Tag: blamed

Report: Ford blamed in drug mule lawsuit

Filed under: Government/Legal, Ford

If a college student is caught smuggling drugs across the border, one might think the kid got what was coming to him. But when a Mexican student at the University of Texas in El Paso was caught by Border Patrol agents with duffel bags filled with marijuana in his trunk, the man used a classic excuse: He claimed they weren’t his.

While a claim like that is almost unbelievable, Ricardo Magallanes, the student, is now suing Ford for handling its vehicles’ key codes negligently enough to allow drug smugglers to break into his Ford Focus and stash the drugs, The Daily Caller reports. The twist here is that four other people who lived in Juarez and worked in El Paso were involved in the same type of scheme – allegedly unwittingly, just like Magallanes – and all the cars were Fords except one model from General Motors. FBI agents also found an employee at a Dallas Ford dealership that had accessed the key codes to all four of the cannabis-stuffed Fords.

While we all may not own Fords, the case still causes us slight paranoia. We’ll definitely be checking our trunks before we cross any more international borders.

Ford blamed in drug mule lawsuit originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 30 Jul 2013 13:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Report: Keyless start systems blamed for CO-related fatalities

Filed under: Government/Legal, Safety, Technology, Lexus

Toyota Camry Hybrid pushbutton startAccording to WMGT Channel 41 of Georgia, automakers are facing increasing scrutiny regarding the safety of their keyless start systems. According to the NBC affiliate, there are at least three carbon-dioxide related deaths – one in New York, and a pair in Florida – that are being blamed on the technology.

In one case, the family of a Whitestone, New York man is suing Toyota for his wrongful death. According to an older report from the New York Daily News, the family alleges that on February 27, 2009, Mary Rivera parked her Lexus in the attached garage of the home she shared with Ernest Codelia Jr. and accidentally left the engine running. The next day, Codelia was found dead in his bed of carbon monoxide poisoning while Rivera was discovered unconscious on the bedroom floor. She survived the incident, but suffers from brain damage as a result.

Codelia’s family is alleging that that the keyless ignition system on the Lexus is to blame for the tragedy and that Toyota should have installed a shutdown switch to kill the engine if the vehicle is unoccupied or unmoved after a certain period of time. The lawsuit says that the keyless ignition system violates federal safety standards because owners can leave the vehicle running even with the key fob in their pocket.

It is at this point that we must note that in our experience, Toyota’s keyless ignition mechanism operates in essentially the same manner as every other system used by other automakers, and that cars equipped with the technology are programmed to deliver both audible and visual warnings if the driver attempts to leave the car without first shutting off the engine.

Rivera, meanwhile, has no recollection of leaving the car running, presumably because the engine is so quiet. The family’s lawyer says that she “somehow feels responsible” for the tragedy. Thanks for the tip, Jon!

[Sources: WMGT Channel 41, New York Daily News]

Report: Keyless start systems blamed for CO-related fatalities originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 07 Feb 2011 18:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Top Gear, Clarkson blamed for Reliant Robin prank [w/video]

Filed under: Etc., Videos, Renault, UK, Humor

Click above to view the video after the jump

The Reliant Robin received some time in the spotlight recently when Top Gear superstar Jeremy Clarkson took the three-wheeled auto on a precarious 14-mile journey through the laws of physics. Clarkson managed to roll the tipsy tricycle a bunch of times during the hilarious bit, reminding us again that the instability of three-wheeled vehicles probably isn’t worth the improved fuel economy – at least for those trikes with the single wheel leading the way. The stunt may have captured the attention of some bird-brained pranksters over in the UK, as Barry Cloughton can attest.

The BBC reports that Cloughton’s Reliant Robin was overturned twice in one weekend in what the retired plumber calls a “copy-cat attack.” The motorized trike was first tipped one Friday night as it sat outside Cloughton’s house. After the Robin was returned to its proper upright stance, the vehicle was overturned a second time the following night, this time damaging the side mirror and spilling gasoline all over the driveway and into the man’s garden. Sargent Steve Reid of St. Austell Police stresses that this situation could have become deadly if the petrol were to somehow ignite, adding that pranksters have been tipping vehicles since long before Clarkson first went topsy turvy in June.

On a somewhat odd side note, Cloughton calls his Robin a “good car,” adding that he only turned over a Robin one time after hitting a slippery patch. That’s it, just the one time? Call us crazy, but even flipping one time is probably one time too many. Click past the break to watch Clarkson’s travails with the Robin.

[Source: BBC]

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Top Gear, Clarkson blamed for Reliant Robin prank [w/video] originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 12 Aug 2010 14:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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