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Popular Ford feature that has always been free now costs $455 Remember when buying a car meant paying once, grabbing the keys, and driving off into the sunset? That era may be fading fast. Automakers are quietly transforming the way drivers pay for their vehicles - and your next car could come with a growing list of monthly charges long after you've left General Motors is leading the charge, betting that subscriptions for features like navigation, safety systems, and hands-free driving will soon become a major profit engine - potentially generating billions of dollars a year and, in some cases,...

President Trump announced Friday he would soon raise tariffs to 25% on vehicles imported from the European Union, claiming the bloc was non-compliant with its US trade deal. “I am pleased to announce that, based on the fact the European Union is not complying with our fully agreed to Trade Deal, next week I will be increasing Tariffs charged to the European Union for Cars and Trucks coming into the United States,” he said in a post to Truth Social. Companies that build vehicles in the United States will be exempt from the tariff, he added. “Many Automobile and Truck...

Adria (Force) Hight, 56, of Terre Haute, Indiana, passed away peacefully on April 28, 2026, in Indianapolis, Indiana, surrounded by her loving family. She was born on June 4, 1969, in Huntington Park, California and grew up along the west coast in different beach cities. As a child she loved skating, swimming, playing restaurant and collecting matchbox cars. After graduating from Huntington Beach High School, she joined the family drag racing business working for her father John Force as one of the first employees of John Force Racing. Adria helped build the company from the ground up; everything from answering...

Are you ready for your car to decide if you’re fit to drive? If not, you’d better buckle up. A federal mandate declares new vehicles must have in-car surveillance for 2027 models onward that can decide if a person is fit to drive and can make the car inoperable via a so-called “kill switch.” And don’t count on brushing your teeth or gargling with Listerine to work around the driver monitor if you’ve had one too many. Most new cars won’t make the determination via breathalyzer, but infrared cameras continually monitoring potential impairment cues. They include pupil size, head movements,...

A panel of judges handed a setback this month to New Mexico auto dealers attempting to derail mandates requiring manufacturers to deliver more electric vehicles to the state. The ruling by a three-judge panel of the New Mexico Court of Appeals means that the state remains on track to steadily increase the share of zero- and low-emission vehicles in new car showrooms between now and 2032. For vehicle year 2027, which starts this year, the state mandate requires that electric vehicles comprise 43% of new passenger cars and light-duty trucks delivered to New Mexico. That requirement is set to increase...

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Uber has done its best to kill taxis, and now it's turning on drivers — starting with the drivers on its own app. The company is putting $10 billion into buying either robotaxi fleets or stakes in robotaxi companies, in hopes of cutting those pesky drivers out of its profit margins. From Reuters: Uber has committed more than $10 ​billion to buying thousands of autonomous vehicles ‌and taking stakes in their developers, breaking from its asset-light "gig economy" business model to avoid disruption from robotaxis, ​the Financial Times reported on Wednesday. Reuters could ​not immediately verify the report. Uber did...

A new Minnesota bill could ban most weekday and nighttime driving for classic cars A Minnesota bill would sharply limit when classic cars can legally be driven. Collector vehicles may only be allowed on weekends or at organized events. Critics warn the proposal could hurt car culture and local businesses. Seeing a classic car on the road is one of those rare moments that still brings a smile to anyone who appreciates such machines. That experience might be about to become even rarer in Minnesota. A new law there would limit classic cars to driving only on weekends or at...

California’s war on cars knows no bounds, which is far out of step for the state that launched America’s car culture. While policymakers haven’t yet outlawed the classics, their failure to act responsibly has added to the burden of owning them. Famous classic collector Jay Leno aims to change this. There are almost 36 million vehicles registered in California, according to the Department of Motor Vehicles. While the number of classic cars is difficult to determine, Sen. Shannon Grove says there are 320,000 automobiles made from 1976 to 1991 in the state. That’s an almost imperceptibly thin slice, less than...

A self-driving car struck and killed a beloved duck near a park in Texas, furious residents say. One witness wrote in a local Facebook group that they watched an Avride vehicle drive over the aquatic bird as it rested near Mueller Lake Park in Austin earlier this week, KXAN reported. 'I saw an Avride self-driving car, with a person in the driver's seat not touching the wheel, run over and kill a duck near the park,' the witness wrote. 'It didn't slow down or hesitate at all, just steamrolled right through, and the person inside did not stop to see...

This is one of those local stories that doesn’t get a ton of traction in the national headlines, but highlights quite possibly one of the most alarming trends in modern America: the failure to get the basics right. And by basics, in this case, I mean the ability for a town or city to put out fires. Fire departments around the Denver, Colorado, metro area have been struggling to afford new fire engines, which have ballooned in costs over the years, thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic/economic catastrophe of 2020 and Wall Street’s private equity companies. They also have to navigate...

“I drive about 30, 40 miles a day, so I’m looking at $92, almost $100 in gas prices,” Mr. Harvey said. “So I’m like, maybe I should trade in my car and get something electric for the time being.” several brands have reported an uptick in electric vehicle sales in the opening months of 2026. Tesla has reported a modest year-over-year increase in sales, and Hyundai and General Motors’ Cadillac division have also seen electric car sales increase. You didn’t have to go far from the auto show on Saturday to see why drivers are showing a renewed interest in...

Uh oh, a new crop of deadly airbags just dropped. In all seriousness, airbags are lifesaving devices that are an integral part of the safety systems in all new cars sold in the United States, so when they start killing people it's no laughing matter. Yesterday the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration released findings that "suggest substandard Chinese air bag inflators, likely illegally imported into the United States, are to blame for 10 fatalities and two serious injuries in a dozen crashes over the past three years. All 12 crashes involved Chinese frontal driver air bag inflators manufactured by Jilin...

WSJ: Tesla Finally Has Its First Semi-Truck and It’s Already a Hit With Truckers. "Truckers who drove it in pilot tests say they loved features including a centered driving position, faster charging and longer range for about $100,000 less than other battery-electric trucks. Angel Rodriguez, a 56-year-old truck driver for Hight Logistics in Long Beach, Calif., recently swapped out a 13-gear diesel truck for a Tesla Semi, which is automatic, for a one-month pilot test. “It’s just easier on your body. It’s less stressful because you’re not really having to engage the clutch and the stick shift.” Big F Transport...

My New 2026 Toyota Camry Just Broke and I'm Pissed Scotty Kilmer Mar 16, 2026 Toyota Camry review. Here's Why I Just Bought a 2026 Toyota Camry. DIY and new car review with auto mechanic Scotty Kilmer. Buying a Toyota Camry. Is the new Toyota Camry worth it? Buying a new Toyota. Should I buy a Toyota Camry? Are Toyotas reliable? The truth about new Toyota cars. Car advice. DIY car repair with Scotty Kilmer, an auto mechanic for the last 57 years.

Your next car purchase comes with an unwelcome passenger: a federal mandate requiring surveillance technology that monitors your every blink, glance, and head nod. Thanks to Section 24220 of the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, NHTSA must finalize rules forcing all new passenger vehicles to include “advanced impaired driving prevention technology”—essentially turning your dashboard into a judgment-free zone that’s anything but judgment-free. The Technology That’s Watching Infrared cameras and sensors create a constant biometric assessment of driver alertness and sobriety. The tech involves infrared cameras mounted on steering columns or A-pillars, tracking eye movement, pupil dilation, and drowsiness patterns....

Now a system called UVeye is designed to bring that transparency to the process. “We’re like an MRI for your car,” said Matt Small of UVeye. The drive-through system uses multiple cameras to capture hundreds of high-resolution images and video of a vehicle in just seconds. “We’re going to detect anything down to 2 millimeters,” Small said. It also uses infrared technology to detect rust and issues underneath the car. “[It was] originally developed for military use so we were scanning the undercarriage of vehicles looking for bombs and different threats like that,” Small explained. In under a minute, the...

The Trump administration is suing California over a de facto fuel economy rule that it believes the state is using to an enact a pseudo electric vehicle mandate, the California Post has learned. The Department of Justice filed the lawsuit Thursday on behalf of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), arguing that the Golden State is violating federal law by forcing state-specific mileage requirements on car manufacturers through the state’s Advanced Clean Cars proposal. “California is using unlawful policies from the last administration to create exorbitant costs for their citizens — this Department of Justice is proud to stand...

There’s little doubt that the wealthy are closely linked to savvy tax maneuvers. Montana offers famously friendly vehicle registration laws that allow some to avoid paying far more in other states. It’s come under fire plenty of times in the past as have those who leverage the so-called “Montana license plate loophole”. Now, California says it’s charged 14 individuals tied to more than $20 million worth of vehicles that were were allegedly registered and plated out of state, despite actually spending their lives in California.

The team has endured a disastrous lead-up to the season-opening Australian Grand Prix, with a severe vibration plaguing its new AMR26. That has caused trouble with its Honda battery and severely limited the number of laps able to be completed in pre-season testing. Team principal Adrian Newey admitted earlier on Thursday that the issue is also having an impact on the drivers. Newey revealed Alonso feels he “can’t do more than 25 laps consecutively before he will risk permanent nerve damage to his hands”, while Stroll has a 15-lap threshold. The two drivers have subsequently given their perspectives of driving...