Recall: 2011 Toyota RAV4—Non-compliant curtain shield air bags
Recall: 2011 Toyota RAV4—Non-compliant curtain shield air bags Toyota is recalling 427 of its RAV4 vehicles from model year 2011 because one or both curtain shield air bags may not deploy due to the inflator potentially not performing properly. In the even of a crash, the air bags may not be able to properly protect an occupant, increasing the risk of injuries. In the curtain shield air bags, propellant with the incorrect specification was used for the initiator assembled in the air bag inflator. The recalled RAV4 vehicles were manufactured from November 24 through December 19, 2011, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reported. Toyota will notify owners and dealers will check the vehicle identification number to identify the curtain shield assemblies and replace the assemblies as necessary with new ones free of charge...

Daily electronics deals: Sharp LC42SV49U 42-inch 1080p 60Hz LCD HDTV
Daily electronics deals: Sharp LC42SV49U 42-inch 1080p 60Hz LCD HDTV Today's electronics deals, courtesy of The Consumerist : Best Buy : Sharp LC42SV49U 42" 1080p 60Hz LCD HDTV $329.99 with Free In-Store Pickup Entertainment GameStop.com : Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 [Xbox 360, PS3] $39.99 $3 ship Amazon : Rage [Xbox 360, PS3, PC] $19.99 Neither Consumer Reports nor The Consumerist receive anything in exchange for featuring these deals; the posts are intended to be purely informational. These deals are often fleeting, with prices changing or products becoming unavailable as the day progresses. These posts are not an endorsement of the featured products or the Web sites that sell them—though some of the sites may be included, and recommended, in our Ratings of retailers for computers and other major electronics (both available to subscribers)...

First look review: Ice Cream Sandwich (Android 4.0) on the Asus Transformer Prime tablet
First look review: Ice Cream Sandwich (Android 4.0) on the Asus Transformer Prime tablet Android 4.0 , also known as Ice Cream Sandwich (or ICS), is the long-awaited version of Google's Android operating system that's designed for both smart phones and tablets, allowing software to be easily developed for both types of devices. The first tablet running the new OS is the Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime. We took a look at the quad-core Transformer with Ice Cream Sandwich to see what new features it brings to the tablet world. The changes aren't earth-shattering, but there are some noticeable improvements. Of course, the changes also impact smart phones . But in some cases, the features on tablets manifest somewhat differently than they do on phones...

FICO now has credit reports and information in Spanish
FICO now has credit reports and information in Spanish FICO has introduced a new Spanish version of its website, including credit scores, reports, analysis and more, for the some 34 million native Spanish-speaking consumers in the U.S. and Puerto Rico. According to the New York Times, FICO’s experience at its call centers convinced it that there was demand for broader availability of information in Spanish. The fees associated with FICO's services are the same as they would be for the English version. AnnualCreditReport.com is the only site where you get a truly free credit report that's authorized and guaranteed by law, but it does not have a Spanish version. Unfortunately, many websites advertise a free credit report, but end up charging you...

Car owners wins lawsuit over Honda Civic Hybrid mileage claims
Car owners wins lawsuit over Honda Civic Hybrid mileage claims Heather Peters took on corporate giant Honda in a southern California small-claims court over the fuel economy of her 2006 Honda Civic Hybrid. And she won. A former lawyer, Peters chose not to join a class-action suit that would reportedly pay out $100-$200 per owner and include a $1,000 credit toward a new car. Instead, she presented her own case in a Torrance, California, small-claims court where judgments are limited to $10,000, and she was awarded $9,867 yesterday. By going this path, Peters avoided paying legal fees. For contrast, she cites fees as being $8.5 million for the trial lawyers proceeding with the class-action suit. An Associated Press report quotes Peters as saying she hopes the victory will encourage other Civic Hybrid owners to follow her example, and she has set up a website to help get them started: dontsettlewithhonda...

Top 10 scams of 2011—Fraudsters targeting victims by age
Top 10 scams of 2011—Fraudsters targeting victims by age The most frequently reported scam of 2011 involved bogus prizes and sweepstakes, with fake check scams and fraudsters posing as loved ones, according to the National Consumers League's report of the top scams reported to its national Fraud Center. Of significance is that more than ever, scammers are targeting certain age groups, the Consumers League found. For example, bogus prizes, sweepstakes, and free gifts made up 27 percent of complaints overall, but among people ages 56 to 65 and older, these types of complaints made up 41 percent and about 60 percent of the total, respectively. Similarly, fake check scams made up about 27 percent of complaints overall, and among people ages 18 to 25, complaints about fake check scams made up about 46 percent of the total...

Hewlett-Packard fax machines recalled for overheating and fire dangers
Hewlett-Packard fax machines recalled for overheating and fire dangers More than one million HP fax machines in North America are being recalled by the Hewlett-Packard company, says the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission today. The machines—the HP Fax 1040 and the HP Fax 1050—have faulty internal electric components that can fail, causing the machines to overheat and possibly catch fire. The CPSC says Hewlett-Packard has received seven reports—six in the U.S., another in Canada—of the HP fax machines overheating and catching fire. In one instance, a "significant" amount of property damage occurred and in another incident a consumer finger received a "minor burn injury." Consumers should immediately stop using the recalled HP Fax 1040 and HP Fax 1050 machines and disconnect them from the electrical outlet...

First look review: The LG Spectrum on Verizon is a screen star
First look review: The LG Spectrum on Verizon is a screen star The LG Spectrum , one of several promising smart phones announced at CES 2012 , just became available on Verizon for $200 with a two-year contract. This phone’s high point is its 4.5-inch high-resolution (1280 x 720) display. Supposedly borrowing technology from LG’s best TV sets, the screen, combined with the phone's 1.5-GHz dual-core processor and ultra-fast LTE 4G connection, provided sharp and smooth video streams from HD Netflix. I was less impressed, though, with what LG did with the phone's controls and interface to the phone's Android 2.35 OS (Gingerbread). Though hardly fatal, the changes add some unnecessary steps to what were admirably simple procedures. The Spectrum is virtually identical to the LG Nitro on AT&T, which scored high in our Ratings...

Honda recalls 2011-12 Ridgeline pickup trucks for spare tire issues
Honda recalls 2011-12 Ridgeline pickup trucks for spare tire issues Å small number—just over 200—Honda Ridgeline pickup trucks are being recalled by America Honda Motor Co. According to the U.S. National Traffic Highway Safety Administration, those 2011 and 2012 model year pickups have incorrect information regarding their spare tires, which could lead to tire failure and cause a crash. The NHTSA says that the data printed on the tire information placards, mandatory on all vehicles in the U.S., don't match the data for the Honda Ridgelines' actual spare tire—a violation of federal safety standards. Honda says in a press release that it has begun notifying customers affected by this recall to bring their Ridgeline pickups to local dealerships...

Hospital staff should get the flu shot
Hospital staff should get the flu shot You might think that doctors, nurses, and other hospital staff would be among the first to get vaccinated against the flu. But too many don’t, even though hospitals can be breeding grounds for the virus and patients there are especially vulnerable to it, according to a report released today by the nonprofit National Business Group on Health. To counter that problem, a coalition of groups led by the NBGH, including the American Hospital Association and supported by Consumers Union, have started an initiative to increase flu-vaccination rates among hospital staff. Getting the flu shot is important for everyone, since the disease leads to hundreds of thousands of hospitalizations each year and, in some years, tens of thousands of deaths...