Crash test dummies are modeled after men despite women facing increased injury risk in car accidents

Although women face the threat of more injury risks in vehicle wrecks, the crash test dummies used in U.S. safety tests are designed almost entirely around the body of a man (AP video: Mike Householder)

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23 minutes ago

• Yahoo

New CEO of Jeep owner Stellantis starts with leadership shake-up

Antonio Filosa began his tenure as chief executive of US-European auto giant Stellantis on Monday with a leadership shake-up, as he seeks to jump-start performance at the struggling maker of Jeep, Peugeot and Fiat vehicles. The company veteran, an Italian who led Stellantis in North and South America, was named last month to succeed Portuguese CEO Carlos Tavares, who was sacked in December. Filosa, who turns 52 this week, is at the top of a 13-person leadership team with six members from France, four from Italy and three from the United States. "The team I'm announcing today draws on all that is best in Stellantis," Filosa said in a statement. Filosa will retain oversight of the North American region, the region that accounts for most company profits whose struggles last year precipitated the fall of Tavares. Doug Ostermann, an American who was chief financial officer, will oversee mergers and acquisitions while Monica Genovese replaces Maxime Picat as head of purchasing. Picat, who was once seen as a potential successor of Tavares, has been mentioned as a possible replacement for Renault's departing chief executive Luca de Meo. tsz-fmp/lth/cw Sign in to access your portfolio

The Verge

34 minutes ago

• The Verge

Tesla's robotaxi is live: here are some of the first reactions

Tesla finally did the damn thing. The company launched its hotly anticipated robotaxi service in Austin, Texas, on Sunday, June 22nd — and we're now starting to see some of the first reactions roll in. But first, we have to get a few important caveats out of the way. Tellingly, the service is not open to the general public, nor is it completely 'unsupervised,' as Elon Musk once promised. The vehicles will include Tesla-employed 'safety monitors' in the front passenger seat who can react to a dangerous situation by hitting a kill switch. Other autonomous vehicle operators would place safety monitors in the driver or passenger seats, but typically only during the testing phase. Tesla is unique in its use of safety monitors during commercial service. The rides are limited to a geofenced area of the city that has been thoroughly mapped by the company. And in some cases, Tesla is using chase cars and remote drivers as additional backup. (Some vehicles have been spotted without chase vehicles.) The service is invite only at launch, according to Tesla's website. A number of pro-Tesla influencers have received invites, which should raise questions about how unbiased these first critical reactions will be. Tesla hasn't said when the service will be available to the general public. The limited trial includes 10-20 Model Y vehicles with 'Robotaxi' branding on the side. The fully autonomous Cybercab that was first revealed last year won't be available until 2026 at the earliest. The service operates in a small, relatively safe area of Austin from 6AM to 12AM, avoiding bad weather, highways, airports, and complex intersections. Despite those hours, the robotaxi service seems to have gotten off to a slow start. Several invitees had yet to receive the robotaxi app by 1PM ET on Sunday. Sawyer Merritt, who posts pro-Tesla content on X, said he saw 30 Waymo vehicles go by while waiting for Tesla's robotaxi service to start. Musk posted at 1:12PM that the service would be available later that afternoon, adding that initial customers would pay a 'flat fee' of $4.20 for rides — a weed joke with which Musk has a troubled history. While riders waited, the company published a new robotaxi page to its website detailing a lot of the rules and guidelines of the service. Visitors are invited to sign up for updates about when Tesla's robotaxi service may come to their area. (Musk has said there could be up to a thousand robotaxis on the road 'in a few months.') After finally being granted access to the app, Merritt posted an image of the service area map, which appeared to cover a small area bordered by the Colorado River to the north, Highway 183 to the east, Highways 290 and 71 to the south, and Zilker Part to the west. And then the rides began — and they appeared to be mostly uneventful. Several invitees livestreamed themselves summoning their first cars, interacting with the UI, and then arriving at their destination. Several videos lasted hours, as the invitees would conclude a trip and then hail another car immediately after. One tester, Bearded Tesla Guy, described the app's interface as 'basically Uber.' Many had some difficulty finding the pickup location of their waiting Tesla robotaxi. 'This is like Pokemon hunting,' one person on Herbert Ong's livestream said, 'but its robotaxi hunting.' Once inside, the Tesla-employed safety monitor would ask the riders to show their robotaxi apps to prove their identities. Otherwise the safety monitors kept silent throughout the ride, despite riders trying to get them to talk. I'm assuming that Tesla will need to come up with some other way to identify their riders if they plan on removing the safety monitors from the passenger seat. Waymo, for example, asks customers to unlock their vehicle through the ridehail app. The rear screen instructs the riders to fasten their seatbelts, and after pressing an animated 'start ride' button, the vehicle gets underway. Riders can also start the ride from a similar button in the app. Since riders are registering for the robotaxi app using their preexisting Tesla profiles, they're greeted with their preferred music apps on the rear screen with all their playlists and saved tracks. The front display shows a visualization similar to consumer vehicles using Tesla's Full Self-Driving feature — even though Musk had said the robotaxis are running on a special version of FSD that's not available to the average Tesla owner. There are 'pull over,' 'stop in lane,' or 'support' buttons on the center display. Another tester, Chuck Cook, said the visualization lacked some of the controls that a normal Tesla might have. Pressing the support button places the rider in a queue as they wait for the remote operator to connect. On Cook's livestream, it took approximately two minutes before an operator finally connected. 'We appreciate you calling in,' the operator said (though the cellular connection was poor). 'We're here for any issues to support your ride.' Throughout the various trips, the robotaxis encountered a bevy of normal situations, like U-turns, speed bumps, pedestrians, construction, and more. The vehicles maintained speeds of about 40 mph or slower. Common words to describe the ride was 'smooth,' 'great,' and 'normal.' One tester said on X that they got the robotaxi to 'mess up' in a way that required the remote operator to help out — though they declined to describe it as a disengagement. Ashok Elluswamy, the head of the company's self-driving team, posted a photo of several dozen people in a room with 10 large monitors on the wall showing live camera feeds from several vehicles. 'Robotaxi launch party,' Elluswamy wrote. Where Tesla goes from here is the real challenge. Musk has said he also wants to launch a robotaxi service in California, where the regulatory process is a lot more complex than Texas. And even though he has said he wants to take things slow, he also claims that Tesla will have over a thousand driverless vehicles on the road 'within a few months.' Meanwhile, Waymo is operating more than 1,500 driverless vehicles in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Phoenix, and Austin — with plans to expand to Atlanta, Miami, and Washington, DC in the near future. The Alphabet-owned company has said it will grow its fleet to 2,000 vehicles by next year.

CBS News

38 minutes ago

• CBS News

Driving a lemon? What to know about state protections, federal warranty act

Car repairs are a pain, but if your vehicle is in the shop more than it's on the road, you could have the right to compensation under state lemon laws or the federal warranty act. Joe Siligato bought his brand new pickup truck less than a year ago, so when the low oil light came on after only a couple of months, he thought it was a fluke. Siligato, who lives in South Philadelphia, took it to his dealer to get the oil changed. But just a few months later, he said it happened again. "Two or 3,000 miles later, [the] low oil light comes on again," he said. "I told them now the engine is making noise." After multiple trips to the dealer, Siligato said he was told his brand new truck needed a brand new engine. "I'm thinking this is crazy for a $90,000 pickup truck to have this many problems," he said. Siligato sought help using the Lemon Law. He said he's hoping to get rid of the truck and get a full refund. "When they notice a symptom and they're not getting attended to, when they brought it back two or three times for the same concern, when their vehicle's in the shop for two to four weeks, then they're entitled to compensation," said Bob Silverman, an attorney who specializes in Lemon Law cases. Every state's Lemon Law is slightly different in regards to when the issue must first appear, the number of repair attempts to fix the defect, and the number of days the vehicle was out of service. Pennsylvania Lemon Law covers issues occurring in the first 12 months or 12,000 miles, whichever comes first, that cannot be fixed after three repair attempts. covers issues occurring in the first 12 months or 12,000 miles, whichever comes first, that cannot be fixed after three repair attempts. New Jersey Lemon Law covers issues occurring in the first 24 months or 24,000 miles, whichever comes first, that cannot be fixed after three repair attempts. covers issues occurring in the first 24 months or 24,000 miles, whichever comes first, that cannot be fixed after three repair attempts. Delaware Lemon Law covers issues occurring in the first 12 months that cannot be repaired after four attempts. But if state Lemon Law doesn't cover you, the federal Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act might, according to Silverman. As long as the vehicle is still under its original manufacturer's warranty and has been in the shop at least three times for the same problem, you could be entitled to compensation. It also includes a fee-shifting provision to pay for legal fees if your case is successful. In either case, Silverman said it's crucial to have proof you've tried to get the problem fixed. "It's important that a consumer collect documentation as they go along," he said. "Try not to leave the dealer without a piece of paper known as a repair order that says, 'here's what I've complained about,' 'here's what the dealer's done to investigate,' and 'here's what they found and done.'" In Siligato's case, he learned his 2024 GMC Sierra 1500 Denali is part of a recall General Motors recently announced, impacting nearly 600,000 trucks and SUVs because the V8 engine could fail. The recall impacts 2021-2024 models. Even then, Silverman says owners who are waiting for repairs due to a lack of parts might still have a Lemon Law or Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act case. Siligato said he's not interested in a replacement and wants the manufacturer to buy back his truck. Do you have a money question, a consumer issue, or a scam story you want to share? Email InYourCorner@