National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

Affected cars can lose power, shift into park and apply the emergency brake without warning.

NHTSA has issued an ‘Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking’ that will help lay the groundwork for the new technology implementation.

Congress is racing toward a Friday deadline to renew the law that pays for national transportation programs, and lobbyists trying to shape the legislation are in a frenzy.

At a time of record auto recalls and rising highway deaths, safety advocates say the Republican-run Congress is snubbing their agenda and taking sides with the auto and trucking industries in favor of legislation that could worsen matters.

A dispute between US safety regulators and air bag maker Takata Corp. escalated Wednesday when the government threatened fines and legal action if the company fails to admit that driver’s air bag inflators are defective and to agree to a nationwide recall.

A showdown is looming between U.S. safety regulators and a Japanese company that makes air bags linked to multiple deaths and injuries. Car companies and the driving public are caught in the middle.

Two U.S. senators are calling on regulators to issue a nationwide recall of cars with faulty air bags made by Takata Corp., questioning why automakers have been allowed to limit recalls to only certain locations with high humidity.