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Representatives of the Automotive Service Association (ASA) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) were on hand Nov. 6 in Las Vegas for an afternoon press conference to discuss new initiatives, goals and partnerships involving the two organizations. The press conference was held during ASA’s NACE and CARS events—co-located as part of the second annual Automotive Service and Repair Week (ASRW)—at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center Nov. 4-7.

Minnesota Commissioner of Commerce, Glenn Wilson, has issued a Consent Order to GEICO Insurance Company alleging that the company violated Minn. Stat. § 72A.201, subd. 6(2)(a) (2008).  GEICO was ordered to pay a civil penalty of $30,000 and to cease and desist from any further violations of the Statute.

General Motors has returned $140 million of the $290 million it received from the government to support is parts suppliers.

Toyota Motor Corp. on Nov. 25 said it would fix about four million vehicles in the U.S. to avoid sudden acceleration that could occur from the floor mat interfering with the gas pedal.

Toyota will recall about 110,000 Tundra vehicles sold in the United States due to safety concerns. The move was triggered by excessive corrosion on the frame rear cross-member of certain Tundra vehicles which operate in areas with high road salt use. "In the worst case, the spare tire stowed under the truck bed may become separated from the rear cross-member. Spare tire separation will create a road hazard for following vehicles and increase the likelihood of a crash," said the Japanese auto maker in a statement.

With a track record of more than 50 years carrying a huge inventory of auto paint, equipment and related accessories, as well as every mechanical part imaginable, O’Reilly Automotive, Inc. is spreading throughout the country and expanding its network of stores at a phenomenal rate. In 2008, O’Reilly completed the biggest acquisition in the company’s history with the purchase of CSK Auto. This and past acquisitions have made O’Reilly one of the top three auto parts chains in the country.

Scott Sharpe is the regional parts director for Asbury Automotive Group, one of the largest automotive retailers in the U.S., headquartered in Duluth, GA. Asbury is the parent company that manages the Crown Automotive Group, with some ten dealerships in North Carolina and another ten elsewhere, and seven dealerships within Texas’ David McDavid Auto Group, based in Irving, TX, but having other locations in Plano, Houston, Austin, and Frisco.  Sharpe works for a company that oversees some 80 dealerships throughout the United States, and personally directs the parts operations of all of the David McDavid stores as well as the Crown Automotive stores in North Carolina. It’s an enormous job, managing parts for the seven David McDavid dealerships carrying a total of $5.1 million in parts, but he’s a seasoned professional with more than three decades of overall experience in the industry.

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After two consecutive years of considerable declines, overall customer satisfaction with renting cars at airports stabilized in 2009, according to the J.D. Power and Associates 2009 U.S. Rental Car Satisfaction Study(SM) released Nov. 17.

The Automotive Recyclers Association (ARA) addressed members of the National Conference of Insurance Legislators (NCOIL) Property and Casualty Committee Nov. 19 at a meeting in New Orleans to discuss model legislation, which is designed to reduce airbag fraud. During his presentation, ARA Executive VP Michael E. Wilson pointed to the necessity of Americans to have proper functioning airbags in their motor vehicles. Wilson pointed to a recent review conducted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) of 1,446 fatal accidents from 2001 and 2006 found that in an alarming 255 instances (18%) airbags that should have been replaced following deployment in a previous crash were missing.