Well, now it’s official: Nobody in Dubai is going to be able to outrun the police. You see, in addition to the Aston Martin One-77, Ferrari FF and Lamborghini Aventador that were already part of its stable of police cars, the constabulary in Dubai have most recently procured a Bugatti Veyron to add to the force. And, since the Veyron is the fastest production vehicle in the world, it’d take something truly special to evade the long arm of the law.

The image you see above was tweeted by Dubai’s Chief of Police, and as you can see, it’s painted up in the green and white hues we’ve come to expect from its ilk. We do have to wonder, though, if they drilled holes in the Bugatti’s roof for the light bar or if it’s held on by suction cups or something else less likely to damage the delicate carbon fiber bodywork…

Article source: http://www.autoblog.com/2013/05/18/of-course-dubai-police-add-bugatti-veyron-to-fleet/

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Article source: http://www.weau.com/newsextra/elections/headlines/GOP-bill-would-limit-damages-under-Wis-lemon-law-205982901.html

One driver in Portland, OR should make a hefty donation to his or her local wildlife conservation group after a family of ducks got the person out of a speeding ticket. A Portland police officer clocked a car going 52 miles per hour in a 35-mph zone, but when the officer went to pursue the speeder, a mother duck and her two ducklings ran some unintended interference.

Rather than just going around the ducks, the officer blocks the street to usher the waterfowl from the road. While the speeder got away, it’s nice to see some compassion from the authorities. Besides, the gesture might’ve saved more than just the ducks from an unfortunate accident on the rain-slicked road. Scroll down to watch the video taken from the patrol car’s dash cam.

Article source: http://www.autoblog.com/2013/05/17/portland-police-pursuit-quack-up-caught-on-dash-cam/

What do you do if you have enough money to buy a Lexus LFA but can’t get the car safely to your house? Get local government involved, of course. Rune Berge Vik, of Stavanger, Norway, did just that after he bought a Lexus LFA (the only LFA in the Nordic region according to tv2.no) last year only to find out that it could not clear a speed bump in his neighborhood.

To remedy the situation, Vik got in touch with his city, which had the speed bump removed. Talk about your tax dollars hard at work. On the other hand, it’s commendable that the man actually uses his supercar as a daily driver, and besides, doesn’t a street-legal car have the right to access said public streets?

Related Gallery2012 Lexus LFA: Review

Article source: http://www.autoblog.com/2013/05/17/lexus-lfa-owner-gets-town-to-remove-speed-bump/

Republicans talk a lot about how Democrats like to “punish success.” But in the case of “lemon law king” Vince Megna, they’re singing a different tune.

State Sen. Jerry Petrowski, R-Marathon, and Rep. Bill Kramer, R-Waukesha, are circulating a bill that would repeal the state’s requirement that if a vehicle manufacturer doesn’t provide a comparable vehicle or a refund for a “lemon” within 30 days the court has to order double damages.

“Wisconsin is the only state in the nation to provide for mandatory double damages under a lemon law,” write the lawmakers in a memo seeking legislative support for the measure, “which is the main reason for our poor lemon law reputation.”

“This will stop about 65 percent of all lemon law cases from being brought,” Megna says.

The memo from Kramer and Petrowski specifically mentions Megna, who last year won a hefty settlement from Mercedes-Benz in the case Marquez v. Mercedes-Benz.

“By delaying the process one day beyond the 30-day statutory deadline, vehicle owners and their attorneys hit the jackpot, which in the Marquez case was $700,000.”

Well, $618,000 to be exact.

Megna, an avowed Democrat who made an unsuccessful bid for a seat on the state Supreme Court this year, says Republicans have an ax to grind.

“The hatred toward me would be laughable if it weren’t for the damage to Wisconsin citizens this proposed bill would precipitate,” he says.

A press release from Wisconsin Manufacturers Commerce goes even further, saying the proposal would “protect consumers from predatory ‘lemon lawyers’ who make their living exploiting the state’s lucrative double damages requirement.”

“The pity of this is we won every single issue,” Megna says of the Mercedes-Benz case. “Mercedes appealed twice. We go to the Supreme Court. And our Supreme Court is a conservative court.”

The proposal has the backing of the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, the Recreational Vehicle Industry Association, the Truck and Engine Manufacturers Association, and the Wisconsin Automobile and Truck Dealers Association.

“One thing that’s clear,” Megna says. “If the auto industry is pushing this law and is so strongly behind it, you know it’s no good for people.”

Megna — who during his 23 years of taking on the auto giants has rarely lost a case — says he’s tried over 2,000 lemon law cases, with only about 60 going to trial or appeal.

“The huge majority of those cases are settled early on,” he says. “What helps us settle those cases is double damages, the threat of double damages.”

As an aside, he says that most of his clients have been Republicans.

He says if the proposal becomes law, car manufacturers could drag out cases until the plaintiff might no longer be able to afford legal counsel.

It’s not the first time Megna has inspired Republicans to tilt the law in favor of defendants at the expense of plaintiffs and their lawyers. After a car dealership in Burlington shelled out more than $150,000 in legal fees to avoid paying $22,500 to settle a case in which they made $5,000 in unauthorized repairs, Republicans last session passed a law that capped lawyer fees.

The lemon law proposal makes a number of other changes to the law, Megna says. For one thing it eliminates the “branding” requirement, which requires the manufacturer to identify a lemon in the vehicle title.

“They can sell it,” he says. “The next guy’s driving the same lemon without knowing it.”

That would also “expose liability to insurance companies for insuring cars that nobody knows are defective,” he says.

In addition, the proposal makes damages discretionary, meaning a jury or a judge can decide on a case-by-case basis what damages are appropriate.

“If they want to talk about other states, no state in this country has a law that says you’re not going to get a refund, or that it’s going to be up to a jury or a judge to see if you get the full amount,” he says.

Legal fees would also be discretionary, he says.

The law also reduces the statute of limitations from six years to 24 months, which Megna says often doesn’t give the buyer time to attempt to get problems fixed through the warranty. Often, he says, a buyer will try to get manufacturers to fix the problem for years before turning to the courts.

Megna says if the law passes, attorneys will likely turn to the federal courts for lemon law cases. But the the federal law “isn’t very good.”

Article source: http://host.madison.com/news/local/writers/steven_elbow/republicans-look-to-gut-state-s-lemon-law/article_82391fb2-ae5c-5ff3-b96c-72dbdcbb87f4.html

Redesigned Subaru Forester aces tough new crash test; only 2 of 13 small SUVs tested earn Top Safety Pick+

ARLINGTON, Va. – The 2014 Subaru Forester is the first vehicle to ace every aspect of the challenging small overlap front crash test conducted by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS). The Forester, the only one of 13 small SUVs to earn an overall rating of good in the test, and the 2013 Mitsubishi Outlander Sport, which earns acceptable, are the latest vehicles to qualify for the Institute’s recently inaugurated top honor, Top Safety Pick+. Each of the other 11 SUVs earns either a poor or marginal rating.

“With the redesigned Forester, Subaru’s engineers set out to do well in our new test, and they succeeded,” says Joe Nolan, the Institute’s vice president for vehicle research. “This is exactly how we hoped manufacturers would respond to improve protection for people in these kinds of serious frontal crashes.”

This is not the first time that the Forester has stood out in a new IIHS crash test. When the Institute first rated small SUVs for side protection in 2003, the Subaru model performed the best and was one of only two to earn good ratings.

IIHS added the small overlap test to its lineup of vehicle safety evaluations last year. It replicates what happens when the front corner of a vehicle strikes another vehicle or an object like a tree or a utility pole. In the test, 25 percent of a vehicle’s front end on the driver side strikes a 5-foot-tall rigid barrier at 40 mph. A 50th percentile male Hybrid III dummy is belted in the driver seat.

Most vehicles today are designed to do well in the government’s full-width front crash test and in the Institute’s moderate overlap front test, but that is no guarantee of good performance in a small overlap crash. In a 2009 IIHS study of vehicles with good ratings for frontal crash protection, small overlap crashes accounted for nearly a quarter of the frontal crashes involving serious or fatal injury to front seat occupants. In many vehicles the impact at a 25 percent overlap misses the primary structures designed to manage crash energy. That increases the risk of severe damage to or collapse of the occupant compartment structure. Also, vehicles tend to rotate and slide sideways during this type of collision, and that can move the driver’s head outboard, away from the protection of the frontal airbag.

Those difficulties were apparent in the small SUV group. Two-thirds of the vehicles had poor ratings for structure, and about half of them were poor or marginal for restraints and kinematics, meaning the dummy’s movements weren’t well-controlled to prevent contact with hard surfaces.

In one example of poor structure, the front pillar of the Nissan Rogue’s door frame was pushed far inside the occupant compartment and after the crash was almost touching the driver seat. The Jeep Patriot was among the worst for restraints and kinematics. The dummy’s head slid off the frontal airbag as the steering wheel moved 8 inches up and nearly 6 inches to the right. The side curtain airbag didn’t deploy, and the safety belt allowed the dummy’s head and torso to move too far forward.

In contrast, the Forester had good ratings for structure, restraints and kinematics, and all four injury measures on the dummy. The airbags worked as intended, and the space around the dummy was well-maintained. The Outlander Sport was acceptable for structure and restraints and kinematics and also had good injury measures.

The Forester and the Outlander Sport bring the number of Top Safety Pick+ winners to 20. The award is based on performance in the small overlap front test, as well as in the moderate overlap front, side, rollover and rear tests. To qualify, a vehicle must earn good ratings in 4 of the 5 tests and no less than acceptable in the fifth.

IIHS continues to award Top Safety Pick (without the “plus”) to vehicles with good ratings in the moderate overlap front, side, rollover and rear tests, regardless of their small overlap ratings. Of the small SUV test group, nine earn TOP SAFETY PICK, including the BMW X1 and the Buick Encore, which are new to the U.S. market for 2013. The others are the Ford Escape, the Honda CR-V, the Hyundai Tucson and its twin, the Kia Sportage, the Mazda CX-5, the Volkswagen Tiguan and the 2014 Patriot. The 2013 Patriot also qualifies for Top Safety Pick when equipped with optional side torso airbags. Another small SUV, the 2013 Toyota RAV4, earns Top Safety Pick, but it won’t be put through the small overlap test until later this year. Toyota asked for the delay so it could make changes to the RAV4 to improve performance in the test.

The test group also includes the Rogue and the Jeep Wrangler 2-door. Aside from the Forester, all small SUVs tested are 2013 or 2012 models. The small overlap ratings of the 2012 vehicles carry over to 2013 models because no significant design changes were made.

Article source: http://www.autoblog.com/2013/05/16/subaru-forester-first-to-ace-difficult-new-iihs-crash-test-w-v/

Three Ford owners from Ohio have filed a lawsuit against the automaker over defects that they allege exist within the company’s twin-turbocharged 3.5-liter V6 EcoBoost engine. Automotive News reports that the lawsuit claims the engine “contained serious latent design, manufacturing, or assembly defects.” Those defects, the suit claims, cause the vehicle to shake, misfire and lose power quickly.

Two of the plaintiffs, a married couple, own a 2010 Ford Taurus SHO, and allege they experienced a loss of power and stalling, while the third, an F-150 owner, claims he lost power while accelerating. In addition to the Taurus SHO and F-150, the 3.5-liter V6 EcoBoost engine is also available in the Ford Flex, Explorer Sport and Lincoln MKT and MKS. Other three- and four-cylinder EcoBoost engines are not included in the suit. There have been no recalls associated with 3.5-liter V6 engine, and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is currently not investigating the matter.

The plaintiffs, however, claim Ford has known about the problem, citing several technical service bulletins issued to dealers of the F-150 that suggest possible fixes. Ford had no comment for Automotive News, saying that it’s yet to review the lawsuit, which was filed last Friday in Columbus, OH.

Article source: http://www.autoblog.com/2013/05/16/ford-sued-over-alleged-3-5-liter-ecoboost-defects/

Controversial Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone is facing bribery charges from German prosecutors. The long-rumored indictments stem from the 2006 sale of the racing series from Germany’s Bayern LB bank to CVC Capital partners. The charge could result in Ecclestone facing jail time and losing his iron grip on the F1 series.

Ecclestone, 82, is said to be “100 percent” relaxed about the pending charges, despite the fact that Bayern’s former chief risk officer, Gerhard Gribkowsky, is already incarcerated and serving an eight-and-a-half-year sentence for admitting to taking a bribe worth nearly $43 million. According to reports, German prosecutors are alleging that Ecclestone was responsible for that money. For his part, Ecclestone has repeatedly asserted his innocence, maintaining that he is a victim of blackmail.

If the case goes to trial, Germany’s The Local says Ecclestone is not likely to appear in court until this fall, as much of the case’s extensive documentation will need to be translated into English.

Article source: http://www.autoblog.com/2013/05/16/f1-boss-ecclestone-staring-down-bribery-charges/

A total of 22.6 million current and former Toyota owners have been sent notices that they may be eligible to receive compensation from the automaker for damages related to the unintended acceleration fiasco that has dominated headlines in 2009 and 2010. The total payout may be as high as $1.63 billion, according to The Detroit News.

Steve Berman, a lawyer for the owners, calls the potential deal “a landmark, if not a record, settlement in automobile defects class action litigation in the United States.” Still, there’s some debate about whether or not Toyota’s proposed settlement is fair, as it includes $30 million for safety research and driver education programs – in other words, Toyota seems to be suggesting that drivers need more education on how to drive their correctly working and fully functional vehicles. For those keeping track, Toyota would also be paying lawyer fees of $200 million.

A US District Judge in California is scheduled to hold a so-called “fairness hearing” on June 14 that could decide the fate of this particular settlement. Further courtroom wrangling will be required to hash out any wrongful death suits levied against Toyota stemming from unintended acceleration claims, as those are not part of this class-action suit.

Article source: http://www.autoblog.com/2013/05/16/toyota-sudden-acceleration-class-action-may-cover-22-million-own/

Today that National Transportation Safety Board released a bold set of targeted interventions to put the country on a course to eliminate alcohol-impaired driving crashes. The 19 recommendations call for stronger laws, swifter enforcement and expanded use of technology.

“Most Americans think that we’ve solved the problem of impaired driving, but in fact, it’s still a national epidemic,” NTSB Chairman Deborah A.P. Hersman said. “On average, every hour one person is killed and 20 more are injured.”

Each year in the United States, nearly 10,000 people are killed in crashes involving alcohol-impaired drivers and more than 173,000 are injured, with 27,000 suffer incapacitating injuries. Since the mid-1990s, even as total highway fatalities have fallen, the proportion of deaths from accidents involving an alcohol-impaired driver has remained constant at around 30 percent. In the last 30 years, nearly 440,000 people have died in alcohol related crashes.

Today, investigators cited research that showed that although impairment begins with the first drink, by 0.05 BAC, most drivers experience a decline in both cognitive and visual functions, which significantly increases the risk of a serious crash. Currently, over 100 countries on six continents have BAC limits set at 0.05 or lower. The NTSB has asked all 50 states to do the same.

“The research clearly shows that drivers with a BAC above 0.05 are impaired and at a significantly greater risk of being involved in a crash where someone is killed or injured,” said Hersman.

Among the other findings, investigators said that high-visibility enforcement efforts, such as sobriety checkpoints and saturation patrols paired with media campaigns, deter alcohol-impaired driving. And to increase the effectiveness of these programs, the NTSB recommended that police use passive alcohol sensors to help better detect alcohol vapor in the ambient environment.

The NTSB, which in December 2012 recommended that states require ignition interlocks for all DWI offenders, said that because only about one in four offenders ordered to have an interlock actually have one installed, states should employ measures to improve interlock compliance.

Further, the Board said that an intervention known as administrative license suspension, which allows law enforcement authorities to immediately suspend or revoke a driver’s license at the time of a DWI arrest, would be more effective if states required offenders to have an ignition interlock on their vehicles before licenses could be fully reinstated.

The NTSB recognized the effectiveness of specialized state DWI courts in addressing the particular challenges represented by repeat offenders. DWI courts hold offenders accountable through intensive monitoring, treatment for underlying disorders, alcohol testing and graduated sanctions. The NTSB recommended that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration assist states in maximizing their effectiveness by providing the courts with current best practices.

Over the past year, the NTSB sharpened its focus on impaired driving and has taken a number of actions, including issuing recommendations following a December 2012 special report on wrong-way driving. That report revealed that more than 60 percent of wrong-way crashes were caused by alcohol-impaired drivers. In May 2012, the Board hosted a forum on substance-impaired driving to understand how the latest research, technology, and countermeasures were being used by a range of advocacy groups as well as federal, state and local authorities to address substance-impaired driving.

Today, the NTSB issued 10 safety recommendations and reiterated nine others to NHTSA, the International Association of Chiefs of Police, the National Sheriffs’ Association, the Automotive Coalition for Traffic Safety, all 50 states, Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia.

“Alcohol-impaired crashes are not accidents,” said Hersman. “They are crimes. They can – and should – be prevented. The tools exist. What is needed is the will.”

Article source: http://www.autoblog.com/2013/05/16/ntsb-proposes-lowering-blood-alcohol-limit-on-drunk-driving-laws/