99 episodes

A discussion on auto safety issues and technological developments, in hopes of providing consumers and enthusiasts with a better understanding of modern vehicles, safety systems, and current issues in the auto industry.

There Auto Be A Law Center for Auto Safety

    • Leisure
    • 4.9 • 8 Ratings

A discussion on auto safety issues and technological developments, in hopes of providing consumers and enthusiasts with a better understanding of modern vehicles, safety systems, and current issues in the auto industry.

    There's no place like safety and the pucker factor

    There's no place like safety and the pucker factor

    That scrappy Tesla is still in the news for safety issues. NHTSA has requested more data about their Autopilot recall from December. With over 20 crashes since then there are some questions that need to be answered. And the DOJ and SEC are investigating them about their self driving claims. Drunk driving has been increasing but enforcement has declined. We discuss solutions that are available today but that manufacturers and Congress don't want to act on. Aurora is ready to put there self driving semi's on the road and this inspires Fred to come up with a new business idea. Michael suggests that the EPA regulate the fire retardants in cars so that we don't get exposed to horrible chemicals. Plus Recall Roundup.
    This Weeks Links
    https://www.autosafety.org/support-us/https://money.usnews.com/investing/news/articles/2024-05-08/exclusive-in-tesla-autopilot-probe-us-prosecutors-focus-on-securities-wire-fraudhttps://www.washingtonpost.com/transportation/2024/05/04/tesla-autopilot-recall-crashes-deaths-nhtsa/https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2024/05/07/tesla-autopilot-investigation-why-remedy-didnt-work/abb4dba6-0c61-11ef-ae0a-a6870885518d_story.htmlhttps://apnews.com/article/trucks-selfdriving-highways-automation-driver-083409631158f54d806d75309c4764e2https://apnews.com/article/selfdriving-semi-aurora-safety-autonomous-80a48dd862c33c62ad4284f0cf7591b5https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/drunken-driving-deaths-are-up-why-are-dui-arrests-down/ar-AA1o2mQAhttps://www.fastcompany.com/91120201/carcinogen-cars-interior-flame-retardant-chemicalshttps://ieeetv.ieee.org/channels/ssit/self-driving-cars-the-good-the-bad-the-uglyhttps://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/rcl/2024/RCLRPT-24V298-1454.PDFhttps://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/rcl/2024/RCLRPT-24V304-6178.PDFhttps://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/rcl/2024/RCLRPT-24V308-1849.PDF

    • 1 hr 7 min
    Automatic Emergency Braking and Tesla continues to disappoint

    Automatic Emergency Braking and Tesla continues to disappoint

    NHTSA has finally released a rule for Automatic Emergency Braking (AEB). We've been asking for one since 2015 so... 3 cheers for NHTSA? But the rules don't go into effect until 2029. Ugh. On the plus side IIHS updated their AEB tests and car makers have a lot of work to do. We dive deep into AEB. And will 2024 be the year of the Tesla lawsuits? Maybe they shouldn't sell things with aspirational names like Autopilot when they keep crashing and killing people? Ford Blue Cruise is under investigation, Waymo says the bad driving of it's robotaxi was on purpose and we cover the latest recalls.
    This weeks links:
    https://www.autosafety.org/support-us/https://www.autosafety.org/av-bill-of-rights/https://www.iihs.org/news/detail/few-small-suvs-excel-in-new-iihs-front-crash-prevention-testhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywyCTIsNYis&t=3shttps://apnews.com/article/ford-blue-cruise-crash-investigation-deaths-4429651e132e3702a6a2a6a127aebbc2https://jalopnik.com/new-california-law-hopes-to-stop-robotaxis-from-dodging-1851447318https://futurism.com/self-driving-waymo-wrong-side-streethttps://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/federal-agency-investigates-effectiveness-of-recall-of-teslas-autopilot-systemhttps://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/tesla-s-autopilot-and-full-self-driving-linked-to-hundreds-of-crashes-dozens-of-deaths/ar-AA1nIyP0https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2024/04/28/tesla-trial-autopilot-lawsuit/https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/rcl/2024/RCLRPT-24V282-3386.PDFhttps://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/rcl/2024/RCLRPT-24V288-7983.PDFhttps://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/inv/2024/INOA-PE24011-11699.pdf

    • 1 hr 4 min
    Trust, but regulate

    Trust, but regulate

    The autonomous vehicle industry has their own PR team that is trying to compete with our Consumer Autonomous Vehicle Bill of Rights. It's a bunch of hogwash that they regurgitate every few years. A few Senators that can see through this have written a nice letter to NHTSA telling them to regulate AV's, British Columbia bans AV's and another Tesla driver makes the fatal mistake that his car is an AV and not lipstick on a pig. Fred gets into the dangers of AI through the story of mushrooms. Plus recall roundup that starts with a... Tesla.
    This weeks links:
    https://www.autosafety.org/support-us/https://theavindustry.org/trust-principleshttps://www.markey.senate.gov/news/press-releases/senators-markey-blumenthal-lead-call-for-stronger-action-from-federal-regulator-on-autonomous-vehicle-safety-after-high-profile-crasheshttps://www.theverge.com/2024/4/18/24133448/autonomous-vehicles-adas-blumenthal-markey-nhtsahttps://jalopnik.com/tesla-driver-who-trusted-autopilot-charged-with-killing-1851428652https://jalopnik.com/tesla-cybertruck-no-match-for-car-wash-1851417011https://www.thedrive.com/news/self-driving-cars-banned-in-british-columbiahttps://www.extremetech.com/cars/mercedes-becomes-first-automaker-to-sell-level-3-self-driving-direct-tohttps://www.citizen.org/article/mushroom-risk-ai-app-misinformation/https://www.ibm.com/topics/artificial-intelligencehttps://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/rcl/2024/RCLRPT-24V276-7026.PDFhttps://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/rcl/2024/RCLRPT-24V274-3413.PDFhttps://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/rcl/2024/RCLRPT-24V275-7192.PDFhttps://usa.streetsblog.org/2024/04/22/five-car-culture-euphemisms-we-need-to-stop-using

    • 1 hr
    Road diets and bad Tesla

    Road diets and bad Tesla

    Could your road go on a diet? Maybe it should as it could make it safer. Did you spend too much money on a stainless tank and are now suffering from unintended acceleration? Contact Tesla and ask if you've been Cyber Trucked. Turbo roundabouts, bad Tesla software updates, daylight savings time and car crashes an update on the Consumer Autonomous Vehicle Bill of Rights and lots of recalls.
    This weeks links:
    Support the Center for Auto Safetyhttps://jalopnik.com/tesla-cybertruck-hit-with-stop-sale-because-of-unintend-1851409651https://www.businessinsider.com/tiktoker-trapped-hot-car-tesla-locked-her-inside-software-update-2024-4https://www.iihs.org/news/detail/changing-the-clocks-helps-pedestrians-but-hurts-motoristshttps://www.governing.com/transportation/one-citys-quest-to-rein-in-reckless-drivinghttps://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/turbo-roundabout-california-update-19404019.phphttps://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/rcl/2024/RCLRPT-24V267-6161.PDFhttps://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/rcl/2024/RCLRPT-24E032-1614.PDFhttps://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/rcl/2024/RCLRPT-24V255-4634.PDFhttps://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/rcl/2024/RCLRPT-24V256-2391.PDFhttps://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/rcl/2024/RCLRPT-24V257-2023.PDFhttps://www.autosafety.org/av-bill-of-rights/

    • 1 hr 4 min
    Tesla and stunning negligence

    Tesla and stunning negligence

    Tesla settles an Autopilot case before the trial starts which makes sense since Elon said they never fight true claims. Another Telsa case involving a 2 year that managed to start the car and crash into his mom has begun and Elon says that his robotaxi's will be announced real soon. Our expert opinion is that Tesla won't produce a robo-taxi within the next 5 years. Don't get high and drive because it's dangerous and the sobriety checks are so poor that you might wind up in jail for a really long time even if you're sober. Fred covers reaction time and we cover some recalls. Enjoy.
    This weeks links:
    https://www.wsj.com/business/autos/tesla-fatal-autopilot-crash-trial-33936b42https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/in-2018-crash-tesla-s-autopilot-just-followed-the-lane-lines/ar-BB1ld85Ohttps://www.kron4.com/news/bay-area/tesla-trial-company-sued-after-toddler-crashes-model-x-into-mom/https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/teslas-bet-robotaxis-is-long-way-paying-off-2024-04-05/https://www.repairerdrivennews.com/2024/04/09/kentucky-governor-vetoes-allowing-avs-on-state-roads/https://www.benzinga.com/markets/cannabis/24/04/38134128/detection-of-cannabis-in-bodily-fluids-not-correlated-with-driving-impairment-new-review-showshttps://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28124573/https://phys.org/news/2017-01-guidelines-takeover-automated-vehicles.htmlhttps://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/rcl/2024/RCLRPT-24V246-1564.PDFhttps://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/rcl/2024/RCLRPT-24V240-9036.PDFhttps://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/rcl/2024/RCLRPT-24V227-7296.PDFhttps://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/rcl/2024/RCLRPT-24V214-7532.PDFhttps://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/rcl/2024/RCLRPT-24V228-1895.PDF

    • 1 hr 4 min
    Backseat safety with Dr. Emily Thomas

    Backseat safety with Dr. Emily Thomas

    This week Dr. Emily Thomas from Consumer Reports joins us to discuss backseat safety. Did you know that there is technology to remind you not to leave your kids in the car? And it's not standardized or required, Dr. Thomas walks us through the tech, the safety of car seats and how Consumer Reports conducts testing for these items. It's a good one.
    This weeks links:
    https://www.noheatstroke.org/https://www.consumerreports.org/babies-kids/car-seats/https://www.nhtsa.gov/press-releases/2022-traffic-deaths-2023-early-estimateshttps://www.autosafety.org/support-us/

    • 1 hr 3 min

Customer Reviews

4.9 out of 5
8 Ratings

8 Ratings

WesWannabe ,

Auto safety can be fun!!

Great discussions about issues that affect everyone who drives, rides in or might potentially get run over by a car.

!!Listener123!! ,

Great minus the snark

Substantive content is great but the snark is…a lot. Especially from the host. Wish they would tone that down since it detracts from the show.

APC123apc ,

Finally some good content that cuts out the ads

I’m loving the podcast. Had no idea that there is so little regulation with all the cool system in cars today. I thought that there had to be some level of testing. But no it seems every car company can put whatever “advanced” system it wants in place and not test it.

Fun. Smart and funny.

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