recall

More problems may be lurking for Toyota. Speaking at an event in San Francisco on Monday, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak waxed eloquent about a "very scary" problem with his 2010 Toyota Prius.

Wozniak was speaking at Discovery Forum 2010 when he went off topic for a few minutes and spoke about problems with his 2010 Toyota Prius.

"I don't get upset and teed off at things in life, except computers that don't work right," was his segue into the Toyota comments. Then he said he had been trying to get through to Toyota and … Read more

Toyota spends a week in hell, the U.S. tells truckers what not to do in the cab, you don't drive as fast as you think, we take a ride in a Buick that will change your mind about grandpa's brand, and we run down 12 of the hottest tech cars for 2010.

• Hearings? Really? Toyota to be grilled on Capitol Hill over accelerator issue

• Truckers & bus drivers banned from texting while driving

• 2010 Buick LaCrosse impresses us on first blush… Read more

After issuing 6.5 million vehicle recalls over the past few months, Toyota on Tuesday took the further and dramatic step of halting sales of eight models until it gets a handle on whether they are exhibiting uncontrolled acceleration and, if so, why.

Production is being halted on the 2009-'10 RAV4, Corolla, and Matrix; 2005-'10 Avalon; 2007-'10 Camry; 2010 Highlander, 2007-'10 Tundra, and 2008-'10 Sequoia. Five plants in Indiana, Texas, Kentucky, and California will be affected.

Toyota has been racing for months to get in front of whatever engineering issue may exist and the public-relations … Read more

Toyota's gas pedal problems apparently aren't caused by just floormats; GM confirms the Volt will cost just about 40 grand; "TiVo" for your car radio on more GM models; and we roll in the Mitsu Lancer Sportback Ralliart--ugly or hot? Or just ugly hot?

• Toyota issues another major recall over acceleration issues

• Toyota plans fuel cell cars by 2015

• More GM cars get "TiVo" for the radio

• Mitsu Lancer Sportback is polarizing to look at… Read more

Chrysler today announced the recall of 24,177 vehicles because of a potential defect in a brake system that could result in sudden brake failure. The recall includes the 2010 Chrysler Sebring, Dodge Avenger, and Dodge Nitro. Also included in the recall are the Jeep Liberty, Commander, and Grand Cherokee SUVs as well as 2009-2010 Dodge Ram trucks.

The vehicles included in the recall may have been built with an improperly formed or missing retaining clip for the brake booster input rod, according to Chrysler in a post on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Web site.

(Source: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration)… Read more

Nokia is replacing potentially dangerous phone chargers for free, the mobile giant said Monday.

The recall affects 14 million chargers, according to the Associated Press.

The affected chargers are manufactured by third-party suppliers, Nokia said. A loose cover could potentially expose the charger's internal components and thus pose an electrical shock hazard if accidentally touched during use, the company said.

Chargers involved in the exchange are 2-pin types and include the AC-3E and AC-3U models manufactured between June 15 and August 9, 2009, as well as the AC-4U model made between April 13 and October 25, 2009. A Nokia site … Read more

Sony is recalling 69,000 Vaio AC adapters, the company announced Wednesday. Insulation inside some VGP-AC19V17 adapters can fail over time, Sony said, posing an electrical shock hazard.

The Sony VGP-AC19V17 AC adapter shows up in computers from the company's VGC-LT, VGC-JS240, VGC-JS250, VGC-JS270, and VGC-JS290 series sold after September 2007. The adapter also appears in VGP-PRBX1 and VGP-PRFE1 notebook docking stations sold after September 2005.

Sony said it has received four reports of adapters short-circuiting, with none of those incidents occurring in the U.S. No injuries have been reported, Sony said. The recall only relates to adapters … Read more

Exploding iPhones are so earlier this week, people. The new scary consumer electronics product that might explode and kill you and your family is the cheap Durabrand DVD player exclusive to Wal-Mart. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has announced a recall of the device, saying the players can overheat, posing a fire and burn hazard to consumers.

The players retail for less than $30, are made in China, and are full of shrapnel to flay flesh from bone. OK, that last bit was hyperbolic, but still, any Durabrand DVD player bought from Wal-Mart after 2006 can be returned … Read more

After two reports of flaming laptop batteries, the Consumer Product Safety Commission announced Thursday that Hewlett-Packard is voluntarily recalling 70,000 lithium-ion batteries that shipped with several models of its HP and Compaq laptops.

The recall affects nine models of HP Pavilions, nine models of Compaq Presarios, two models of HPs, and one HP Compaq laptop model sold between August 2007 and March 2008. For the full list, see the CPSC's site.

There were two separate reports of batteries that "overheated and ruptured, resulting in flames/fire that caused minor property damage" but no injuries, according to … Read more