Hyundai recalls Sante Fe and Sonata in U.S owing to defect in airbags deployment

Hyundai Motor Company, the South Korea based leading auto manufacturer, is recalling its bestselling model in the U.S market, mid-size crossover SUV, Santa Fe and its flagship mid-size sedan, Sonata in U.S owing to the defects in the airbags.

The automaker will be recalling over 1,99,118 Santa Fe SUVs manufactured between the years 2007 to 2009. As per the document filed with National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Santa Fe’s produced during these years are expected to be installed with erroneous OCS (Occupant Classification Systems), software responsible for deploying the airbags by gauging the size of small passengers in case of impending contingency.

In these vehicles to be recalled, the OCS may prevent the airbags from cushioning the front passengers from injuries resulting from accidents raising the safety risk quotient in the SUV. The company has announced that the recall will impose an obligation on the dealers across the nation to update the OCS software’s sensors free of cost.

Hyundai is also calling back over 22,500 Sonata sedans manufactured during January and June this year due to the unexpected release of airbags resulted from fault in the fabrication of airbags and associated command systems.

In these Sonata sedans, the unintentional deployment of curtain side airbags would result in injury to the passengers along with causing distraction to the driver by restricting the vision and can aggravate the risk of accidents. The automaker has so far received 16 complaints, however, no injuries have been reported.

Under this recall, Hyundai dealers will be informing the owners of such defective Sonatas and will offer replacement of the curtain side airbags at no cost. The recall is anticipated to commence from August this year.

Keep vehicle doors locked, remove temptation to steal

I remember when I was growing up, the most popular accessories on a vehicle were an automatic transmission and an air conditioner. Times have changed. In our digital technology age, items like GPS systems, radar detectors, stereos, DVD screens and players, laptop computers and cell phones have become the norm. Unfortunately, these things are also the most common items stolen from vehicles. Of course, purses, wallets and checkbooks are still popular.

For you good, ol’ boys with pickups, tools and construction equipment always will work in a pinch.

I am amazed at the number of reports that have been filed where purses, laptops, GPS units and other electronics have been left lying in the center console or on the seat. You don’t have to buy special hardware or software to prevent vehicle burglaries. Just follow the basics: Lock your car anytime you leave it unattended. Yes, especially in your driveway – even during daylight hours. Vehicle burglaries can occur in broad daylight in public parking lots just as easily as it can in your driveway in the dark.
When in public parking lots, park in a well-lighted area, not only for preventing a vehicle burglary, but also for your own safety.

Park in an area where there is a direct path to the front of the store. The more people who pass by your car, the more people who might see something suspicious.
Remove the temptation. Take out any items that would draw attention. Those little red or green lights on charging cords are an invitation for burglars. If you have a charger on, especially at night, it usually means some electronic item is hooked up to it. If you leave anything visible and unattended in your car, you are asking someone to steal it.

Keep an eye out for people who seem to be walking in parking lots aimlessly but never get into a car.
Keep anything in the bed of a pickup secured. Pressure washers, generators, hand tools and yard tools can easily grow legs and walk away. We’ve even had reports of lawn equipment taken from landscaping trucks or trailers in broad daylight while workers are mowing a yard.

Record serial numbers on anything that has a serial number. If you have a model number and serial number on an item, it can be traced through several databases available to law enforcement and it may help you get your property returned. If you don’t keep the serial number and model number, you can almost be guaranteed you won’t get it back.

The key is to remove the opportunity, motive, and ability for a thief to break into your vehicle. Remove any one of these three parts of a crime, and the crime will generally not occur.

Mechanics, Car Makers At Odds on Repair Data

Today's cars, which use sophisticated technology for everything from the brakes to the steering wheel, are causing a schism among auto-repair facilities. Now, Massachusetts could be the first state to require vehicle makers to sell to independent mechanics and car owners the same diagnostic and repair information that their franchised car dealerships get.

The Massachusetts Right to Repair Coalition, supported by groups representing independent mechanics and parts retailers, is behind the November ballot initiative. "You bought the car; you ought to be able to get access to information to fix it," said Art Kinsman, spokesman for the coalition, which predicts that success would lead to ballot measures in other states, where right-to-repair legislation has stalled.

Car makers say they plan a robust fight. "Massachusetts is really the battleground right now," said Dan Gage, spokesman for the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, an association representing Ford Motor Co., F -0.11% General Motors Co. GM +1.65% and other vehicle makers. In the past, when cars were more mechanical than computerized, a thick repair manual might give a mechanic all he or she needed to diagnose and repair an ailing vehicle. Now, a mechanic might plug a "scan tool" into the car to read various codes that give hints as to what is wrong. But mechanics say diagnostic tools sold to nondealers don't always contain all the information and updates needed to fix a car.

Dealerships also oppose the ballot measure, fearing that auto makers that find the requirements too onerous might not sell cars in the state. The dealers also are looking to protect their own repair businesses, which have become "vital" revenue generators, said John Giamalvo, an analyst with Edmunds.com.

Supporters say "right to repair" would put independent mechanics on a level playing field with dealerships and give consumers more choice. AAA Southern New England, which supports the ballot initiative, said some 88% of its Massachusetts members backed "right to repair" in a February poll.

A trip to a dealership now "is likely to be more costly, though that's not always the case," said Lloyd Albert, senior vice president of public and government affairs for AAA Southern New England.

Opponents say "right to repair" could give independent auto-parts makers access to car makers' proprietary designs, leading to substandard knockoffs. The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers says "right to repair" is unnecessary because car companies already provide repair information for a fee to mechanics. Backers of the measure say that information can be spotty and incomplete.

Glenn Wilder, owner of the Wilder Bros. mechanic shop in Scituate, said he had just changed the tires on a customer's Mercedes-Benz sport-utility vehicle last summer when the car had a "computer glitch," went into "locked-out mode" and wasn't drivable. Mr. Wilder said he was unable to obtain repair information from Mercedes.

"To free that car up, I had to flatbed it 34 miles away to the dealership to have it programmed out of that theft-deterrent mode," he said.

Donna Boland, a spokeswoman for Mercedes-Benz USA, said "we try to make our repair information as broadly available as possible" but the company also wants to ensure a repair shop "has made the necessary investment in tools and technology to ensure that sophisticated systems…are not compromised."

Mr. Wilder said he has invested in $60,000 worth of new tools to diagnose and repair high-tech cars and could have fixed the car "if we had access to the same software."

"Right to repair" legislation has been debated but stalled in several states, among them New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut; in Massachusetts, its fate in the state legislature is uncertain, so backers are going ahead with the ballot initiative. .