DETROIT—The U.S. government’s highway safety agency is investigating complaints that the automatic emergency braking on big Freightliner semis can stop the trucks unexpectedly for no apparent reason. It’s at least the third recent investigation by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) into glitches with the technology, which has the potential to save lives because…

PORTLAND, Ore.—The driver of the semitruck involved in a fatal crash on Interstate 5 in Oregon earlier this month that left seven farmworkers dead has been indicted on charges of manslaughter, court documents show. A grand jury in Marion County Court on Tuesday indicted Lincoln Smith, a 52-year-old truck driver from California, on 12 counts,…

The House voted on May 23 to overturn the Biden administration’s rule on heavy-duty vehicles’ tailpipe emissions, the latest knock against the president’s environmental agenda in a closely divided Congress and the forerunner to an expected Biden veto. The short piece of legislation would roll back a rule submitted by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)…

MEXICO CITY—A fiery highway crash involving a passenger van and a freight truck killed 26 people in northern Mexico on Sunday, authorities said. Prosecutors and police in the northern border state of Tamaulipas said the death toll was a preliminary count, apparently because of the sheer volume of the wreckage and the fire that consumed…

NAIROBI, Kenya—A truck crashed into pedestrians and motorcycle taxis near western Kenya’s border with Tanzania, killing at least 10 people and injuring 10 others Saturday, authorities said. A local police commander said the crash in the town of Migori happened along a major highway when the driver lost control of the brakes. An operation to…

A 12-year-old girl and a man in his 40s died Wednesday in a head-on collision between a minivan and a heavy truck in Quebec’s Chaudière-Appalaches region. Emergency services were called to the scene shortly after 4 p.m. on Highway 112 in the small municipality of St-Frédéric, about an hour’s drive south of Quebec City. The…

WASHINGTON—Ford Motor Co. said it is recalling 98,500 older Ranger pickup trucks in the United States because replacement front passenger air bag inflators may have been installed incorrectly. The new recall covers 2004–2006 model year Ranger trucks recalled in 2017 and 2018 to replace a small number of inflators that were installed incorrectly. Those original…

DETROIT—New vehicle sales in the United States are expected to increase in February, but the decision by General Motors Co. to cut production of large pickup trucks at a U.S. plant points to new challenges for Detroit’s automakers. The major Detroit pickup truck brands are sitting on growing inventories of unsold vehicles, according to Cox…

SOFIA, Bulgaria—Police in Bulgaria on Friday discovered an abandoned truck containing the bodies of 18 migrants, who appeared to have suffocated to death inside a secret compartment under a load of lumber. The Interior Ministry said that according to initial information, the truck was carrying about 40 migrants and the survivors were taken to nearby…

DETROIT—Stellantis is telling the owners of nearly 341,000 Ram diesel trucks to park them outdoors because an electrical connector can overheat and cause a fire. The company said Wednesday it’s recalling the trucks to replace the connectors after getting reports of six potentially related fires. In one case, the owner reported that a fire started…