Continue reading Chrysler Recalls 600,000 Vehicles

Chrysler Recalls 600,000 Vehicles originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 07 Jun 2010 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading More Recalls Involving Toyota SUVs

More Recalls Involving Toyota SUVs originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 29 Apr 2010 09:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

More bad news for Japanese auto maker Toyota Motor Corp. (TM), with the company announcing that it was recalling around 600,000 Sienna minivans sold in the United States.

The latest in a string of safety concerns involves potentially rusted spare tire cables that could break, allowing the minivan's spare tire to bust loose and tumble into the road.

Continue reading Sienna Minivans Join the Toyota Recall List

Sienna Minivans Join the Toyota Recall List originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sat, 17 Apr 2010 09:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Toyota to Test Safety on All SUVs

Toyota to Test Safety on All SUVs originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 15 Apr 2010 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Toyota Suspends Sale of Lexus SUV over Safety Concerns

Toyota Suspends Sale of Lexus SUV over Safety Concerns originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 14 Apr 2010 09:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading A Runaway Prius and More Acceleration Problems at Toyota

A Runaway Prius and More Acceleration Problems at Toyota originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 09 Mar 2010 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Toyota to recall around 3.8 million vehicles

Toyota to recall around 3.8 million vehicles originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 30 Sep 2009 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Japan questions Crocs' safety

Japan questions Crocs' safety originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 21 Apr 2008 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Hasbro

Easy-Bake Ovens recalled by Hasbro ... again originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 19 Jul 2007 15:26:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Last week the House voted a whopping 411-3 to approve HR 1773, the Safe American Roads Act of 2007, which would set strict criteria and additional oversight of the DOT's Mexican pilot program announced in February. The vote attempts to slow the Department of Transportation's proposed pilot plan to a crawl until the DOT inspector general can certify in advance its department has met all 22 conditions Congress set back in 2001, before the U.S. southern border would be opened. The measure would require the DOT to publish detailed plans for its program, including the results of its safety audits of Mexican carriers, as well as giving U.S. truckers access to Mexico when the border opened.

If the U.S. Department of Transportation finds Mexican trucking companies violate U.S. safety regulations, the proposed pilot program would be terminated immediately.

Rep. Shelley Moore Capito (Republican, W.Va), a House Transportation Committee member, said "There are serious flaws in the department's pilot program, and this legislation addresses them." One of the new law's provisions, which Capito backs, is the requirement that Mexican truck drivers speak English proficiently. Rep. Capito endorsed the law giving Mexican truckers access to U.S. roads only if they follow U.S. safety rules.

Before the vote, the DOT said it was almost ready to allow trucks from Mexico into the U.S., but the House, and other special interest groups, obviously disagree. Ken Hall, a Teamsters International Vice President, said Mexico has lax or nonexistent trucking laws. Last year, [the Teamsters] hired an independent investigator who found Mexican drivers had bad equipment and routinely used drugs." Jacqueline Gillan, vice president of Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, said "The vote was a bipartisan check on a runaway demonstration project that lacked any public input and violated current law."

The DOT now says it could be as late as 2008 before Congress's new criteria are met.

House imposes stronger restrictions to limit Mexican trucks in the U.S. originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 21 May 2007 18:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Not child's play: Safety an issue at Blackstone Group's LegoLand? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 30 Apr 2007 14:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Improving travel for the fairer sex

Improving travel for the fairer sex originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 10 Apr 2007 11:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading The price of vice: Nevada ranked most-dangerous state

The price of vice: Nevada ranked most-dangerous state originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 28 Mar 2007 11:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

A brief look at railroad freight traffic numbers offers some tell-tale signs as to where our economy is heading. I like to review railroad loading statistics because they can give you a crystal-ball edge in guessing where the big money is leaning in the volatile economic food chain. Basically, right now the numbers are firm year over year, but the freight demographics are what I find interesting.

According to the Association of American Railroads: Total rail freight volume is up 8.9% as compared to 2006, but while container volume is up about 14%, trailer volume is down 6.2%. That indicates that for the year so far, the railroads are probably moving more imported product than domestic product.

While total carload freight (not including inter-modal) was down nearly 1% this week as compared to the same week last year, total ton-miles increased 0.3%, indicating that less freight is moving but it is traveling more miles. That is clearly due to the decreasing inventories of manufactured product, which should bode well for manufacturers in the second and third quarters. That's assuming that consumer spending maintains current levels.

Nonmetallic mineral shipments have increased nearly 20% by volume over last year. This shows strength in base chemicals, base raw materials, glass, concrete, asphalt, industrial construction, and infrastructural improvements. Metallic ore shipments are down over 50%; I believe that shows weakness most especially in steel, tin, aluminum, and copper. Lumber and wood product shipments declined nearly 25% -- no reprieve for the home building market there! Petroleum product shipments are up 9.2% year over year, and coal shipments have increased 3.1%. Here's a tip, it looks like road building and resurfacing will be a big gainer this summer!

Continue reading The economy is firm but changing: Listen to the railroads

The economy is firm but changing: Listen to the railroads originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 18 Mar 2007 13:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

March 18 through 24, 2007, marks National Poison Prevention Week and it comes with some good news.

In the 1970s there were more than 200 child deaths a year attributed to the accidental ingestion of any manner of dangerous household chemicals, personal care products, over-the-counter medications, and cleaning agents. Due to the efforts of multiple agencies, the occurrence of these unfortunate accidents has been reduced to about 36 a year.

In 2005 about 91,000 young children visited hospital emergency rooms do to unintentional poisoning, and poison control call centers fielded more than 1 million calls. By maintaining constant availability and aggressive public awareness, organizations such as the U.S. Consumer Products Safety Commission seek to further reduce accidental poison fatalities.

To prevent these incidents, CPSC recommends the following safety steps:

Continue reading National Poison Prevention Week and other good news!

National Poison Prevention Week and other good news! originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sat, 17 Mar 2007 13:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

The Consumer Products Safety Commission has levied a fine which may bode well for The Home Depot, Inc.'s (NYSE:HD) sales of Charmglow grills this coming summer. It has been reported that Nexgrill Industries has agreed to settle a claim that they allegedly failed to inform officials of a potentially dangerous gas grill defect in a timely manner. The CPSC has provisionally accepted Nexgrills agreement to pay a $300,000 fine in the matter.

Nexgrill had received reports of gas grill fires, including reports of minor injuries, and allegedly failed to report the possible defect to the CPSC for 10 months. The news release states that Nexgrill had sufficient reason to believe they were dealing with a product defect. Finally, in June of 2006, Nexgrill did announce a recall of about 16,000 of the potentially offending grills. The possible defect exists in the placement of a fuel hose which may be situated too close to the heat source and thereby may potentially separate from the burner unit and create a fire hazard.

Nexgrill has made available a retrofit heat shield which eliminates the potential hazard. You may contact them regarding this corrective measure at this web address: http://nexgrill0025.serorder.com/. With this now behind them, both companies have the coming summer to look forward to.

A civil penalty and recall may spark some sales for Home Depot originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 14 Jan 2007 16:49:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading 'Disastrous' infant car seats: Consumer Reports urges Evenflo to recall one model

'Disastrous' infant car seats: Consumer Reports urges Evenflo to recall one model originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 05 Jan 2007 16:42:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

In yet another sign of why inventories are so high for U.S. car manufacturers, the Institute for Highway Safety said that a number of foreign cars made its list of 2007 model "safest cars." No domestic models made the list. The reason appears to be that so few American cars have electronic stability control which senses when a car is in trouble and applies the necessary braking.

Cars from Audi, Saab, Subaru, Mercedes, Honda, Volvo, and Acura made the list. Especially embarrassing for U.S. companies is the fact that Hyundai, the Korean manufacturer with only a sliver of the American market, had two vehicles that received accolades.

All Detroit needs is another well-publicized reason for people to buy competing products. Without a willingness to be first to market with better safety technology, they got one.

Douglas McIntyre is a partner at 24/7 Wall St.

U.S. cars strike out on safety originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 22 Nov 2006 10:21:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Is this a line dance? Last week, Dell's recall of 4.1 billion Sony-manufactured laptop batteries must have sent every laptop manufacturer scurrying to their quality control department. I should have just gone ahead and bought the domain, "applebatteryrecall.com" right then, because here it is 10 days later and guess who's recalling Sony batteries now?

Yep, Apple. The cutest of all computer companies only has 1.8 million batteries as a part of its recall, from 12" iBook G4, 12" PowerBook G4 and 15" PowerBook G4 laptops sold between October 2003 and August 2006 in the U.S. Unfortunately for the headline writers, no Apple laptops actually caught fire, although two consumers did receive minor burns when their laptop overheated.

While no one likes a recall, it doesn't seem as if either Apple or Dell will feel it on the bottom line; and, in fact, Apple stock is up a tick on the news, 21 cents, to $67.52. Sony Corp (SNE), on the other hand, is down nearly 3% to $43.27.

[Photo courtesy Dat Nguyen]

Apple laptop battery recall: one time, just like the last time originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 24 Aug 2006 14:09:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

eBay investment in Meetup confuses some stock watchers (but not me) originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 14 Apr 2006 09:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.