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Shasta County woman leads police on totally groovy chase

Would you lead police on a high-speed chase through town for a Scooby Snack? A Shasta County woman did just that over the weekend in her very own Mystery Machine. On Sunday, March 6, a Shasta County probation officer contacted the Redding, CA police department about Sharon Kay Turman who was wanted for violating probation, PIX 11 reported. After a short search, police located Turman near the intersection of California and Shasta streets at the wheel of a 1994 Chrysler minivan painted up like the Mystery Machine from Scooby Doo. Redding police attempted to stop Turman, but she apparently had an important mystery to investigate and she fled the scene. She sped down South Market Street with Redding Police in hot pursuit, running a red light and hitting four other vehicles in an intersection. This didn't stop the Mystery Machine however, and RPD broke off their chase as she entered southbound Highway 273. A California Highway Patrol helicopter picked her up on Hill Drive just north of Anderson, CA and she was pursued through town by Anderson PD at speeds in excess of 100 mph. She eventually abandoned the Mystery Machine on California Highway 36 and fled on foot. Turman's whereabouts, and the status of the Scooby Snacks, are currently unknown. She is wanted by both the Redding Police Department and Shasta County Probation. Both agencies told KRCRTV that they are asking anyone with information regarding her whereabouts to contact them. Related Video

Ford F-150 bumps Camry from top of Cars.com American Made Index

With July 4th just around the corner, what better time could there be for Cars.com to announce that the Ford F-150 is the Most American car of 2013? This may be especially true since it was the Toyota Camry, a car produced by a company based in Japan, that had held the top spot from 2009 to 2012.
Cars.com compiles its Most American list by considering the amount of parts each vehicle uses that come from America, where it's final assembly takes place and how many units per year are sold. "While the assembly point and domestic parts content of the F-150 didn't change from 2012-2013, vehicle sales are responsible for bumping the F-150 to the top spot," according to Patrick Olsen, Editor-in-Chief of Cars.com.
As far as automakers go (as opposed to individual models), Toyota retains the top spot it held in 2012, with General Motors, Chrysler, Ford and Honda (in that order) rounding out the list. The motivation behind this list each year, according to Olsen, is "to help car shoppers understand that 'American-Made' extends beyond just the Detroit three" and because "a study we conducted in 2012 indicated that 25 percent of shoppers surveyed preferred to buy American."

Supplier says Jeep Cherokee hack only affects FCA cars

Harman doesn't think that drivers need to worry about any further hacks of its products. The company supplies FCA's Uconnect infotainment system where a software vulnerability is responsible for a 1.4-million vehicle recall. "This experimental hack is unique to Chrysler," Harman CEO Dinesh Paliwal said to Automotive News. "This does not exist, to our assessment, in any other vehicle." The reason that the company wouldn't be involved is that automakers aren't simply plugging in the existing infotainment systems into new vehicles. According to Paliwal, Harman supplies the unit, but FCA and other automakers are able to make additional modifications for their vehicles. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has also recently taken up the question of broader software vulnerabilities in Harman's products. On July 29, the agency began investigating the company to check for similarities between Uconnect and the infotainment systems supplied to other automakers. The Jeep hack became national news when two researchers were remotely able to take control of a Cherokee. The vulnerability in the cellular connection even gave control over the brakes. "Once people get in the car and get into the CAN bus, then you can start to mimic and mess up many, many things in the car," Paliwal said to Automotive News. Politicians immediately responded with legislation to create federal standards in hopes of protecting drivers better. NHTSA also opened an investigation to make sure the automaker's software update actually solved the problem. Related Video: