AUTO INDUSTRY
New rule for auto recalls
A new federal auto recall search rule will make it easier for car owners and buyers to figure out whether a vehicle needs fixing.
Under the rule, automakers must provide a free online tool that will allow owners, or shoppers hunting for a used car, to punch in a vehicle’s 17-digit identification number and learn whether a specific vehicle is subject to a recall and whether it has been fixed.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is instituting the tool — with the support of the auto industry — in an effort to get more cars fixed. Only about half of recalled vehicles are repaired, depending on the brand and model, according to industry estimates.
“There are some people who are not reached and there are a significant number of people who don’t respond,” said Jack Nerad, an analyst at auto information company Kelley Blue Book. They figure the car is running fine and don’t bother to get it fixed.”
“This is an important issue,” he said. “People should respond to safety recalls.”
The manufacturers will devise their own search tools, which can be accessed at their websites or through a link at the NHTSA’s SaferCar Web page. Makers will be required to update the information at least weekly, NHTSA said.
— Los Angeles Times
FOOD
Rice price increase likely
Cheap rice may be a thing of the past as production costs climb, driven by rising wages in Asia and higher fertilizer and diesel costs, the U.K.’s Overseas Development Institute said.
Increased rural wages are “good news” due to the potential effect on poverty reduction, the London-based ODI wrote in an e-mailed report. An estimated 1.3 billion people in Asia depended on countryside labor for their livelihoods in 2008, the report showed.
“As wages rise, however, so do the costs of production,” wrote Steve Wiggins, an ODI research fellow, and Sharada Keats, research officer at the group. “For consumers who are poor and for whom rice is their daily staple food, this is bad news.”
— Bloomberg News
