Archive for March 2016

Takata Corp., the supplier behind the auto industry’s biggest recall ever, estimated that a comprehensive callback of its airbag inflators would total about 2.7 trillion yen ($24 billion), according to a person familiar with the matter. The shares plunged to … Source: Claims Journal

A U.S. Geological Survey report concludes the risk of earthquakes for the Dallas-Fort Worth area is higher than it’s ever been. The USGS report released Monday, according to The Dallas Morning News,  incorporates “induced” earthquakes into federal seismic hazard maps. … Source: Claims Journal

New research bolsters evidence that a simple blood test may someday be used to detect concussions. It suggests that a protein linked with head trauma may be present in blood up to a week after injury, which could help diagnose … Source: Claims Journal

A California prosecutor has decided against filing criminal charges in a fifth-story balcony collapse in Berkeley last year that killed six students from Ireland and injured seven other people, officials said Tuesday. Alameda County District Attorney Nancy O’Malley said she … Source: Claims Journal

Changan Automobile Group, Ford Motor Co.’s partner in China, plans to send a self-driving test car on a 1,200-mile road trip next month, underscoring its ambitions to produce highly automated vehicles by 2020. The car will depart Chongqing and arrive … Source: Claims Journal

Accident avoidance features in vehicles, such as automatic braking, adaptive cruise control, and lane departure prevention, are becoming more prevalent and will lead to lower accident frequency in the next five-to-ten years, a benefit for auto insurers. Longer term, self-driving … Source: Claims Journal

The Toyota Prius v is the only midsize car out of 31 evaluated to earn a good rating in the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety’s first-ever headlight ratings. The best available headlights on 11 cars earn an acceptable rating, while … Source: Claims Journal

In 2015, there were 1,403,054 water damage claims filed—an increase of just one percent over 2014’s total of 1,389,277, according to a new report by the National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB). From January 1, 2014 through December 31, 2015, a … Source: Claims Journal

The Brussels terrorist attacks show how subway passengers can be even more vulnerable than airline travelers. But that’s not where public attention – or federal security spending – has gone in the U.S. The Transportation Security Administration, created after the … Source: Claims Journal

A federal judge on Thursday gave Volkswagen AG and U.S. regulators until April 21 to agree on a fix for the nearly 600,000 diesel vehicles on U.S. roads caught up in VW’s massive emissions cheating scandal. U.S. District Judge Charles … Source: Claims Journal