driving safety

If you have spent any time behind the wheel since the pandemic began, you've surely noticed people driving more aggressively and way too fast. That correlates with a rise in traffic fatalities that last year reached levels not seen since the 1990s in Washington state and Oregon.

The recall addresses how the cars respond if their hybrid systems hit problems. They're designed to enter a failsafe or "limp-home" driving mode — but in certain conditions, they can stall.

Washington state lawmakers sent a distracted driving crackdown to the governor's desk late Wednesday. And lawmakers in Oregon are steadily steering their own version of this through legislative committees.