Complaint from three owners of Toyota Highlanders leads to investigation.

Forbes (5/10, Cheryl, Jensen, 9.96M) reports that according to a report posted on the NHTSA website three drivers have reported that the steering wheels of their Toyota Highlanders have come off while they were driving. As a result of the complaint, the NHTSA will be conducting an investigation and will determine whether the 733,000 Toyota Highlanders between the model years of 2008-13 should be recalled.

NHTSA warns owners to park Ford pickups with Takata airbags until fixed.

Bloomberg News (5/7, 4.02M) reports the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is urging owners of 2006 Ford Ranger and Mazda B-Series pickups to keep their vehicles parked until the Takata airbags inside the vehicle have been replaced. NHTSA Deputy Administrator Heidi King reiterated the agency’s warning on Monday, “I cannot stress strongly enough the urgency of this recall – these air bags are dangerous,” adding, “Every vehicle must be accounted for now.” Bloomberg reports Ford has replaced the airbags in about 49 percent of the 33,320 affected Rangers and 55 percent of the 2,205 recalled Mazda vehicles.

Waymo vehicle operating autonomously involved in crash in Arizona.

The CBS Evening News (5/4, story 13, 0:25, Glor, 5.63M) broadcast on a collision between one of Waymo’s autonomous vehicles and a Honda in Chandler, Arizona on Friday. The Evening News reported that “the police there say the driver of a Honda swerved into that van, actually, to avoid hitting another car.”

        CBS News (5/4, 5.59M) reports the Waymo “vehicle was in autonomous mode but there was an occupant in the driver’s seat who suffered minor injuries, police said.” According to the story, Chandler Police Department spokesperson Seth Tyler “said the Waymo vehicle was in the wrong place at the wrong time and would not be considered at fault, as Arizona is a no fault state.”

Audi recalls 1.2 million vehicles for coolant pump fire risk.

CBS News (4/25, 5.73M) reports that Audi is recalling about 1.2 million cars and SUVs worldwide because the “electric coolant pumps can overheat and possibly cause a fire.” The recall covers the 2013 to 2016 A4, the 2013 to 2017 A5, the 2012 to 2015 A6, and the Q5 SUV from 2013 to 2017. In January 2017, Audi attempted to fix the problem with software updates but didn’t solve the problem.

Tens of thousands of Americans still driving cars with defective Takata airbags.

The Washington (DC) Post (4/22, Halsey, 15.03M) reports Honda said there are still 60,000 vehicles equipped with the most dangerous Takata airbags that can rupture and potentially kill the driver or passenger. Honda says that 62,307 vehicles are still equipped with the “Alphas” that have about a 50 percent chance of rupturing if deployed, even in a relatively small collision. Rick Schostek, executive vice president of Honda North America, says Honda is “good at repairing vehicles,” but identifying the current owners and convincing them to bring their vehicles in for repairs “has proved a difficult challenge.” National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Acting Administrator Heidi King told the Senate Commerce Committee last month that while automakers have “made progress” in replacing defective Takata airbags, the “progress is uneven” and “Overall completion rates are not where we want them to be.”

Carfax study estimates there are more than 57 million vehicles on US roads with unfixed recalls.

MLive (MI) (4/11, Raven, 834K) reports that a new Carfax report estimates that there are more than 57 million “recalled vehicles” on the roads in the United States, down from 63 million active vehicles in 2017. California, Texas, Florida, Pennsylvania, and New York are the states with the most open vehicle recalls. Texas, Mississippi, Louisiana, New Mexico, Alabama, and Arizona have the highest percentage of open vehicle recalls. 

Arizona suspends self-driving Uber tests.

In continuing coverage of last Sunday’s accident in which a self-driving Uber car struck and killed a pedestrian in Arizona, the Wall Street Journal (3/26, Lazo, Bensinger, Subscription Publication, 6.8M) reports Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey sent a letter to Uber demanding that the company stop testing its autonomous cars on public roads in Arizona. The New York Times (3/26, Wakabayashi, Subscription Publication, 13.35M) reports Arizona had been allowing Uber to test its vehicles in the state if Uber “would prioritize public safety as it tested the technology,” and the letter, sent to Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, said, “The incident that took place on March 18 is an unquestionable failure to comply with this expectation.” The Times calls the letter a “reversal from what has been an open-arms policy by the state, heralding its lack of regulation as an asset to lure autonomous vehicle testing — and tech jobs.” The Arizona Republic (3/26, 984K) similarly writes that in 2016, Ducey “issued an executive order welcoming self-driving car companies to the state without any special oversight.”

        Reuters (3/26) reports Ducey wrote that the video was “disturbing and alarming, and it raises many questions about the ability of Uber to continue testing in Arizona.” Bloomberg News (3/26, Newcomer, 3.41M) reports Ducey said “improving public safety” had been the reason Arizona was trying to attract self-driving vehicle tests to the state, but “Arizona will not tolerate any less than an unequivocal commitment to public safety.” Bloomberg reports that a video showing the moments before the crash “showed the Uber car moving at a constant speed with no attempt to slow down or swerve in the moments before the collision,” and both Waymo and Intel have released statements in the past week that their self-driving vehicles would have detected the pedestrian and responded to the situation.