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California’s governor signed legislation into effect today that will make it harder for catalytic-converter thieves to get away with selling them, the Los Angeles Times reported.The new law will require sellers of the valuable anti-smog equipment to prove they came by it legally or face stringent penalties.The buyers—generally scrap-metal recyclers or dealers—will also have to keep and show records of where they’re getting catalytic converters. Governor Gavin Newsom of California today signed into effect a law that will impose strict penalties on people who illegally buy and sell catalytic converters. The anti-pollution devices are a frequent target for saw-and-grab thieves, with more than 18,026 reported stolen in California alone in 2021. The Los Angeles Times reported that the new rules originated with a pair of bills, one in the California State Senate and one in the state’s Assembly. The legislation attaches a $1000 fine to a first conviction and $2000 for a second. The law would allow the additional penalty of a temporary suspension from operating as a recycler. Among the records required will be a written agreement with the seller, records of the amount paid and number of catalytic converters purchased, and descriptive information such as unique ID numbers or VINs etched into the parts. Recyclers would need to keep the records for at least two years. Related Stories As Car and Driver reported earlier this year, popular car models are the most frequent targets of catalytic converter theft, including the Chevrolet Silverado and Ford F-series pickups, the Honda Accord and CR-V, and the Toyota Camry and Prius. The State Farm insurance company reported in mid-2021 that catalytic converter theft grew almost 293 percent nationwide during the year after making an initial leap as the COVID-19 pandemic got underway. The insurer gave the number-one ranking to California, where more than 30 percent of State Farm insurance claims for the thefts originated in 2021. Texas, Minnesota, Washington, and Illinois rounded out the top five, but the problem is nationwide.This content is imported from twitter. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.CA is taking action to stop catalytic converter theft by requiring recyclers to keep specific records & only allowing used catalytic converters to be sold by authorized parties. Together, these bills should remove incentives for theft and keep Californians & their cars safer. pic.twitter.com/gz44bxMzzA— Office of the Governor of California (@CAgovernor) September 25, 2022Gov. Newsom appeared on video via social media today, trumpeting the new protection and explaining to Californians that a catalytic converter is “part of that exhaust system on your car, and it’s full of valuable materials that thieves can resell.” Under the new pair of laws, only licensed resellers with detailed records will be allowed to buy and sell catalytic converters. Of course, there will always be unscrupulous buyers and sellers already figuring out a way around the regulations, but other states will be likely to watch the situation in California with interest and possibly pass their own stricter laws. As of this summer, the NICB said, more than 150 pieces of legislation were already in the works around the U.S.This content is imported from poll. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.This content is imported from OpenWeb. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site. More

Government figures for traffic fatalities show a higher number in the first half of 2022 than in 2021, but that’s not the whole story.After seven quarters of continued growth, traffic fatalities dropped in the second quarter of 2022.To bring about Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg’s call to prevent as many deaths as possible, NHTSA has been updating—or will update—rules around safety features in new cars as well as considering factors outside the car, such as bikers and pedestrians.Last year, 2021, experts recorded the most traffic fatalities in the U.S. in 16 years. The 42,915 people who died last year might represent a new high-water mark if the predicted trend for 2022 proves itself out and continues.Stay Safe Out ThereThis month, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) announced that its early estimates of traffic fatalities for the first half of 2022 were up a tiny bit, around 0.5 percent. Compared to the first half of 2021, when an estimated 20,070 people died in motor vehicle traffic crashes, the first half of 2022 saw a projected 20,175 fatalities. That’s obviously an increase, but NHTSA found good news hiding in that higher number: the second quarter of 2022 represents the first decline in deaths in almost two years. The number had been steadily climbing since the third quarter of 2020, or for seven straight quarters.”These deaths are preventable, not inevitable, and we should act accordingly,” U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in a statement. He added that even with the decline, NHTSA still has work to do—and is doing it—to protect all road users. How to Make Streets Safer?For example, Secretary Buttigieg unveiled a National Roadway Safety Strategy (NRSS) in January. The NRSS states that almost 95 percent of the transportation deaths that occur in America happen on streets, roads, and highways, compared to traveling by things like trains or planes. To reduce the number of road fatalities, NHTSA is helping states develop a “complete streets” project and is also considering making changes to new-car rules to make them even safer than today’s models.So far this year, NHTSA has also taken steps to improve child safety seat test standards and increase underride protection on semi-truck trailers. The agency also found that to combat the greater risk to women in crashes, it helps to make crash test dummies that are more accurately represent both male and female bodies.Understanding the ProcessMore Driver-Assist Tech?NHTSA’s New Car Assessment Program might also be updated by adding four more recommended advanced driver assistance system technologies: blind-spot detection, blind spot intervention, lane-keeping assistance, and pedestrian automated emergency braking. NHTSA said it will update the NCAP over the next 10 years and will “potentially incorporate consideration of the vehicle’s safety features for people walking or biking around the car.”Last week, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said all new vehicles should come with alcohol impairment detection systems. The NTSB recommended to NHTSA that it require passive alcohol impairment detection systems, better driver monitoring systems, or some combination of both in order to stop inebriated people from driving.This content is imported from poll. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.This content is imported from OpenWeb. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site. More

The Wall Street Journal reports that Ford expects to be sitting on 40,000 to 45,000 trucks at the end of the third quarter because it doesn’t have enough badges to put on them.The problem might not be related to the supply-chain disruptions caused by the pandemic. Instead, the cause might be a chemical spill in Michigan last month by Tribar, a company that has supplied badges to Ford in the past and needed to limit operations temporarily.Ford reportedly considered using 3D printing technology to provide short-term replacement badges but didn’t think the quality would be good enough.When someone in Springfield pranked Superintendent Chalmers by removing the hood emblem from his 1979 Honda Accord, he complained, “That’s how people know it’s a Honda.” Good for a laugh on The Simpsons, but it’s unlikely that anybody will fail to recognize the bestselling vehicle in the U.S. for decades if it doesn’t say “Ford.” Still, the automaker is holding back tens of thousands of new F-series pickup trucks because the automaker doesn’t have enough badges.Ford’s Good NamePeople familiar with the situation told the Wall Street Journal that the shortage applies to the famous blue oval Ford badges as well as those that identify the model. A Ford spokesperson told the Journal that some vehicle shipments are still happening as planned and that it is retrofitting vehicles that don’t have the correct badges before delivering them to dealers. Ford said it expects to have between 40,000 and 45,000 pickups waiting for badges at the end of the third quarter. Ford reportedly considered 3D printing to make temporary badges but dismissed the idea because it could not guarantee the short-term replacements would look as good. The company declined to comment on the 3D printing proposal to the paper. We have asked Ford for more details about these issues.Ford, and other automakers, had previously held back shipments of numerous models because of a lack of silicon semiconductor chips, which have been difficult for some automakers to obtain for their products since 2020 because of the pandemic. But the lack of badges might not be directly tied to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Journal noted that one of Ford’s badge suppliers is Tribar Technologies. That name likely rings a bell for readers in mid-Michigan, because that’s where Tribar “released several thousand gallons of a liquid containing 5 percent hexavalent chromium into the sewer system” in August, according to the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy. Hexavalent chromium is a form of the metallic element chromium and has been shown to “cause a number of adverse health effects through ingestion, skin contact, or inhalation,” the MDEGLE said.As part of the chemical cleanup, Tribar was forced to “limit operations” in August, the Journal said. This might have caused a drop in the supply of new badges. Both Ford and Tribar confirmed their badge-supplying relationship, but neither would talk to the paper about the current situation. This content is imported from poll. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.This content is imported from OpenWeb. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site. More