• China’s Largest Ever Recall Should be a Warning to Automakers

    China’s Largest Ever Recall Should be a Warning to Automakers
    China’s recent decision to recall millions of vehicles not only highlights safety concerns about recessed door handles but also problems associated with replacing any traditional mechanical system with electronically dependent alternatives.
    If you’ve been vacationing on another planet this week, China just issued the largest automotive recall in the nation’s history. The regulatory action targets an estimated 4.3 million cars and focuses around concerns that electronic door han
  • The Only Car Big Enough To Survive Your Neighbor's Kid

    The Only Car Big Enough To Survive Your Neighbor's Kid
    Somewhere out there, a father has decided that the safest thing to hand a newly licensed teenager is an old F-150 or an Excursion. The logic is straightforward: mass wins crashes, so pile on the mass. The counterargument, raised by plenty of people reading The Autopian, who saw the rapidly circulating social media post, is that a driver with roughly 40 hours of experience piloting a three-ton truck is its own hazard. If that is the game everyone is playing, then the rest of us need to armor up