Current Events in February 2016

Volkswagen Group of America is recalling 325 model year 2016 Beetle Convertibles manufactured June 18, 2015, to November 9, 2015 and equipped with 18-inch wheels.

The recalled vehicles may have incorrect sidewall height ratio information on the tire placard. As such, these vehicles fail to comply with the requirements of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) number 110, "Tire Selection and Rims."

If the tires are replaced using a smaller diameter tire, it can cause incorrect readings of the speedometer, which could increase the risk of a crash.

What to do

Volkswagen will notify owners, and dealers will install a corrected tire placard, free of charge. The recall is expected to begin in February 2016.

Owners may contact Volkswagen customer service at 1-800-893-5298. Volkswagen's number for this recall is 01B3.

Raynor Marketing of West Hempstead, N.Y., is recalling about 1,200 Eurotech Lume office chairs.

The chair seat can detach, posing a fall hazard to consumers.

No incidents or injuries have been reported.

This recall involves Eurotech Lume office chairs. The black, mesh mid-back, adjustable chairs have a black base with five wheels. Item number MF2500 and the date of manufacture in YY/MM/DD format are printed on a label located on the underside of the seat. Dates of manufacture included in the recall are between 14/10/08 and 15/10/16.

The chairs, manufactured in China, were sold at Davies Office in New York and Office Furniture Depot stores in New Jersey and by other independent distributors from January 2015, through November 2015, for about $300.

What to do

Consumers should immediately stop using the recalled chairs and contact Raynor to receive a full refund.

Consumers may contact Raynor toll-free at 866-800-1377 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. (ET) Monday through Friday or online at www.eurotechseating.com and click on Warranties at the bottom right hand corner of the page and then on the Lume Chair Recall link for more information.

Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing is recalling 5,070 model year 2016 Lexus RX350 and RX450h vehicles manufactured November 16, 2015, to December 23, 2015.

Due to an improper weld, the gas needed to inflate the driver's knee air bag may escape from the inflator. A defective inflator may increase the risk of injury in the event of a crash.

What to do

Toyota will notify owners, and dealers will inspect and, if necessary, replace the knee air bag assembly, free of charge. The recall is expected to begin March 27, 2016.

Owners may contact Toyota customer service at 1-800-331-4331. Toyota's number for this recall is GLA.

Takata airbag inflators have killed nine people in the United States while at least 19 have burned to death in Jeep SUVs since June 2013, when FCA US (Chrysler) was first asked to recall Jeep models that have the gas tank mounted behind the rear axle. At that time, the Jeep fire death toll stood at 270. 

Something about this doesn't make sense, according to Clarence Ditlow, executive director of the non-profit Center for Auto Safety.

"The most lethal vehicle safety defect in America today is not the Takata airbag inflator. It’s the fuel tank behind the rear axle in the 1993-98 Jeep Grand Cherokee, 1993-01 Cherokee and 2002-07 Liberty," Ditlow said.

Read a partial timeline of the Jeep fire-death scandal

"Will never do right"

"This is the recall that Chrysler never wanted to do and will never do right. As far as Fiat-Chrysler is concerned Jeeps can continue to crash and burn until they are all off the road," Ditlow said in a letter to Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration head Mark Rosekind.

"The Center for Auto Safety calls on you ... to reopen the Jeep fuel tank investigation and obtain a remedy that saves lives versus the fire deaths that will continue to occur if Fiat-Chrysler is left alone," Ditlow said.

In his letter, Ditlow highlighted three recent Jeep deaths -- 17-year-old Skyler Anderson and 24-year-olds Chantae and Danny Reed Jr.

Skyler’s father Todd testified before the NHTSA in the Chrysler recall hearings that he would never have let his son drive the Jeep if he had known about the recall, but he didn’t get a notice until more than a year after Chrysler agreed to a limited recall.  

The Reeds, Ditlow said, are "double defect" deaths. Both survived the crash of their Jeep, but Danny Reed’s seat back collapsed, trapping him. His wife tried to free him from the seat but burned to death with her husband in the effort.

FCA said Jeeps are safe

FCA, formerly Chrysler, has insisted that the Jeeps have a safety record comparable to similar vehicles. The company initially refused the NHTSA's request that it recall the SUVs but finally negotiated a secret deal with ex-Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, now an industry lobbyist.

The LaHood deal calls for installing a trailer hitch on the recalled models, in the hope that the hitch will keep the gas tank from being penetrated in a rear-end crash and exploding into flames.

Even that effort has been seen as lagging, as consumers complain that dealers say they don't have the necessary parts and critics, including a former Chrysler engineer, say the supposed remedy has never been scientifically shown to be valid. 

In the last decade, hackers have shifted their primary targets from consumers' PCs to corporations' networks.

The payoff from breaking into your computer might not be so much. Getting into Target, on the other hand, could be huge.

Just how huge hasn't been widely appreciated, but researchers at Michigan State University recently calculated that even small-scale hacking operations are making millions of dollars in profits by targeting corporate databases and stealing credit and debit card data.

"In the past two years there have been hundreds of data breaches involving customer information, some very serious like the Target breach in 2013," Thomas J. Holt, Michigan State University criminologist and lead investigator of the study, said in a release. "It's happening so often that average consumers are just getting into this mindset of, 'Well, my bank will just re-issue the card, it's not a problem.' But this is more than a hassle or inconvenience. It's a real economic phenomenon that has real economic impact and consequences."

Black market in plain sight

Holt and his fellow researchers found online forums in English and Russian where criminals who stole personal information auctioned it off in batches of 50 or 100. Someone who buys the data can then try to access the victims' bank accounts or buy goods or services with the stolen cards.

Holt says, on average, a batch of 50 stolen credit or debit cards can bring between $250,000 and $1 million on the black market. Buyers consider it a reasonable price, since they, on average, can use those 50 credit or so debit cards to pull in between $2 million and $8 million.

Coordinated approach

Holt says there needs to be a more intensive, coordinated approach by law enforcement agencies around the world to crack down on cybercrime. He says consumers also need to understand the stakes.

"My goal is make people cognizant of just how much their personal information means, how much value there is," Holt said. "If we don't understand the scope of this problem, if we just treat it as a nuisance, then we're going to enable and embolden this as a form of crime that won't stop."

Consumer Security company Mcafee estimates the annual cost to the economy of cybercrime activity is more than $400 billion.

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) was unchanged in January, thanks to a drop in the cost of energy and no change in food prices, according to the Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

For the last 12 months, the CPI is up just 1.4%.

Energy and food

Energy costs were down 2.8%, with all major components falling for a second straight month. Gasoline prices fell 4.8%, fuel oil plunged 6.5%, electricity was off 0.7%, and natural gas posted a 0.6% decline.

Over the last 12 months, fuel oil prices have plummeted 28.7%, natural gas has decreased 12.7%, gasoline has fallen 7.3%, and the cost of electricity is down 2.4%.

Food prices were unchanged last month after falling in November and December. With the food at home category down 0.2% it's second decline in a row. Five of the six major grocery store food group categories were lower led by for meats, poultry, fish, and eggs (-1.3%). Cereals and bakery products, dairy and related products, nonalcoholic beverages, and other food at home all declined 0.2%. In contrast, fruits and vegetables increased 1.3% the largest increase since March 2011. The food at home index has declined 0.5% over the past 12 months. Food away from home (restaurant meals) rose 0.3% percent in January and is up 2.7% over the last 12 months.

Core inflation

The “core” rate of inflation, excluding the volatile food and energy categories, was up 0.3% for the month, due to increases in the cost of shelter (+0.3%), medical care (+0.5%), alcoholic beverages (+0.5% and motor vehicle (+0.4%). Education and communication prices were both unchanged in January, while household furnishings and operations costs dipped 0.1%.

Over the past, the core rate of inflation is up 2.2%, its highest 12-month change since the period ending June 2012.

The complete report is available on the BLS website.

Doctors at Northwestern Medicine have completed a study they say could provide a reliable way to predict who will get cancer, and even who will die from the disease.

They found an unmistakable trend of cancer in people whose epigenetic, or biological age, is greater than their chronological age.

Biological age is determined by how well your body functions, and is influenced by a wide variety of physical and emotional factors. For example, if you are overweight, suffer chronic stress or just look old, that can increase your biological age.

When your biological age is greater than your actual age, researchers say, you are at a greater risk of developing cancer. The bigger the difference between the two ages, the higher your risk of dying of cancer.

Early cancer warning

"This could become a new early warning sign of cancer," senior author Dr. Lifang Hou said in a release. "The discrepancy between the two ages appears to be a promising tool that could be used to develop an early detection blood test for cancer."

Hou is chief of cancer epidemiology and prevention in preventive medicine at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and co-leader of the cancer prevention program at the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University.

"People who are healthy have a very small difference between their epigenetic/biological age and chronological age," Hou said. "People who develop cancer have a large difference and people who die from cancer have a difference even larger than that. Our evidence showed a clear trend."

For every year the biological age is greater than the actual age, the researchers found a 6% increased risk of getting cancer within three years and a 17% increased risk of dying from cancer within five years.

Difference of three years could be lethal

People in the study who got cancer had a biological age of about six months greater than their chronological age. Those who will die of cancer are about 2.2 years older, the study found.

Hou says a person's epigenetic age is calculated using an algorithm measuring 71 blood DNA methylation markers. These markers are subject to change by factors such as a person's environment, including environmental chemicals, obesity, exercise, and diet.

There isn't a commercially available test, but the subject is the focus of study by academic researchers, including a team at Northwestern. There are a number of online tests that may be subject to varying degrees of accuracy, like this one. They may be useful to give you an idea of where you fall on the biological age spectrum.

Hou says a highly accurate test would use DNA methylation, where a cluster of molecules attaches to a gene and makes the gene more or less receptive to biochemical signals from the body.

A first

The Northwestern researchers say that their study is the first to link the difference between biological and chronological age with both cancer development and cancer death using multiple blood samples. They say the multiple samples, which showed changing biological age, allowed for more accurate measurements of cancer risk.

Last summer InsideTracker, which operates the InnerAge platform that offers a biological age test, reported most Americans are actually older than their biological age.

The company's survey found 60% of users are an average of 3.13 years older in real terms than their chronological age, yet most were clueless about this fact.

Appearances can be deceiving, especially when you're talking about Parmesan cheese, according to recent reports which indicate that a lot of what is sold as Parmesan is anything but.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is building a case against one cheese processor, Castle Cheese of Slipper Rock, Pa., alleging that its "100 percent real Parmesan" contains fillers including wood pulp, Bloomberg News reports.

The FDA began investigating Castle back in November 2012 after receiving a tip. In July 2013, it sent the company a warning letter saying it had found "doctored" Parmesan in Castle's products.

In fact, said the FDA, some of what Castle labeled as "100 percent grated Parmesan" contained "no Parmesan cheese" whatsoever.

Bloomberg ran independent lab tests on various brands claiming to be "100 percent" Parmesan and found much the same thing. Walmart's Parmesan tested at 7.8 percent while Whole Foods' 365 brand came out with 0.3 percent cellulose. Kraft had 3.8 percent, Bloomberg found, to cite just a few examples. The companies all said they are investigating. 

America has a sleep problem. So says the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), reporting that its research shows more than a third of American adults are not getting enough sleep on a regular basis.

The American Academy of Sleep Medicine and the Sleep Research Society recommend adults between 18 and 60 years old sleep at least seven hours each night to promote optimal health and well-being.

People who can't fall asleep, or have their sleep interrupted by periods of restlessness, are at greater risk of developing chronic conditions such as obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke, and even mental distress.

The proliferation of television commercials for special mattresses and pillows suggests there is a significant market for these products among people who find it hard to get enough sleep.

“As a nation we are not getting enough sleep,” Dr. Wayne Giles, director of CDC’s Division of Population Health, said in a release.

Lifestyle changes

He recommends lifestyle changes such as going to bed at the same time each night and getting up at the same time each morning. Turning off or removing televisions, computers, mobile devices from the bedroom, can also help people get the healthy sleep they need, he says.

Some people may find it hard to get the proper amount of sleep because they suffer from one of any number of sleep disorders. The National Sleep Foundation says delayed sleep phase disorder (DSPD), officially called circadian rhythm sleep disorder, delayed sleep phase type, is among the more common disorders. It's an inability to fall asleep at a desired, conventional clock time and awaken at a socially acceptable morning time.

Insomnia

Insomnia is perhaps the most common sleep-related disorder. A brief episode of difficulty sleeping is called acute insomnia, and is usually caused by a stressful life event. Chronic insomnia is a long-term pattern of difficulty sleeping. Insomnia is usually considered chronic if a person has trouble falling asleep or staying asleep at least three nights per week for three months or longer. It can have many causes.

The CDC is urging healthcare providers to routinely assess patients’ sleep patterns and discuss sleep-related problems such as snoring and excessive daytime sleepiness. It would also like providers to do more to educate patients about the importance of sleep to their health.

To learn more about sleep and its effect on your health, check out this CDC resource.

As we reported, consumers often consider an engagement ring’s history when it comes to deciding how much they’re willing to pay for it. In an analysis of over 1.5 million eBay listings, researchers found that rings disclosed as the product of a divorce or failed relationship were significantly less likely to sell.

To offer another perspective on this subject, we spoke with Mara Opperman, co-founder of I Do Now I Don’t -- an online marketplace where users can buy or sell secondhand wedding rings. Opperman says she sees a very different buyer reaction to used rings.  

“Honestly, once a client finds a ring they love on our Marketplace, they are more so excited by the opportunity to give it a second chance than they are apprehensive about its past,” says Opperman. She adds that while each transaction is different, most clients actually enjoy hearing the stories behind their rings; it adds to their feeling of excitement on the ring having found a new, loving home.

More than often, says Opperman, clients enter the I Do Now I Don’t marketplace already knowing the rings are no longer being worn for one reason or another. “The specific history of a piece is often more a selling point to the client, or it’s irrelevant,” she says.

Environmental consequences

Opperman also notes that the rings on I Do Now I Don’t are more in line with the values of environmentally conscious consumers. With all the consequences surrounding diamond mining, she says, many would rather purchase an item secondhand -- or “preloved” -- than purchase a brand new diamond.

“When purchasing secondhand jewelry,” says Opperman, “the social and environmental debt has already been paid.”

“New” is relative

Most people don’t realize that the majority of diamonds sold as “new” have had a long life beforehand and are just re-cut, or re-polished and re-set before being sold in stores, she says.

“Retail jewelers nationwide often visit our site to buy diamonds and rings off of our Marketplace to sell in their stores,” says Opperman. She says I Do Now I Don’t strives to break the myth that “pre-loved” engagement rings are of lesser value, monetarily or symbolically.

When asked if the Marketplace is more of a seller’s market or a buyer’s market, she says that the success rate is fairly equal across the board. Sellers receive a much higher price than any other local jeweler can pay, and simultaneously, buyers can purchase fully vetted jewelry at prices well below retail.

“Overall it’s a win-win situation for both the buyers and sellers,” says Opperman, adding that there is an additional benefit to sellers on the site.

“If a piece doesn’t sell on our Marketplace, our expert buyers at DEL GATTO (which I Do Now I Don’t has recently merged with) will make you a Direct Offer," she says, "Guaranteeing you receive money for the diamonds, jewelry or watches you’re looking to sell.”

Declines in both home prices and interest rates resulted in a slight increase in nationwide housing affordability in the last three months of 2015.

The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB)/Wells Fargo Housing Opportunity Index (HOI) shows 63.3% of new and existing homes sold during the fourth quarter were affordable to families earning the U.S. median income of $65,800. In the previous quarter, 62.2% of homes sold were affordable to median-income earners.

“Affordable home prices, attractive mortgage rates, and pent-up demand are keeping the housing market on a gradual, upward path,” said NAHB Chairman Ed Brady. “While this bodes well for housing in 2016, builders continue to face a number of challenges, including excessive and costly regulations and a lack of available lots and skilled labor.”

The national median home price fell from $231,000 in the third quarter to $226,000 in the fourth, while average mortgage rates dipped from 4.18% to 4.09%.

Most and least affordable

Youngstown-Warren-Boardman, Ohio-Pa., was rated the nation’s most affordable major housing market, with previous leader Syracuse, N.Y., falling to the second slot. In Youngstown-Warren-Boardman, 90.1% of all new and existing homes sold in last year’s fourth quarter were affordable to families earning the area’s median income of $53,700.

Rounding out the top five affordable major housing markets in respective order were Scranton-Wilkes-Barre, Pa.; Toledo, Ohio; and Columbia, S.C.

For the 13th consecutive quarter, San Francisco-San Mateo-Redwood City, Calif. was the nation’s least affordable major housing market. There, just 10.4% of homes sold in the fourth quarter were affordable to families earning the area’s median income of $103,400.

Other major metros at the bottom of the affordability chart were located in California. In descending order, they included Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale; Santa Ana-Anaheim-Irvine; San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara; and Santa Rosa-Petaluma.

“The signs point to continuing growth in home sales,” said NAHB Chief Economist David Crowe. “We’ve seen an improvement in affordability due to favorable home prices and interest rates. Steady employment and economic growth, along with rising consumer confidence and pent-up demand will also help encourage more buyers to enter the marketplace.”

Jobless claims

In other economic news, the Department of Labor (DOL) reports first-time applications for state unemployment benefits fell by 7,000 in the week ending February 13 to a seasonally adjusted 262,000 the lowest level in 12 weeks.

Officials say there were no special factors affecting the claims level.

The four-week moving average, which is considered a more accurate gauge because it lacks the weekly tally's volatility, was down 8,000 from the previous week to 273,250.

The complete report is available on the DOL website.

Lipari Foods of Warren, Mich., is recalling various raw pistachio products packaged by sister company JLM.

The products may be contaminated with Salmonella.

There are no reported illnesses in connection with these products to date.

The following products are being recalled:

The recalled products were distributed to food service and retail stores throughout Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Wisconsin and West Virginia.

What to do

Customers who purchased the recalled products should not consume them, but return them to the place of purchase.

Consumers with questions may call customer service at 1-800-729-3354, from8:15 am – 4:30 pm (EST) Monday through Friday.

Volkswagen Group of America is recalling 825 model year 2011-2015 Touareg Hybrids manufactured March 20, 2010, to April 11, 2015.

The hybrid battery tray may not drain water sufficiently. If water collects in the hybrid battery tray, it may cause an electrical short in the high voltage battery increasing the risk of a fire.

What to do

Volkswagen will notify owners, and dealers will install a fitted drain valve to allow water to drain properly, free of charge. The recall is expected to begin in late February 2016.

Owners may contact Volkswagen customer service at 1-800-893-5298. Volkswagen's number for this 53B8.

Forever Cheese of Long Island City, N.Y., is recalling 40 cases of Mitica brand Pecorino Aged Cheese in Walnut Leaves (Pecorino Foglie di Noci).

The product may be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes.

There have been no reported illnesses related to this potential contamination to date.

The recalled product is from one production code NOC15313 (found on shipping case only) and invoiced as Lot X2537 which the retailer or distributor would be familiar with. Each shipping case contains two wheels of varying weights; each wheel weighs a minimum of 2 lbs. It has a natural grayish rind, and will be labeled at the point of sale at the retail level or on a restaurant menu.

The cheese was shipped to distributors between January 27 and February 3, 2016, and was further sold to retailers and restaurants located in Los Angeles, Cleveland, Philadelphia, New York, Colorado, Vermont, Virginia, Florida and Connecticut.

What to do

Customers should not consume product, but contact the retailer or the company for a full refund.

Consumers with questions may contact Sarah Weisensel at 1-888-930-8693, Monday through Friday, 9 am – 5 pm (EST).

Toyota Motor Sales, USA is recalling approximately 1.1 million model year 2006-2012 RAV4 and model year 2012-2014 RAV4 EV vehicles.

The recalled vehicles are equipped with lap-shoulder seatbelts in both second-row outboard seats. There is a possibility that, in the event of a very severe front crash, the lap belt webbing could contact a portion of the metal seat cushion frame, become cut and separate.

If this occurs, the seat belt may not properly restrain the occupant, which could increase the risk of injury.

Toyota dealers will add resin covers to the metal seat cushion frame at no cost.

What to do

Consumers with questions may call Toyota customer service at 1-800-331-4331 or Lexus customer service at 1-800-255-3987.