Mapped: Europe’s Pollution Problem. US Treasury inquires about ISIS use of Toyota vehicles - CNNPolitics.com. In a statement, Toyota said it is part of a broader U.S. Treasury inquiry looking more closely at how international supply chains and capital flow into the Middle East. The request of Toyota regarding its trucks was first reported by ABC News. Toyota is "committed to complying fully with the laws and regulations of each country or region where we operate and require our dealers and distributors to do the same. We are supporting the U.S. The U.S. Opinion: How to defeat ISIS: 10 ideas Lewis said it's impossible for any automaker to completely control how vehicles could be misappropriated, stolen or resold by independent third parties. "Toyota has a strict policy to not sell vehicles to potential purchasers who may use or modify them for paramilitary or terrorist activities, and we have procedures and contractual commitments in place to help prevent our products from being diverted for unauthorized military use," Lewis said.
GM stock is eating Ford's dust. Ford shares are doing much better than GM's this year. That trend is likely to continue. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Paul R. La Monica. Other than Time Warner, the parent of CNNMoney, Abbott Laboratories and AbbVie, La Monica does not own positions in any individual stocks. Corvette or Mustang? Auto enthusiasts can debate whether GM or Ford makes better vehicles forever. But when it comes to Wall Street, there is no dispute. Both companies reported their second-quarter results Thursday morning. GM drove its Chevy to the levee, and the levee was dry. Related: GM recalls 718,00 more vehicles Meanwhile, Ford investors could bust out in a celebratory rendition of Mustang Sally. So what should investors do now?
Related: Full coverage of the GM recall There are some compelling reasons why GM may look more attractive than Ford. The stock is cheaper. Warren Buffett is a fan. The worst of the recall woes may be over. Related: GM to pay victims at least $400 million. Ford recalls affect 1.4 million vehicles - May. 29, 2014. About 196,000 Explorers are being recalled for a steering issue, one of four recalls announced Thursday by Ford. NEW YORK (CNNMoney) The steering issues impact 915,000 Ford Escapes and Mercury Mariners from model years 2008 through 2011, and about 196,000 Ford Explorers from 2011 through 2013. Faulty sensors and electrical connections could cause the vehicles to lose power steering, making steering more difficult and increasing the risk of a crash. Not all vehicles have the same issue, Ford (F, Fortune 500) said, and the fix involves either replacing a part or a software upgrade.
Ford is aware of 20 accidents and eight injuries that might be related to the steering problems. The automaker is also recalling 196,600 Taurus sedans from model years 2010 through 2014. It believes 18 fires are connected to the issue. Ford said the fix would replace the part. The fourth recall involves floor mats that can be improperly installed and come in contact with the accelerator pedal. Hungarian Refugee Becomes Car Parts Billionaire in Canada. Frank Hasenfratz got his first taste of entrepreneurship as a teenager in postwar Budapest, fixing motorbikes with spare parts he fabricated in a country wracked by shortages. He made a few extra bucks renting out the bikes until the customers returned to pick them up. Everything changed when the Soviet Union invaded Hungary in 1956 to crush an anti-Communist uprising. He took up arms against the Red Army, then fled his homeland to avoid arrest, arriving in Canada in May 1957.
He started his first company in the basement of his Ontario bungalow seven years after leaving his native land. Today, Linamar Corp. Having a portable skill was something he said his father taught him after the Hungarian Communists had forcibly deported him and his family from their home in 1948. “My father said, ‘Look, the Communists took everything. Linamar assembles vehicle engines and transmissions, and designs and builds gear systems at nine factories in North America, Europe and Asia. Linamar Corp. Close Open. General Motors announces another big ignition-related recall.
The company is recalling 2.19 million of the same models to fix a problem that allows keys to be removed from ignitions that are not in the "off" position. Replacement parts for cars at the center of a massive General Motors recall for defective ignition switches began arriving at dealerships across this country just this week. If car owners have already gotten repairs made, they'll need to make an additional trip to their dealerships. On Thursday, General Motors said there's another safety problem plaguing the same vehicles.
The company is recalling 2.19 million of the same Chevrolet Cobalt, HHR, Saturn Ion, Sky, Pontiac G5 and Solstice models to fix a problem that allows keys to be removed from ignitions that are not in the "off" position. In at least one case, a vehicle rolled away in a parking lot and resulted in a crash and injury, according to GM, which said it is aware of "several hundred" complaints about keys coming out of ignitions. During Congressional hearings last week, Sen. Watch Jon Stewart and the Daily Show skewer GM over ignition recalls. We love a good Jon Stewart take down rant. The Daily Show host has grown to be a master, taking aim at targets as common as the politics and as unusual as Chicago-style pizza (to this day, one of his funniest and most accurate tirades). While Stewart is not a car-crazed comedian like Jay Leno, he's addressed the industry in the past, most notably with the "Toyotathon of Death.
" Now, he's put together a piece on General Motors and its ignition switch recall. As he so often does, Stewart points out the absurdity of the recall story, but not before starting with CEO Mary Barra's introduction by Dan Akerson. Stewart isn't done there, though. Fair warning, there is some bleeped cursing here in both clips. Feds fine General Motors $28,000 for stonewalling defect probe. Last week's congressional hearings into a General Motors defect linked to 13 deaths and a recall of 2.8 million vehicles worldwide produced more heat than light, in part due to the deference of GM chief executive Mary Barra to an internal company probe, saying it would provide more answers in due course.
Today, federal regulators announced that line wasn't good enough for them, hitting GM with a mostly symbolic fine of $7,000 a day and threatening to take the automaker to court if it doesn't cooperate with the government's investigation. Related gallery: GM cars affected by recall The fine, revealed in a letter from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, marks an extraordinary deterioration in relations between the automaker and the agency, which is also facing congressional questions about why it didn't act sooner to force GM's recall of faulty ignition switches. When NHTSA demanded answers, it said GM referred to the investigation by attorney Anton Valukas. The 57-cent part at the center of GM's recall crisis - Apr. 2, 2014. The old and new version of the tiny part that is at the center of the GM recall probe.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) The faulty part was redesigned in 2006, but the part number was never changed. Typically, any time a car part is redesigned, the manufacturer changes the part number. The fact that the part number wasn't changed prevented federal safety investigators, and even some GM employees, from figuring out what caused the accidents. Accidents declined in newer vehicle models, but investigators could not figure out why, since there didn't appear to be any change in how they were manufactured. Critics of the company allege that the lack of a new part number is the sign of a deliberate cover up. CEO Mary Barra couldn't explain to lawmakers at a hearing Wednesday why the part number wasn't changed, but said that it was "completely unacceptable.
" Related: 7 takeaways from GM recall hearing Sen. Related: GM - Steps to a recall nightmare. GM's recall nightmare - May. 21, 2014. NEW YORK (CNNMoney) Here's the count: Since that filing in June 2009, GM has sold 12.1 million vehicles in the United States. Total U.S. recalls: 13.8 million. <div class="boxHeading"><a href=" you think GM cars safe? </a></div> Before the latest rash of recalls, the past five years had been good for the "New GM. " It recaptured lost market share. Then on Feb. 14, GM announced a recall of about 800,000 cars due to an ignition switch problem that could cause the cars to shut off while being driven.
It has been engulfed by the recall crisis ever since. The company's problems have snowballed. Recalls hit a record GM has issued more recalls this year than ever before. The surge is the result of new standards at GM. GM named a new safety chief and also hired 35 additional investigators to follow up on reports of problems. The company is going to great lengths to show how serious it's taking matters. Scrutiny mounts Related: GM - Steps to a recall nightmare. Toyota Abandons Plans for Widespread Electric Car Sales | Business. Toyota executives announced Monday they are scrapping plans to sell a new line of electric vehicles, a possible indication the electric vehicle market in the United States has failed to gain traction.
"The current capabilities of electric vehicles do not meet society's needs, whether it may be the distance the cars can run, or the costs, or how it takes a long time to charge," Takeshi Uchiyamada, Toyota's vice chairman, told Reuters at a press conference in Tokyo. Electric vehicle advocates are crying foul, accusing Toyota of using widely known public misconceptions about electric cars to further its agenda of promoting hybrid vehicles, an area that has been very lucrative for the Japanese car maker. “If I could swear, I would swear,” said Jay Friedland, legislative director for Plug In America, a non-profit working to speed up the shift from gas to plug-in vehicles. Friedland says he owns a Toyota Rav 4 Electric Vehicle that he’s been driving for more than a decade. U.S.