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<p>ORLANDO, Fla. -- A Florida woman lit a cigarette, sparking an explosion of a propane barbecue grill being transported in her SUV.</p> <p>CBS affiliate WKMG-TV reports the vehicle was in front of the entrance to the Central Florida Fairgrounds when the explosion occurred on Sunday afternoon.</p>

Fire crews were called to a bizarre scene in St. Louis' Walnut Park West neighborhood on Sunday, where a car became trapped in the roof of a house. The incident happened around 1 p.m. in the 5900 block of Lillian. According to the St. Louis Fire Department, no one was in the house at the time of the accident, but one person was trapped inside of the car. The St. Louis Fire Department said in a Facebook post that one person was rescued from the vehicle and taken to an area hospital in critical condition. Larry Davis witnessed exactly how...

A daring teenage boy in Australia earned the nickname "snake boy" after pulling a large snake from the undercarriage of an SUV. Video uploaded to Facebook by Yogi McDougall from Queensland shows the teen Oli Wardrop pulling the lengthy snake from underneath the vehicle before leaving for school. The teen wrestles with to grab the snake by the head as it begins to slither its way up and into the vehicle while his father lay on the ground holding a hook and grabbing the snake by the tail. "I've got the head," Wardrop eventually proclaims. He then proceeded to pull...

FULL TITLE: Activist who was walking across America barefoot to raise awareness of climate change is hit and killed by SUV A man who was hiking across America barefoot on the side of highways to 'save the earth' was struck by a Buick SUV and died Saturday. Mark Baumer, 33, began his shoeless trek in October. His journey aimed to raise awareness and funds for the FANG Collective, a Rhode Island organization that supports nonviolent resistance to the natural gas industry. Florida Highway Patrol confirmed Baumer was hit on the side of Highway 90 in Walton County. He was pronounced...

DETROIT – The Bronco is back! And so is the Ranger. Ford announced on Monday at the Detroit Auto Show that it will launch a new Ranger small pickup in 2019, followed by a Bronco SUV based on it in 2020. The news comes several months after the plans were unofficially revealed through comments made by UAW workers who will be building the trucks at Ford’s Michigan assembly plant -- home to the original Bronco from 1966-1986. That's not all: Ford F-150 Diesel coming in 2018 The factory was at the center of controversy recently when President-elect Donald Trump criticized...

ST. LOUIS • A 70-year-old woman was driving to church Sunday morning when three men pulled up alongside her in a Monte Carlo with Illinois plates, according to Dionne Flowers, alderwoman from the city's 2nd Ward. "What's up OG, don't get too hot," the passenger in the back seat said before hurling a Molotov cocktail into the woman's SUV, according to Flowers, who spoke to police and people who were at the scene. It exploded, and fire torched the inside of the woman's car. She managed to escape with no injuries with the aid of Larry Middlebrook, a St. Louis...

A driver taking an SUV for a spin struck four cars and flipped the vehicle on its side at a dealership in Ballston, Virginia. WASHINGTON — A test drive took a dangerous turn Friday when a woman trying out a Mercedes struck four cars and flipped the vehicle on its side at a dealership in Virginia, NBC Washington reported. At about 11:30 a.m., a female driver and three passengers were test-driving a Mercedes SUV in the parking lot of the Mercedes-Benz of Arlington dealership on North Glebe Road in Ballston when the woman accelerated at a high rate of speed,...

The premise of children behind the wheel seems like an incident out of a movie, but it was a frightening reality for one Enid mom, who had fallen asleep. Three siblings, a six-year-old and twin 3-year-olds, took the family's 2002 Chevrolet Suburban for a ride on the afternoon of Tuesday, March 1. "The children were taking a nap, so she took a nap. So, it's apparent they obviously woke up and got into a little mischief," said Capt. Jack Morris of Enid Police Department, Police believe the kids drove their mother's SUV - in reverse - down W Rupe toward...

Watch the video at the link. Republican presidential contender Ted Cruz slammed President Obama on "The Kelly File" tonight for being so weak in the fight against radical Islamic terror. "It's gotten to the point that I don't think 'Saturday Night Live' can even parody this president anymore," Cruz said, pointing out that Obama said that next week's climate change summit in Paris would be a "powerful rebuke" to terrorists." "President Obama and John Kerry have both said that they think, essentially, your SUV in the driveway is a greater threat to our security than is ISIS, than is a...

Americans again bought vehicles that sit up high and come loaded with features like backup cameras and smartphone capabilities in June. Horsepower was also in; gas-sipping not so much. SUVs of all sizes continued to fly off dealer lots. Sales of the larger Ford Explorer rose 30 percent; Nissan's Rogue small SUV posted a 54 percent jump; and sales of the Jeep Cherokee gained 39 percent.

First-quarter profit at General Motors rose nearly eight times above a year ago as U.S. consumers spent big on pickups and SUVs and the company didn’t have to set aside a huge stack of money to pay for recalls. The Detroit automaker said it made $945 million, as consumers got used to lower gasoline prices and decided to buy bigger vehicles. That’s right in GM’s sweet spot, with trucks such as the Chevrolet Silverado pickup and Cadillac Escalade large SUV. Profit margins on the trucks are sizable, with analysts estimating that GM makes more than $10,000 per vehicle. In the...

Lee was taken into custody in Tustin Wednesday hours after firefighters battled an early morning fire at the victim’s home in Diamond Bar. No one was found inside, but Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department investigators had reason to believe the daughter-in-law of the woman who lived at the had set the fire and fled with her body, authorities said at the time. Lee was stopped in a SUV filled with plastic bags, and a detective on seen said he saw body parts inside as it was towed away for evidence. The remains of 77-year-old Young Ja Lee were found inside...

The chances of dying in a crash in a late-model vehicle have fallen by more than a third in three years, the latest IIHS calculations of driver death rates show. Among 2011 models, a record nine vehicles have driver death rates of zero. However, the gap between the safest and riskiest models remains wide, and three cars have death rates exceeding 100 per million registered vehicle years... ...The list of models with the lowest death rates illustrates just how much vehicles have improved. Eight years ago, there were no models with driver death rates of zero (see Status Report special...

Link only. Bigger, gas-guzzling cars are safer.

An armed woman in Denver chased two intruders from her home, only to have them drive off in her SUV.  From kdvr.com: About 2:30 a.m., two burglars broke into a woman’s home, then stole her blue Toyota Highlander, last seen going east on Exposition Avenue. She got in a gunfight with the intruders as they took the vehicle.  From cbslocal.com: The woman apparently got scared and fired at them while they were still outside. “Obviously she felt threatened so she took some measures,” said Sonny Jackson, Denver police spokesman. The suspects fired back, and one of the bullets ended...

The Chevrolet Niva, a mini-SUV produced as a joint venture between GM and Russian automaker AvtoVAZ, is a beige little ute based on a Lada. It's an incredibly boring car in current form, but the next generation Niva concept unveiled today ahead of the Moscow auto show is a strong enough idea to make us wonder why Chevy hasn't tried something like this over here. Even if you ditch the concept-y winch up front, knobbly tires, off-road snorkel and roof rack featuring enough lights to illuminate Norilsk, the new Niva still manages to look far more aggressive than the standard...

(Reuters) - General Motors Co is recalling certain Chevrolet Cruze models for possible axle fractures, and more than 490,000 trucks and SUVs for potential transmission cooler line issues, the company said in a statement late on Friday. These latest recalls come as the head of the country's biggest automaker, Chief Executive Mary Barra, faces Congress next week regarding who is to blame for faulty ignition switches linked to crashes and at least 12 deaths. The GM Cruze recall targets the 2013 and 2014 1.4L turbo gasoline powered model to replace a right front axle half shaft that can fracture without...

Mayor de Blasio’s SUV was caught on camera speeding through Queens and blowing through two stop signs Thursday — just two days after he announced a sweeping street-safety plan. The mayor — who was riding shotgun on the way back to City Hall from a pothole-filling photo op — was twice clocked going 15 mph over the speed limit by a WCBS/Channel 2 news crew. The two-car caravan also ran past two stop signs without even tapping the brakes and changed highway lanes without signaling, the CBS video shows. De Blasio’s wild ride came after his pledge to personally abide...

By now you have probably heard about the New York incident in which a businessman was dragged from his Range Rover and beaten by a mob of motorcyclists. The attack—which nicely combined elements of The Wild Angels and Bonfire of the Vanities—would have been media catnip regardless, but became a sensation when helmet-cam videos were posted on YouTube. The story just keeps producing spicy tidbits, notably the fact that a half-dozen undercover New York police officers were among the hundreds of rampaging cyclists. Now the New York Post has reported Reginald Chance, who was videotaped using his helmet to break...

CANBERRA, Australia, - An Australian man who heard scratching noises from beneath the hood of his sport-utility vehicle said he was shocked to discover a platypus hitching a ride. Cameron Blaseotto, 18, said female platypus apparently became wedged under the engine's air intake Wednesday when he drove through the flooded Murrumbidgee River in Canberra and he didn't discover the animal until he arrived at a friend's house about 10 miles away, the Australian Broadcasting Corp. reported Monday. The platypus, dubbed Hilux, was turned over to the Australian Capital Territory Parks and Conservation Service, which returned her to the river. "I'd...