Caring for your tires is essential in keeping you safe, saving you money, and reducing your vehicles environmental impact. Most newer vehicles have a tire pressure monitoring system, but by the time the warning goes off, your tires are already significantly under inflated.

The above video is a great resource put out by the NHTSA during their TireWise campaign, as a way to help consumers make smart decisions when buying and maintaining tires. For more information, visit NHTSA’s TireWise website.

General Motors will again be expanding its recall into ignition switch problems, adding an additional 971,000 vehicles that may have already been repaired for defective switches. According to GM, thousands of defective switches have been sold to dealers and parts wholesalers and may have been installed in cars from the 2008 model year and newer. Instead of trying to track down vehicles that may have been repaired with a faulty switch, the company has decided to expand the recall. Continue reading

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and Toyota have come to a $1.2 billion settlement agreement that will end a four year investigation into the inadvertent acceleration of certain Toyota vehicles. During a new conference on Wednesday, Attorney General Eric Holder criticized the automobile manufacturer for misleading consumers through statements regarding the two issues that caused sudden acceleration in certain models. Continue reading


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Congress is questioning General Motors and government safety regulators as to why it took so long to recall 1.6 million vehicles with ignition problems, after a new review of federal crash data shows 303 deaths linked to air bag failure on two of the models recalled. The review of the air bag failures by the Friedman Research Corporation, adds to the mounting reports that General Motors and safety regulators knew about the ignition defect for almost a decade before recalling over 1.6 million 2005-2007 Chevrolet Cobalt, 2003-2007 Saturn Ions, 2005-2007 Pontiac Pursuit, 2006-2007 Chevrolet HHR, 2006-2007 Pontiac Solstice, 2007 Saturn Sky, and 2007 Pontiac G5 vehicles. Continue reading

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is cracking down on automobile dealerships who use deceptive advertising to increase auto sales and service appointments. According to the consumer protection agency, automobile dealers made a variety of misrepresentations in print, internet, and video advertisements that offered zero-down financing when there are substantial fees, deceptive low-payment deals, sweepstakes for prizes that do not exist, and mailings that resemble vehicle recall notifications. Nine vehicle dealerships in six states have already agreed to a settlement that would cease deceptive ad tactics and subject dealers to a fine of $16,000 per violation. Continue reading

Lemon laws are American state laws that provide help for purchasers of cars and other consumer goods who have bought products that repeatedly fail to meet the standards of quality and performance.

Each state imposes different requirements for their lemon laws, but a basic condition common to almost all jurisdictions is that in order for the lemon law to apply, the automobile or product must have been purchased with a warranty. Products purchased “as is” are typically not covered by state or federal lemon laws.

The California lemon law applies to all new and used vehicles, whether purchased or leased, for personal and most small business use. Learn more about the California Lemon Law Requirements

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will be unveiling new regulations on Monday, that will force oil refineries to remove sulfur from all gasoline sold in the United States. The new rule will require oil refiners to install new equipment to remove the sulfur and will force automobile manufacturers to install new, cleaner burning engine technology. EPA officials say that removing the smog forming pollutant will reduce the rates of diseases associated with those pollutants and will only slightly raise the price of gasoline and cars. They estimate that the new regulation will raise the cost of gasoline by about two-thirds of 1 cent per gallon and add approximately $75 to the sticker price of cars. Continue reading

(Note: Names have been omitted and some information may have been changed to protect client privacy.)

The California Lemon law provides remedies for purchasers of vehicles that repeatedly fail to meet the standards of quality and performance as provided under the manufacturer express warranty. If a vehicle is purchased “used”, the new owner will usually be protected by the lemon law for the remainder of the warranty. This was the case with a client of ours from Carson, California who bought a certified pre owned (CPO) 2008 Audi A6 from a dealership in Long Beach. Continue reading