California Lemon Law Lawyer Blog

Some SUVs did not do well in roof crush tests conducted by the Insurance Institute of America. A report in the NY Times by Chris Jensen digests the Institute's findings.

Only four of the dozen small S.U.V.’s evaluated in a new test to see how well their roofs held up in a rollover crash got “good” ratings, and some of the country’s most popular models did not fare well.

The new Volkswagen Tiguan, Subaru Forester, the Honda Element and the Jeep Patriot received good ratings. The Suzuki Grand Vitara, Chevrolet Equinox (and Pontiac Torrent), the Toyota RAV4, the Nissan Rogue and the Mitsubishi Outlander received acceptable ratings.

The popular Ford Escape/Mercury Mariner/Mazda Tribute triplets and Honda’s CR-V got marginal ratings. The worst-performing models were the Kia Sportage and its sibling the Hyundai Tucson, which got poor ratings.

A Consumer Reports survey found that more than three-quarters (78 percent) of respondents said they were unlikely to consider buying a new car from an automaker in bankruptcy; 64 percent were very unlikely. Further, more than eight in 10 respondents said they are unlikely to consider buying a new car from a division that is being sold or phased out; 63 percent said very unlikely.

To counter this problem, President Obama announced this morning that the federal government will back their car warranties, in an effort to bolster consumer confidence.

The program will involve a separate account that will be funded with cash contributed by the manufacturer and a loan from the U.S. government to pay for repairs covered by the manufacturer’s warranty on each new vehicle. More details on the announcement are available in a NY Times article by Chris Jensen.

Fleetwood Motor Homes filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy on March 10, 2009. Fleetwood, a leading RV manufacturer in terms of sales, announced it would continue operations while it reorganized. Fleetwood said it would close its travel trailer operation. Fleetwood joins Monaco Coach Corp and Country Coach in the bankruptcy courts. Other RV manufacturers such as Weekend Warrior, Western RV, Alfa Leisure, and Teton Homes have simply closed down. Coachman went out having sold its assets to Forest River.