Every Friday our Personal Finance team will round up consumer news you need to know ahead of the weekend, on a segment we call “Family First” for YFi PM. Read below for this week’s round-up.
Largest auto recall in history
Here’s a scary stat for drivers: More than 57 million cars are on the road today with open recalls, according to CarFax. Just this week, millions more were added to that list. The US government announced the largest series of automotive recalls in history, citing 10 million inflators being recalled in the U.S. this year, with as many as 70 million to be recalled by the time the whole mess ends late next year.
First up, 882,000 Fiat Chrysler Dodge Ram trucks are being recalled for steering and brake issues. So far the company is aware of one related injury and eight related accidents.
Ford is adding another recall to its list – the 2019 Ford Ranger is being recalled on a much smaller scale (3,500 vehicles) for issues with the shift-lock brake system. Ford says it is “unaware of any accidents or injuries resulting from the condition.”
Next, 14,000 Mazda Miata MX5s from 2016 to 2019 have open recalls on their auto transmission sports cars for an electrical problem. Owners can call Mazda at 800-222-5500. Mazda reports on its website that it’s aware of several injuries resulting from this defect.
And last but not least, Volvo is having issues with electric trunks, recalling 167,000 Volvo XC 60 2018-2019 models. This is Volvo’s second recall in the past month. Volvo does not know of any related injuries so far.
Wells Fargo Outage Spills Into Second Day
Wells Fargo is issuing public apologies as its mobile app outage spills over into day two. Smoke was detected in a data facility during a maintenance check on Thursday, which led to a power shutdown. Most of the problems were supposed to be ironed out, but fed-up customers are speaking up on social about not being able to see their direct deposit transfers in their accounts.
Walgreen’s gets a wrist slap from the FDA
The FDA is barring the sale of tobacco products at certain convenient store locations like Walgreens and Circle K (a Canadian-owned chain in America) for selling tobacco to minors -- calling out Walgreens for being the top violator among pharmacies with 22% of the stores inspected found to have illegally sold tobacco products to minors. The agency said it had issued more than 1,500 warning letters and 240 civil money penalty actions against Walgreens stores nationwide for unlawful tobacco product sales to minors. Under federal rules, retailers are only allowed to sell tobacco products to customers age 18 or older.
Tune in every Friday at 1 p.m. Eastern for more consumer updates you need to know.
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