News — Cars

Roof and trailer-hitch racks are great at toting your gear for a weekend adventure, but those mounts can change the aerodynamics as well as the weight of your vehicle—costing you additional gas money. To find out just how much of an impact they have, our experts measured how different car racks—when empty and when loaded with two adult-sized bicycles—affected the fuel economy of a 2019 Nissan Altima sedan and a 2019 Toyota RAV4 small SUV going 65 mph. For the sedan, our tests revealed that the fuel economy took a significant hit with a loaded bike rack (much more than the SUV’s)—and even the...

Swytch switched. Following up on its successful 2017 crowd-funded e-bike conversion kit launch, London-based Swytch Technology introduced a new model that is 50% lighter and 70% smaller than the original. #E-bikeConversion #Swytch #News #Cars #E-bikes

Swytch switched. Following up on its successful 2017 crowd-funded e-bike conversion kit launch, London-based Swytch Technology introduced a new model that is 50% lighter and 70% smaller than the original. #E-bikeConversion #E-bikes #News #Cars #Swytch

Consumer Reports has no financial relationship with advertisers on this site. Despite an overall decline in traffic deaths, more pedestrians died on U.S. roadways last year than at any time over the past three decades—continuing a troubling trend even as more cars come with advanced crash avoidance systems. Highway fatalities fell 2.4 percent in 2018, the second year in a row they have fallen. That makes the reported pedestrian death tally of 6,283—a 3.4 percent increase—all the more alarming, says Jake Fisher, senior director of automotive testing at Consumer Reports. There were 53 percent more pedestrians killed last year than...

Consumer Reports has no financial relationship with advertisers on this site. Be on the lookout for deer while commuting or cruising to enjoy autumn's colors. Insurance claims for collisions with animals rise significantly in the fall when deer are mating, with November having the highest claim frequency. The State Farm insurance company estimates that there were over 1.9 million animal collision insurance claims this past year. The costs really add up. The Highway Data Loss Institute (HLDI) reports that the severity of crashes also increases in the fall. The average cost of November animal-strike claims over the past 13 years...