SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Widening earlier claims of immigration fraud at a Tesla factory, a recently unsealed whistleblower suit says several other major automakers, including Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Volkswagen, illegally used foreign construction workers to build their U.S. factories.

The charges expand on an investigation by The Mercury News last ...Read more

Can you say "Ford Ranger Raptor?"

Now try it with an Australian accent: "No worries, mate. I'll pick you up for the barbie in me Ranger Raptor. G'day."

That's as close as Ford's legions of American truck fans may to get to the Blue Oval's latest road warrior for the foreseeable future. Ford has announced it will sell a high-performance Raptor ...Read more

SAN FRANCISCO -- Go for it! In essence, that's the Trump administration's new directive on driverless-car development.

Under that directive, automakers and technology companies will be asked to voluntarily submit safety assessments to the U.S. Department of Transportation, but they don't have to do it.

And states are being advised to use a ...Read more

WASHINGTON -- The driver of a Tesla sedan who died in a 2016 crash while using Autopilot relied too much on the car's technology, and sensing a driver's hands on the wheel is not an effective way to tell whether the driver is paying attention, a federal safety panel indicated Tuesday.

Also, makers of semiautonomous vehicles could prevent the ...Read more

SAN FRANCISCO -- Most people still say they wouldn't buy a self-driving vehicle, but they become far more open to the idea after they try cars with automatic driver-assist features.

That's according to a survey conducted by global consulting firm AlixPartners.

Only 18 percent of those surveyed reported personal experience with driver-assist ...Read more

Q: I hope you can solve my problem. I have a 1994 Dodge Dakota with 190,000 miles on it. The engine has never given me a problem until recently.

It starts great and, at the beginning of each drive, runs nice and smooth. But, for some reason, after driving about 10-15 miles, it stalls. It usually happens when I stop at a stop sign or when I let ...Read more

In the Colorado ZR2, Chevrolet has fielded a purpose-built pickup truck that boasts a number of exclusives.

It's the only midsize truck available with a diesel engine, the only one to come standard with true "off-road" suspension and the only one with locking front and rear differentials.

So, who cares?

Chevrolet engineers made a splash at ...Read more

The last couple of years have seen interesting developments in the "adventure riding" motorcycle segment. It's the fastest-growing niche and seems to be attracting increasing numbers of older riders.

But both beginners and older riders may have issues with the size, weight and power of the class-leading adventure bikes, which often have 1000cc ...Read more

Get ready for a surge in family-SUV sales as millennials start snapping up the practical vehicles like they used to buy glow sticks before a rave.

The prospect makes automakers ecstatic. For years, the conventional wisdom held that millennials -- at 80 million, the biggest generational group in the U.S. population -- didn't care about cars, ...Read more

SAN FRANCISCO -- Hurricanes. Wildfires. Heat waves.

Asthma. Bronchitis. Emphysema. Lung cancer. War.

Those specters and more were raised Wednesday at a public hearing in Washington by opponents of a Trump administration plan to consider cutbacks in pollution and fuel economy standards for automobiles and light trucks.

Dozens of people -- ...Read more

The battle for control of the small but increasingly competitive electric vehicle market got a little hotter Tuesday night, as Japanese car company Nissan unveiled a new Leaf with a stronger battery and longer range -- at a price well below rival electric cars.

At a glitzy ceremony in Tokyo, broadcast live on the internet, Nissan executives ...Read more

Q: I have a 1996 Acura TL 2.5 with about 89,000 miles on it. At the beginning of the first drive of the day, all of the dash lights glow and then disappear. After driving any distance -- 5, 25, 100 miles -- and then shutting the engine off and then starting it again for the trip home, all the dash lights come on, per usual, but the anti-lock ...Read more

Jaguar Land Rover, taking a page from the European luxury car playbook, is offering increasingly attractive performance versions of its entry-level sports cars.

One of those was on display at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca during the recent Monterey Car Week in California, an event that culminates at Pebble Beach with the famed Concours D'Elegance. ...Read more