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Honda HR-V rear windows are shattering in the cold. Consumer Reports says the car should be recalled.
Hundreds of Honda HR-V owners have reported that their rear windows shattered suddenly, a problem that Consumer Reports says warrants a recall due to the safety risk posed to drivers from “spontaneous shattering of glass.”
The issue impacts 2023 HR-V models, with Consumer Reports noting that the publication experienced the defect itself when one of its auto testers warmed up the car using a remote start function on a cold morning. While no one was injured, the tester had to clean glass shards from his driveway and, without a rear windshield, the car was exposed to the cold weather and possible theft.
Honda HR-V owners have lodged more than 300 complaints about shattered rear windshields with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which is an unusually high number for a newer model, Michael Brooks, executive director at the advocacy group Center for Auto Safety, told Consumer Reports.
Link to defroster, Honda says
“While our vehicle was parked inside our garage, the rear windshield completely shattered outward, without any impact or object hitting it … It was like it exploded,” one HR-V owner wrote in a complaint with the NHTSA, noting the incident occurred January 20 in Flanders, New Jersey. On that day, the temperature hit a low of 18 degrees, according to Weather Underground.
The owner added, “It was very scary and unsettling and could have been incredibly dangerous/life threatening if I had been driving with my young child anywhere.”
In an emailed statement to CBS MoneyWatch, Honda said that it has received “a limited number of reports of rear-hatch glass breaking on 2023 Honda HR-V vehicles associated with rear defroster use.” The issue is related to the assembly process for some vehicles due to the sealer used to secure the rear window coming in contact with the defroster’s heating elements. Over time, that can weaken the glass, the automaker said.
Recall suggested
Consumer Reports said the defect should prove dangerous to HR-V owners and passengers.
“This is a known defect in some Honda HR-Vs, and especially if someone’s driving at high speed or in dense traffic, it could all too easily lead to a crash,” William Wallace, associate director of safety policy at CR, told the publication. “For the sake of its customers and everyone on the road, Honda should convert its service campaign to an official safety recall of all affected vehicles, which would help get the word out and maximize the number of owners who get their cars fixed.”
What should HR-V owners do?
In response to the reports of breaking rear windows, Honda said it is starting a “voluntary product update campaign,” and is securing needed replacement parts as quickly as possible.
“We estimate that this campaign will begin in April or May 2024. In the interim, any vehicle owner who experiences this type of rear glass breakage is invited to contact their nearest authorized dealer or Honda customer service (800-999-1009) to arrange a potential repair,” the company said.
But Consumer Reports said that it believes the defect warrants a recall.
“For the sake of its customers and everyone on the road, Honda should convert its service campaign to an official safety recall of all affected vehicles, which would help get the word out and maximize the number of owners who get their cars fixed,” Consumer Reports’ Wallace said.
Without a recall, owners won’t be able to find Honda’s product update campaign when they search at the NHTSA’s recall site, CR noted.
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Russia says Ukraine fired 6 U.S.-made ATACMS missiles at Bryansk as Moscow warns such strikes risk world war
Zhytomyr, Ukraine — Exactly 1,000 days after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of neighboring Ukraine, Russia’s defense ministry accused Ukrainian forces on Tuesday of firing six U.S.-made and -supplied ATACMS missiles at the Russian region of Bryansk. If confirmed, it could be the first time Ukrainian troops had taken advantage of President Biden easing restrictions over the weekend on Ukraine’s use of the U.S.-made missiles to strike targets deeper inside Russian territory.
Ukraine’s military said it hit a Russian weapons depot in Bryansk overnight, but it didn’t say what weapons were used. U.S. officials confirmed to CBS News on Tuesday that U.S.-supplied ATACMS had been used on targets inside Russia.
In a statement carried by state media, Russia’s Defense Ministry said the military had shot down five ATACMS fired by Ukraine and damaged another. The reports said fragments had fallen at or near a military facility and that some of the debris had ignited a fire, but the ministry said there was no damage or casualties.
Murat Usubali/Anadolu/Getty
The strike in Bryansk came hours after another Ukrainian residential neighborhood was left charred and smoking. Ukrainian officials said 10 people were killed Monday in a Russian drone and missile attack on the southern city of Odesa.
The strike came a day after another strike on the power grid in Odesa, which also destroyed several homes.
With Mr. Biden finally granting Ukraine the long-sought permission to fire ATACMS — which have a range of about 190 miles — deeper into Russia, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s forces had a new option to retaliate for the latest carnage.
Ukrinform/NurPhoto/Getty
Russia, however, has accused the U.S. of adding fuel to the fire.
In September, President Vladimir Putin warned that if the U.S. allowed Ukraine to use ATACMS inside his country, it would mean the U.S. and its NATO allies were at war with Russia.
Putin has yet to respond directly to Mr. Biden’s weekend decision, but lawmakers in Moscow fumed over the move on Monday, including a senator who called it “a very big step toward the beginning of the third world war.”
Neither side has confirmed its death tolls during the war, but Ukraine’s military has paid a steep price for trying to defend the country from the invasion, with around 70,000 troops believed to have been killed. More than 100,000 soldiers from Russia — a country with a population more than three times larger than Ukraine’s — have been killed, according to U.S. officials.
Col. Maksym Balagura, a special forces commander in Ukraine’s state border guard, acknowledged the vast size discrepancy when asked by CBS News if his country was short on manpower, saying it “isn’t possible to compare Russia and Ukraine… Their country is 10 times the size of ours, and of course they have more manpower.”
But with the grueling ground and air war showing no signs of letting up, Russia’s military has already been bolstered by more than 10,000 North Korean soldiers, according to Ukrainian, South Korean and U.S. officials.
Zelenskyy warned Tuesday that the North Korean contingent supporting Russia’s forces could grow to 100,000, as the two Western adversaries deepen their security ties.
contributed to this report.
A family is demanding answers after a Las Vegas father was shot and killed in his own home after calling police to report a potential home invasion.
Newly released police bodycam video shows Brandon Durham, 43, struggling with an alleged intruder over a knife in the early hours of Nov. 12. The intruder, later identified as Alejandra Boudreaux, 31, was wearing a red hoodie, while Durham was shirtless, the video shows. Durham’s 15-year-old daughter was home at the time, but was not at the scene, officials said.
Las Vegas police said Officer Alexander Bookman entered the home and ordered the pair to drop the knife before firing his weapon, police said. Durham was struck and fell to the floor. Bookman then fires five more rounds, the video shows.
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Durham was pronounced dead at the scene. Now, his family is pushing for answers.
“He called the police for safety and instead, he was brutally murdered,” his daughter Isabella said in a news conference.
“Someone needs to explain to me why my son is not here with us today,” added Durham’s mother.
Bookman is on paid leave while the Las Vegas Metro Police Department investigates whether he acted appropriately or should face criminal charges. Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson told Durham’s family the investigation could take 30 to 90 days, according to CBS affiliate KLAS.
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“Every time a police officer used force, he has to be able to articulate why he used that force,” Felipe Rodriguez, an adjunct professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice and a former detective sergeant for the NYPD, told CBS News. “And even if he did use one round, you know, how is it that he was, you know, he continued shooting after the person was down in such a rapid succession? It’s going to have a lot of explaining.”
Boudreaux was arrested and faces multiple charges, including one count of home invasion with a deadly weapon, a count of assault with a deadly weapon, a count of performing an act of willful or wanton disregard of safety resulting in a person’s death, and one count of child abuse, according to police.
Boudreaux and Durham knew each other and had a sexual relationship, according to an arrest report obtained by KLAS 8. Boudreaux told detectives she intended to have police kill her on the day of the home invasion, the station reported, and Boudreaux has refused to appear at two court hearings.
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Russia says Ukraine fired 6 U.S.-made ATACMS missiles at Bryansk as Moscow warns such strikes risk world war
Bodycam shows Las Vegas man who called 911 for help killed by police in his home
Russian strikes continue in Ukraine, marking 1,000 days since the invasion
Russia says Ukraine fired 6 U.S.-made ATACMS missiles at Bryansk as Moscow warns such strikes risk world war
Bodycam shows Las Vegas man who called 911 for help killed by police in his home