STAR WATCH CONSUMER BMW CABLE PROBLEM PROMPTS RECALL

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration on Thursday said BMW is recalling more than 367,000 of the cars in the U.S. from the 2004 to 2010 model years. A battery cable connector can loosen in the trunk and overheat. In extreme cases, it could lead to a smoldering fire in a trunk floor mat, according to documents posted on NHTSA’s website.

The U.S. recall is part of a larger one announced Monday by the German automaker that affects 1.3 million cars worldwide. BMW spokesman David Buchko says the company knows of only one fire in the U.S. related to a loose battery cable. The recall affects 5-series sedans and sports wagons, as well as the 6-series coupe and convertible.

Internet food service

Online deals site LivingSocial on Thursday unveiled an Internet food-ordering service. Hungry customers will be able to use it to order tacos, burgers or Pad Thai from participating restaurants over the Internet for pickup or delivery. Aptly called “Takeout & Delivery,” the service replaces LivingSocial’s instant-deals site, which offered real-time discounts with tight time constraints. LivingSocial says that service was a testing ground for its new, food-focused offering.

The service links customers to more than 2,700 restaurants in 26 U.S. markets, including Atlanta, Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, Washington and San Francisco. The two largest, Los Angeles and New York, are coming later, along with the rest of the markets that LivingSocial serves.

Mortgage rates dip

The average rate for a 30-year mortgage declined to 3.99 percent in the week ended Thursday, from 4.08 percent, which was the highest since Oct. 27, according to Freddie Mac. The average 15-year rate decreased to 3.23 percent from 3.3 percent.

Nike wins round in Tebow dispute

Nike Inc. won a judge’s order temporarily blocking Reebok International from using quarterback Tim Tebow’s name on New York Jets-related clothing. A federal judge in New York granted Nike’s request for a temporary restraining order, a day after the company filed a lawsuit. Reebok’s licensing agreement with the National Football League ends Saturday and Nike is to become the official supplier of licensed NFL apparel.

Privacy help coming

U.S. Federal Trade Commission Chairman Jonathan Leibowitz said he expects companies to develop a mechanism by the end of the year that allows people to say they don’t want their online browsing behavior collected.

Leibowitz said the creation of a so-called do-not-track option for Internet users should help the online economy expand because it would build user trust in the Web.

“Online advertisers, major web browsers and an international consortium have all made great strides on do-not- track,” Leibowitz said in testimony Thursday to a panel of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

A 2004 BMW 5-SERIES SEDAN. BMW IS RECALLING MORE THAN 367,000 5- AND 6-SERIES CARS IN THE U.S. FROM THE 2004-10 MODEL YEARS. / BMW

PARK CARS OUTSIDE UNTIL BATTERY CABLE FIXED, BMW

U.S. safety regulators and BMW say owners of some 5- and 6-series cars should park them outside until a battery cable problem can be fixed.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said Thursday that BMW is recalling more than 367,000 of the cars in the U.S. from the 2004-10 model years. A battery cable connector can loosen in the trunk and overheat. In extreme cases, it could lead to a smoldering fire in a trunk floor mat, according to documents posted on NHTSA's website.

The U.S. recall is part of a larger one announced Monday by the German automaker that affects 1.3 million cars worldwide. BMW spokesman David Buchko said the company knows of only one fire in the U.S. related to a loose battery cable. No injuries have been reported from the problem, he said, adding that the recommendation to park the cars outside is merely a precaution.

"We've got one known case of actual fire here in the U.S., having sold 367,000 cars," he said.

The recall affects 5-series sedans and sports wagons, as well as the 6-series coupe and convertible. Most of the cars in the recall are 5-series sedans. In 2010, the last model year affected by the recall, BMW sold almost 39,000 of the cars, according to Autodata.

According to NHTSA documents, BMW found out there was a problem in 2006 when unspecified incidents were reported in Germany and Sweden. The company said in a letter to NHTSA that it investigated but couldn't identify a cause. There were incidents in the U.S. in April and November 2009 and May 2011. Those were investigated and no cause was found.

In April last year, a task force was set up to investigate further. On March 12, tests pointed to a connector in the trunk that links battery cables.

GOOGLE'S NEW SELF-DRIVING CAR WILL EVEN ALLOW THE BLIND TO GET BEHIND THE WHEEL

Web giant Google has already changed the way we search the internet, watch video and navigate.

But the firm's latest breakthrough could be its biggest innovation yet.

The company promises that its self-driving car will enable blind people to drive, as the vehicle takes over nearly all the functions of the car currently controlled by humans.

The project has been several years in the making, and was officially unveiled in October 2010.

But recently it has taken a further step forward, after putting blind people in the driving seat and inviting them to test the technology which could revolutionise their lives.

Google has released a video showing Steve Mahan, dubbed 'Self-Driving Car User #0000000001', using the car to carry out his daily routine.

Mr Mahan, who is 95 per cent blind, drives to buy a taco and pick up dry-cleaning - activities which may seem humdrum, but which are shut off to many blind people who do not have a companion or carer to accompany them.

Although Google employees sat with the driver in the Toyota Prius, they were not involved with the vehicle's navigation during the journey around Morgan Hill, California.

Instead the car, which was patented in December, uses cameras, radar and lasers to move safely around pre-programmed locations.

Mr Mahan's test drive leaves him clearly delighted with the life-changing vehicle as he jokes: 'Look ma, no hands... and no feet!'

At the end of the journey, he tells his passengers: 'You guys get out, I've got places I have to go.'

The concept of it is pretty awesome,' Eric Bridges, a spokesman for the American Council of the Blind, told Fox News.

'They’re helping to change the world in a lot of ways.'

But a lot more needs to be worked out before the cars hit the road without the direct supervision of Google engineers.

It would be a brave government which issued driver's licences to the blind - but the wonders of technology could still make it a reality.

WHY CHINA CAN’T AVOID OIL ADDICTION

China raised gasoline prices 7% last week to $4.42 a gallon — the largest single increase in nearly three years — in a move partly aimed at suppressing the country’s expanding hunger for oil. A steady series of such adjustments, combined with massive investments in renewable energy, suggests China is serious about controlling its dependence on fossil fuels. But if the country is hoping to avoid the American experience with oil addiction, it might already be too late.

The central culprit? A zealous car culture remarkably similar in its development to the one that pushed the U.S. into the arms of foreign oil producers.

China’s annual bill for imported oil averaged just $66 billion between the year 2000 and 2010, according to the International Energy Association. The IEA predicts that figure will jump to $251 billion in 2012, accounting for 60 percent of the nation’s total oil consumption.

Steep as this month’s increase in fuel prices might seem, it will have a limited impact on China’s appetite for oil because the country is just entering the take-off stage of car buying.That notion might seem to fly in the face of recent media reports suggesting China’s insatiable appetite for the automobile has begun to taper off. But China is still a young market, and the current bout of slower growth comes more from Beijing’s inflation-beating efforts rather than any underlying weakness in demand for cars.Even with sales growing at a slower pace, car-crazy Chinese are expected to buy 20 million rides this year. Eight out of ten new car buyers in China are purchasing for the first time in their lives, according to the latest numbers from J.D. Power and Associates, and only one in 10 new car buyers relies on car loans to fund their purchases. In other words, there’s plenty of cash around for new cars.

Moreover, at $4.42 a gallon, Chinese drivers are still paying about half as much for gas as drivers in Tokyo or Berlin.Policy makers in Beijing are acutely aware of the risks to national security that come with too much dependence on foreign oil. But they find their hands mostly tied, in large part because Chinese vehicle owners, like their American counterparts, have grown accustomed to affordable fuel. Raising fuel prices too quickly would produce significant backlash from city folks and farmers alike, increasing the risk of domestic unrest.

Lifting prices too slowly, on the other hand, only deepens the addiction, giving China more headaches in tension centers like Iran and the contested seas around the Spratly Islands.To relieve some pressure, officials in Beijing are encouraging the auto industry to develop electric vehicle technology. But the batteries that drive electric cars remain expensive: Use of batteries makes an electric car $10,000 more expensive on average than the same model powered by a gasoline or diesel engine.

Moreover, there are limits to how far you can travel an electric car – around 100 miles – before you need a fresh charge. Annual sales of electric cars in China, therefore, remain stuck in the low thousands. Meanwhile, total car demand in China is projected to climb to 30 million a year – twice the current size of the U.S. market — by 2020, according to an IHS Global Insight report released earlier this month. Assuming a modest increase in oil prices, China will be spending more than a half a trillion dollars on imported oil every year by the end of the decade.

This vexing dependency is bound to get much worse before it gets better. As the U.S. knows all too well, addictions usually lead to trouble. The world should get ready for heightened conflict wherever oil deposits are concentrated.

AMERICANS PUT A PRIORITY ON STAYING CURRENT ON THE CAR LOAN, A STUDY FINDS

    NEW YORK — The recession and its hangover may have turned bill-paying habits upside down. Cash-strapped Americans are paying off their car loans before they pay credit card bills and make mortgage payments, a study finds.

It used to be that Americans would pay their home loans first, then their credit card and car loans. After all, homes have been the most valuable possession for most people for decades, and nobody wanted to jeopardize that.

But Trans Union, a credit information company, studied the payment patterns of 4 million Americans with at least one car loan, one credit card and a mortgage and found a clear priority for staying current on the car loan.

Among Americans who were late on payments last year, 39 percent were delinquent on the mortgage while current on the car loan and credit cards, and 17 percent were late on credit cards while current on the other two.

Only 10 percent were late on the car loan while current on the other two. When Trans Union first did the study in 2006, staying current on the mortgage was the priority, says Ezra Becker, the company’s vice president of research and consulting.

“Today, most people need a car to get to a job or to look for a job, and that has made cars a priority,” he says.

It hasn’t helped that home prices keep falling while the mortgage remains by far the biggest payment for most people. The latest Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller home price index found that prices in big cities had fallen to 2002 levels, down 34 percent from the peak.

There is also more leeway on the mortgage. Foreclosure can take two to three years. Cars can be repossessed 90 days after people stop paying.

Matt Saxton of Columbia, Md., was not surprised by the study’s results. Saxton is on unpaid medical leave from work, recovering from spine surgery and relying on his savings.