wrote in her review. “They've had issues with steering wheels falling off, but there's no one to tell you if your car is safe.”

It’s not certain that the current investigation will lead to a recall. Federal agencies like NHTSA cannot order a recall but only request the company to issue a voluntary recall. As part of its investigation, NHTSA is asking Tesla owners to submit complaints about any steering issues.

You can file a complaint with NHTSA here. ConsumerAffairs would like to hear about your issues here.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has opened an investigation into complaints about steering issues in the 2023 Model 3 sedan and...

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California Tesla crash draws more scrutiny

The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has asked for more information from Tesla and California authorities who are investing a weekend accident in which a Tesla plowed into a firetruck parked on a freeway.

One person was killed and another critically injured in the accident that occurred just days after a recall of nearly 363 thousand Tesla vehicles equipped with the company’s advanced driver assistance feature, which Tesla markets as Full Self-Driving Beta.

That followed a notice by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) warning that in rare cases cars equipped with the technology could be in violation of state and local traffic laws. It said there could be an increased risk of an accident if the driver fails to intervene.

According to the most recent reports, it is not known what caused the accident or if the car was being operated in self-driving mode. While suspicion has focused on self-driving technology in other Tesla crashes, Matas Buzelis, the president of the Association of Automotive Intelligence and an automotive expert at carVertical, says it’s a complicated issue.

Safer than human drivers

He cites data provided by Tesla, along with government safety statistics, that show vehicles using a self-driving system caused 9.6 times fewer accidents than cars driven by humans.

“Perhaps there are situations when the autonomous system can’t really match the human driver in certain environmental perceptions,” Buzelis told ConsumerAffairs. “However, computers and sensors monitor so much more processes simultaneously when compared to human drivers. And that is the key to safer traffic.”

John Uustal, a founding partner of Kelley | Uustal Trial Attorneys, is a good bit more skeptical of the technology and says that the safety of consumers needs more attention. He says labeling the driver-assist technology as Autopilot is dangerously misleading.

"It’s crazy because Tesla admits that the driver needs to maintain control,” Uustal told us. “It’s not Autopilot. Tesla calls it Autopilot to drive sales, but this technology is killing innocent people."

Time will tell

Buzelis says the truth may become clearer as Tesla sales grow and there are more of these vehicles on American highways. He says if there is a direct correlation between more cars on the road and accidents, he expects accidents to go down, not increase.

In the latest crash, the Tesla Model S slammed into a firetruck that was parked in one lane of the freeway to protect first responders who were working another accident scene behind it. The Tesla did not change lanes to avoid the truck.

The NHSTA is currently looking into how Tesla’s autopilot system detects and responds to vehicles parked on highways and has opened a number of investigations into Tesla car accidents where Autopilot was suspected of being used.

The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has asked for more information from Tesla and California authorities who are investing a we...

2021
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Half of all drinkers may be driving over the legal alcohol limit, study finds

Researchers from the University of Cambridge believe many consumers may be driving while drunk and not even realizing it. According to their recent study, about half of all drinkers are not good at gauging how drunk they are. This often causes them to get behind the wheel while exceeding the legal alcohol limit. 

“In countries with legal alcohol limits, it’s usually the driver who makes a judgement about how much they’ve drunk and how fit they are to drive,” said researcher Dr. Kai Hensel. “But as we’ve shown, we are not always good at making this judgement. As many as one in two people in our study underestimated how drunk they were – and this can have devastating consequences.” 

Drinking and driving don’t mix

For the study, the researchers had 90 participants involved in a drinking and driving experiment over the course of two days. The participants were in either an experimental or control group and were instructed to drink a combination of beer and wine until their blood alcohol concentration (BAC) reached 0.11%; in the U.S., the legal driving limit is 0.08%. 

To assess how well the participants knew their own bodies, the team tracked their BAC with breathalyzer tests and had them come forward when they believed they reached the legal driving limit. The researchers told participants in the experimental group that when they hit the legal limit, their beverage of choice would be switched – from either beer to wine, or vice versa. 

Ultimately, the participants struggled to accurately assess how drunk they were in both trials of the study. In fact, their ability to estimate their BAC got worse between the first and second days of the experiment. 

During the first day, nearly 40% of the participants had exceeded the legal driving limit when they believed they were just reaching it. By day two, that figure jumped to more than 50% of participants. The researchers believe that awareness is the key to ensuring consumers aren’t driving drunk. Moving forward, they hope more work is done to get drinkers to understand their limits. 

“Drinking and driving is a major risk factor for road traffic accidents,” said Dr. Hensel. “Anything that can be done to reduce these numbers is worth trying. With guidance, our participants were able to improve their judgement. It could be that pop-up stalls set up around drinking establishments that help people understand their breath alcohol concentration might help. 

“Really, the best advice is that if you’re driving, just don’t drink,” he added. “But if you really do feel like a drink, then look into your alcohol tolerance. This differs from one person to the next, depending on your sex, weight, and age, and there are some reliable apps out there that can help guide you.” 

Researchers from the University of Cambridge believe many consumers may be driving while drunk and not even realizing it. According to their recent study,...

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Tesla app issue locked hundreds of drivers out of their vehicles

Things are back in order now, but scores of Tesla drivers had a rough start to their weekend. Electrek reported that a failure within a Tesla mobile app left hundreds of drivers around the world locked out of their Tesla vehicles on Friday. Electrek said the outage came after Tesla pushed a new update to its mobile app.

Why does a mobile app have the power to create so much havoc? It’s because owners often rely on their phones to perform several vehicle functions, including unlocking the car. Tesla CEO Elon Musk was upfront about the disruption. He addressed the error on Twitter on Friday, saying that the issue was a “500 server error” to connect their Tesla Model 3 on the iOS (Apple) app. 

Outages of Tesla’s systems are relatively isolated, but Electrek reports that there have been some significant examples in the not-so-distant past. Back in September 2020, there was a complete outage of Tesla’s customer-facing servers and its internal system for several hours.

Frustration continues to mount for Tesla owners

Musk probably can’t wait for 2021 to be done and over with it. Just this year, his company has had to face seat and brake issues, a recall of 130,000 cars because of touchscreen problems, and autopilot systems running amok.

Even though its 2021 score in the J.D. Power 2020 Initial Quality Survey moved it out of the dead last position among automakers, consumers still claim that Tesla’s customer service is lacking.

“I have had my Tesla Model S Performance now for over a year (15,000 miles) and it has been the worst experience that I have ever had in my 40 plus years of having cars,” Matthew of San Marino, Calif., wrote in a recent ConsumerAffairs review. 

“From taking delivery of the car to this moment has been so stressful and it is impossible to get anyone to help in customer service. The car was not available to pick up when I went to pick it up. They had emailed me and told me it was. This happened twice. The manager of the Burbank Service Center was rude and did not want to be bothered listening or helping me.”

Things are back in order now, but scores of Tesla drivers had a rough start to their weekend. Electrek reported that a failure within a Tesla mobile app le...

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Honda pauses production at most U.S. facilities due to supply-chain issue

Honda said Tuesday that it’s pausing production at its factories due to a supply-chain issue caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The automaker said most plants in the U.S. and Canada will stop production while some will operate at reduced levels. Workers won’t be laid off and will have the opportunity to continue working at affected factories. 

"We continue to manage a number of supply chain issues related to the impact from COVID-19, congestion at various ports, the microchip shortage and severe winter weather over the past several weeks,” the automaker said. “Our purchasing and production teams are working to limit the impact of this situation and are adjusting production as necessary in order to carefully manage the available supply of parts and meet the needs of our customers.” 

Last summer, Honda halted production at some of its U.S. factories due to a cyberattack that impacted the company’s customer service center. The carmaker noted that the “timing and length of production adjustments could change” as it works to mitigate the current issue. 

Honda said Tuesday that it’s pausing production at its factories due to a supply-chain issue caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The automaker said most p...

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Porsche issues ‘stop sale’ on vehicles with Sport Chrono package

Porsche has issued a “stop sale” on vehicles equipped with its Sport Chrono package. The stop sale involves older cars built between 2012 and 2016, including certain 911, Boxster, Cayman, Cayenne, and Panamera models.

The automaker said it found that some cars equipped with the Sport Chrono package emitted more nitrogen oxide than permitted when driven in "Sport Plus" mode, rendering them illegal to be sold in the U.S. 

A spokesperson for the automaker told Business Insider that it’s working on a software fix and "testing every model derivative" to figure out which of the models are affected. 

“Not every model line we've tested is affected," the spokesperson said. "So, it really goes down to us testing every model derivative. We're being cautious."

Not a safety issue

The cars affected “were developed and sold years ago,” the spokesperson said, adding that Porsche's current model line isn’t affected by the issue. 

"To be clear, our dealer partners are buying all used Porsche cars as they usually would, and the cars in customers' possession remains safe to drive — what the dealers have paused is selling the specific cars in their inventory affected by this until the software on these cars can be updated."

At this time, the automaker isn’t sure when it will resume selling cars equipped with the Sport Chrono package. The company said it will apply a software update to the affected vehicles once it’s able to hone in on the issue. Eventually, Porsche plans to issue a fix for customers’ vehicles as necessary. The company stressed that the issue doesn’t pose a safety risk for current owners. 

Porsche has issued a “stop sale” on vehicles equipped with its Sport Chrono package. The stop sale involves older cars built between 2012 and 2016, includi...

2019
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Electric scooters and bikes to become legal in New York

Electric scooters and bicycles are about to be part of the New York state landscape.

It took some give-and-take, but tech leaders, delivery workers, and Manhattan residents should all feel good about the deal. The e-scooter and e-bike companies gain some valuable territory, but they have to stay out of Manhattan -- at least for the time being.

“Our state leaders appear ready to enshrine e-bikes and e-scooters into state law and answer the call to bring more transportation alternatives to New Yorkers,” Paul Steely White, the director of safety policy at scooter company Bird, told the New York Times.

The legislation seems like a slam dunk. The only thing missing is Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s signature. Despite some safety concerns, Cuomo has said that he supports the bill. The bill’s sponsor, Jessica Ramos, said that the bill should assuage the governor’s concerns because it bans scooters from sidewalks. It also gives local governments the power to decide exactly where the devices would be allowed.

“We are leaving the nitty-gritty, the pieces of this that can be very hyper-local and sensitive, we’re leaving that to cities and towns,” Ms. Ramos said.

Delivery workers raise a glass

Delivery workers, in particular, are heaving a sigh of relief. Since the e-scooter rage began, and without any laws in place to regulate them, delivery workers claimed they were frequently hassled by the police, going as far as having their bikes confiscated and being slapped with expensive fines.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio hasn’t exactly been in the workers’ corner, calling them out for “reckless behavior” on electric bikes and saying that restaurants should find a different way to deliver food.

Nonetheless, de Blasio appears to be okay with the new rules. His office told the Times that he welcomes the regulations, but he has warned scooter rental companies that they will have to get special permission from the City if they want to do business in any borough outside Manhattan.

Consumers raise a couple of questions

In comments on the bill, consumers raised questions on several points. For one, they questioned restrictions on e-bike riders and passengers younger than 16.

“This criminalizes parents ferrying their kids around on e-assist cargo bikes and bakfiets (a freight bicycle used by delivery companies),” wrote one person.

Another commenter felt like the new rules leave electric skateboards in a legal gray area because they weigh less than 100lbs. The products also do not have handlebars and have four wheels, not two like the bill stipulates.

“Please include these devices, much the same way Michigan recently has. This is a growing market that deserves the same recognition as the large scooter startups,” they said.

Another consumer voiced concerns over the 750 (electric/power) watt limit, speculating that “750W might be adequate for a light 130lb person going up a steep hill, but for someone +260lbs they will be underpowered.”

Electric scooters and bicycles are about to be part of the New York state landscape.It took some give-and-take, but tech leaders, delivery workers, and...

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States that legalize weed see initial spike in traffic accidents

Since a number of states across the country have begun legalizing the sale of marijuana, researchers have been evaluating the ways the decision has affected consumers’ day-to-day lives.

A recent study conducted by a team from Monash University found that states that legalize marijuana see an uptick in traffic fatalities in the months that immediately follow the legalization. While these accidents do tend to decrease over time, neighboring towns are affected more.

“The effect of cannabis legislation on traffic fatalities is a growing public health concern,” said Dr. Tyler Lane. “The results suggest that legalizing the sale of cannabis for recreational use can lead to a temporary increase in traffic fatalities in legalizing states. This spills over into neighboring jurisdictions through cross-border sales, trafficking, or cannabis tourists driving back to their state of residence while impaired.”

What’s happening on the roads

The researchers evaluated traffic information from three states that legalized the recreational sale of marijuana -- Oregon, Colorado, and Washington -- and then looked at nine neighboring cities. Information was gathered from 2009 through 2016.

The researchers compared traffic fatalities in states that legalized weed with those who have not, and they found that in the six months following legalization, there were around 170 additional traffic-related deaths among the three states.

The study showed that traffic fatalities went up by one for every one million residents in Oregon, Colorado, and Washington, but after the first year of legalization, the numbers went back to normal. However, the increase in accidents remained in cities that bordered the states that legalized weed.

The researchers call this trend “cannabis tourism,” which involves residents traveling across state lines to legally purchase marijuana, and then driving back to their hometowns -- usually after smoking their purchases. Moving forward, the researchers suggest that lawmakers need to consider the wide-reaching effects of legalizing marijuana, and how they may go further than originally anticipated.

“Our findings suggest that policymakers should consult with neighboring jurisdictions when liberalizing cannabis policy to mitigate any deleterious effects,” Dr. Lane said.

Reaching more people

Legalizing marijuana is a popular topic for many legislators nationwide, and following the 2018 midterm elections, Utah, Missouri, and Michigan voters are pushing for a more widespread use of the drug in their states.

Not long after that vote of confidence, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) reported that it was looking to legally sell food and drinks with CBD oil.

The FDA is “aware of the growing public interest in cannabis and cannabis-driven products” and plans to “continue to take steps to make the pathways for the lawful marketing of these products more efficient.”

Coca-Cola could be the first brand to jump on the bandwagon, as the soda company has shown interest in developing drinks that contain CBD.

CBD has been found to help those suffering with epilepsy, muscle cramps, pain, anxiety, and depression, and it can also be effective for those trying to lose weight or lay off alcohol. Because of this, Coke says these products would be marketed as “wellness beverages.”

Since a number of states across the country have begun legalizing the sale of marijuana, researchers have been evaluating the ways the decision has affecte...