Sport Utility Vehicles

Addressing growing safety concerns about hot-selling sport-utility vehicles, the government today will announce a requirement for dramatic warnings about the danger of rollovers. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration will direct auto makers to post a graphic new label--showing a lurching SUV with two wheels high in the air--on the front of the sun visor or the driver's side window of new models.

Honda Motor Co. said it will recall about 554,000 model-year 2002 to 2004 CR-V and model-year 2003 Pilot vehicles in the United States to inspect and replace components of the headlight wiring system. The automaker said there is a potential failure with the wiring of the headlight switch, which may cause the low-beam headlights to not work, something that might increase the risk of a crash. However, Honda said there have been no crashes or injuries reported because of the safety defect.

Honda Motor Co. said it will recall about 554,000 model-year 2002 to 2004 CR-V and model-year 2003 Pilot vehicles in the United States to inspect and replace components of the headlight wiring system. The automaker said there is a potential failure with the wiring of the headlight switch, which may cause the low-beam headlights to not work, something that might increase the risk of a crash. However, Honda said there have been no crashes or injuries reported because of the safety defect.

The victim of a reported kidnapping died Thursday after her alleged abductor crashed the sport utility vehicle he was driving head-on into another vehicle in Westlake as he was trying to flee police, authorities said. Police were alerted to the kidnapping shortly after 8 a.m. when witnesses reported a woman inside a GMC Yukon frantically waving for help near the intersection of 6th Street and Westlake Avenue, said Cmdr. Andy Smith of the Los Angeles Police Department. Patrol officers spotted the SUV, which was being driven by a man. He pulled a U-turn in front of them and fled, Smith said.

Are the biggest of the big sport utility vehicles -- the carbon kings of the highway -- violating weight restrictions on public roads? SUVs are at the center of an ideological debate, particularly because these versatile and popular vehicles are among the biggest producers of carbon dioxide on the highway, though nobody apparently has examined whether their gross vehicle weights exceed limits on certain local and state roads.

Thanks for the Dec. 11 editorial supporting the movement to have sport utility vehicles adhere to the same emission standards as automobiles. It's about time this loophole was closed. Please continue your coverage of the pernicious nature of the SUV fad. Underemphasized in reports to date is the "natural history" that these vehicles will follow over their lifetimes: gradual disrepair--and probable increasing emissions--as they move through second, third and fourth owners. We will be living with the consequences of the imaginary freedom SUVs bring for a long, long time to come.

Capitalizing on growing consumer demand for Jeeps, Chrysler Corp. said Thursday that it will spend $1 billion to develop and build a new line of sport utility vehicles to be introduced in 1992. The announcement is the latest in a series of production ventures by the No. 3 U.S. auto maker. Chrysler said the model, nicknamed the ZJ, will be built at its new Jefferson Avenue plant in Detroit. Construction on the plant, which replaces an aging factory now at the site, is to begin in April. On Feb.

Better keep a good eye on that fancy Montero or Land Cruiser you just bought. Chances are better than average that it'll take a trip without you one day. An insurance group says the Montero from Mitsubishi and Land Cruiser made by Toyota rank first and second on its newest list of vehicles with the highest theft losses.

General Motors Corp.'s Cadillac division is considering developing a sport utility vehicle to appeal to customers who want larger vehicles capable of carrying both people and cargo. "We're really studying it quite intensely," Joe Kennedy, Cadillac's general director of marketing and product planning, told reporters Monday during a preview of the company's 1995 models.

People riding in sport-utility vehicles are just as likely to die in crashes as those in smaller passenger cars because sport-utilities roll over more often, according to a new study presented during a conference of auto and safety experts this week. Sport-utility sales are increasing in popularity in part because the vehicles instill a greater sense of safety due to their larger size and higher driving position than passenger cars.

Federal safety investigators have announced their second probe in less than a week involving fires starting in the driver's side doors of vehicles. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said it had opened an investigation into reports of fires in 2006-07 Chevrolet Trailblazers manufactured by General Motors Co. Last week, the agency said it was looking into the cause of fires in 2007 model year Toyota Camry sedans and RAV-4 sport utility vehicles. In both cases, the agency said it appeared that the fires started in the power window master switch on the door.

Federal safety regulators have launched an investigation into the cause of fires in 2007 model  year Toyota Camry sedans and RAV-4 sport-utility vehicles. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration opened the probe after receiving six complaints of fires starting in the driver's side door of the vehicles. The agency said that it appears that the fires are starting in the power window master switch on the door. The agency said it is looking at about 830,000 vehicles.

Tesla Motors won't sell the first Model S - the electric sedan it is making at its auto factory in Fremont - until later this year, but the company has already announced plans to expand production by offering  the Model X, a sport-utility vehicle. The Palo Alto-based maker of electric vehicles unveiled the SUV, which looks more like a crossover than a traditional utility, at its Los Angeles design studios Thursday. Tesla plans to start manufacturing the vehicle at the end of 2013 with sales to begin the following year.

Though it's been around since 2002, the Cayenne S has finally earned its Porsche crest with the 2011 rendition. When the company decided to call its SUV the Cayenne, it probably had no idea how apt the moniker would be. The mere idea that Porsche would relent to consumers' infatuation with sport utility vehicles elicited a reaction from Porsche purists not unlike eating a tablespoon of the namesake pepper: a red face, a sweaty brow, a fit of...

Joe McKnight returned to practice Thursday, but it's still not known whether USC's leading rusher will be allowed to play against Boston College in Saturday's Emerald Bowl. USC has been investigating McKnight's relationship with Santa Monica businessman Scott Schenter. The Times reported last week that McKnight had been observed driving a 2006 Land Rover registered to Schenter, who has marketing connections and previously created a web domain 4joemcknight.com and ojaymayo.com. NCAA rules prohibit student-athletes from accepting benefits from marketing representatives or agents, or "extra benefits" from anyone based on athletic ability.

Juan Antonio and Belinda Sandoval loved taking trips with their young daughters. With both off work for the day, the pair, their two girls and a niece packed into a sport utility vehicle Tuesday and headed from their home in San Pedro to Legoland in Carlsbad. About halfway to their destination, as they headed south on Interstate 5 in Mission Viejo, the vehicle veered across the freeway, rolled down an embankment and caught fire.

The redesigned Saturn Vue passed the government's rollover test with a score similar to other sport utility vehicles, federal regulators said Monday. General Motors Corp. redesigned the Vue's rear suspension after the SUV failed two previous rollover tests. In both cases, a wheel collapsed beneath the vehicle. The newer version earned three stars out of a possible five from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Before it even started selling them, Chrysler is spiking its hybrids. The troubled automaker said Tuesday that it would discontinue production of its Dodge Durango and Chrysler Aspen hybrid sport utility vehicles at year-end, when the company shuts down the Delaware plant that makes the two trucks. Chrysler is closing the plant because sales of the non-hybrid versions of the SUVs have been selling poorly.

Chrysler Vice Chairman Tom LaSorda said Wednesday that his company would invest $1.8 billion to expand a Detroit assembly plant and retool it to make a new car-based sport utility vehicle. LaSorda said the money would go for tooling and a flexible body shop at the Jefferson North Assembly Plant. That plant now makes the Jeep Grand Cherokee. LaSorda said the investment would add 285,000 square feet to the plant and keep more than 400 jobs in Michigan.