Metal suspension components are normally fairly sorted things. They’re made to be tough, outlasting their ball joints and bushings, which makes this recall a weird one. The steering knuckles on certain Range Rover and Range Rover Sport SUVs are cracking in concerning enough quantities to warrant a recall, and while Land Rover seems to have found out in Canada first, the recall fix is being extended to America.
At the same time, a batch of Canadian-market Hyundais are stuck in the States for now, an electric scooter capable of nearly 50 MPH sounds like a brilliant way of spelling tibial fracture, and a British panel has declared the Volkswagen Polo to be the best car of the past half-century.
Welcome back to The Morning Dump, our daily round-up of bite-sized bits of car news you’ll want to read. It’s Monterey Car Week, which means Matt’s out today, so I’ll be your captain down the river of information this morning. So, sit back, relax, and keep your hands and feet inside the ride at all times. Let’s get cracking.
Range Rover Control Arms Might Fall Off And Canada Found Out First
It’s nice when your front suspension does its job, and not so nice when it doesn’t. With that in mind, Land Rover is recalling some 2014 and all 2015 to 2017 Range Rover and Range Rover Sport SUVs due to reports of front suspension knuckle failure. You know, the bit that all the control arms attach to. This recall covers a whopping 121,509 vehicles, and it all started up in Canada. Yes, this latest NHTSA recall is effectively a south-of-the-border counterpart to a Canadian-market recall that, interestingly enough, is detailed in the American recall report. Much of it is fairly routine, but there’s one big note that stands out:
Throughout multiple engineering reviews, as well as Product Safety and Compliance Committee (PSCC) and Recall Determination Committee (RDC), JLR [Jaguar Land Rover] has analyzed the failure rate data, together with failures previously unknown but informed by TC [Transport Canada], for Range Rover Sport vehicles. It was concluded that there is an elevated rate of failure on Range Rover Sport in Canada compared with other markets which cannot yet be technically explained.
While a technical explanation for elevated failure rates on Canadian Range Rover Sports hasn’t been found, I have a hunch. Canada beats the absolute life out of cars. Harsh winters, boiling summers, post-apocalyptic roads, long distances … it all adds up to a coast-to-coast automotive torture chamber. The sort of failure patterns that show up in Canada now could potentially show up in America later, which is why it doesn’t seem surprising that Land Rover found something while a dialogue with NHTSA over whether to issue a recall in America was going on.
In parallel with these discussions, ongoing monitoring of the field data has shown an increasing failure rate in the first half of 2025 in Range Rover vehicles, borne out through field reports and Vehicle Owner Questionnaires (VOQs). This increasing volume of reports from the US on Range Rover vehicles triggered a further internal review and assessment of the matter for both Range Rover and Range Rover Sport.
In this case, a bit of internal digging found reason to recall U.S.-market examples from the same production batches, which makes plenty of sense. Geographically, the southern bits of Canada and the northern bits of the United States are quite alike. So what actually goes wrong on these Range Rover models?
In cases where a crack in the front suspension knuckle has developed, certain environmental conditions may lead to a worsening of the crack and an eventual detachment of the upper suspension arm, which under extreme avoidance maneuver use conditions may compromise the vehicle’s controllability and increase the risk of a crash.
Interesting wording here, as it suggests that a detached upper control arm isn’t a huge safety risk unless you’re putting a lot of load through the suspension hardware. Maybe that’s why the report notes 110 reported instances of this failure in the wild, and yet no injuries. On the plus side, considering this is essentially an expansion of an existing recall to another market, a fix has already been worked out.
The technician will inspect both front suspension knuckles for the presence of any cracks. Where no crack is present and where available, a retaining bracket will be fitted to the joint. Where cracks are found or a bracket is not available, the front suspension knuckle will be replaced.
While a retaining bracket may sound a little janky, it should keep the upper control arms more or less where they’re supposed to be in the event that one or both knuckles crack and release the upper arms. So, if you own one of these affected 4x4s, expect a letter in the mail by the end of September, and maybe keep an eye on your front knuckles in the meantime.
Stuck In The Middle With Santa Cruz
The trade war seems to have claimed another victim for now, and it’s likely not the machine you expected, or even in the market you’d think. After the White House imposed 25 percent blanket tariffs on vehicles, Canada retaliated with reciprocal tariffs on non-USMCA-compliant U.S.-made vehicles and the non-Canadian and non-Mexican portions of CUSMA-compliant U.S.-made vehicles that have reportedly put one particular Hyundai model in a tight spot, as per Automotive News Canada. While Tucson crossovers can be sourced from Mexico and Santa Fe crossovers can be imported from Korea, no such alternative exists for the Santa Cruz compact pickup. It’s only built in Alabama, and although it’s been sold in Canada, shipments have been halted.
Some automakers are able to take advantage of remission for maintaining production in Canada, but Hyundai hasn’t built any cars in Canada since 1993, when slow Sonata sales led to the closure of the manufacturer’s plant in Bromont, Quebec. As such, Hyundai isn’t able to take advantage of this program. So, is it just a matter of pausing Santa Cruz production? Well, not quite. As Hyundai Canada CEO Steve Flamand told Automotive News Canada, “We had already committed to production, so we produced a number of vehicles that we’re just holding there.”
That’s right, a batch of Canadian-market Hyundai Santa Cruz trucklets is just sitting around in America in an attempt to wait this trade war out. Given how it seems like this tariff situation is likely to be protracted and how any vehicles already produced have VINs attached, what’s going to happen if we near the end of the model year and this geopolitical issue still isn’t resolved? Well, these vehicles likely won’t be resold into the U.S. market. As Flamand told Automotive News Canada, “We’ll make a decision shortly and we’re not going to have dealers and customers waiting for vehicles.” Hyundai may just end up paying the reciprocal tariffs, although it is weird to think that a bunch of trucklets have been lying in limbo somewhere in America.
The Scootinator
If you live in a city, you probably only have space for one, maybe two cars. This presents a conundrum for car enthusiasts in areas with poor transit access who want to keep a fun car for the weekend, but here’s an interesting solution. Segway went in on traditional e-scooters a few years ago, and although they aren’t as weird as the brand’s original self-balancing machines, this particular model electric scooter is absolutely bonkers. It’s called the GT3 Pro SuperScooter, and it has a top speed of nearly 50 MPH.
Yeah, that’s not a typo. Thanks to dual electric motors and just over 10 horsepower of total output, Segway’s latest creation can reach a top speed of 49.7 MPH, fast enough to seem properly sketchy for traveling while standing on a skinny platform supported by wheels smaller than dinner plates. In addition to its high speed capability, the GT3 can accelerate from zero-to-30 mph in 3.9 seconds, quick enough to keep up with economy cars.
Unsurprisingly, nearly 50 MPH on a scooter sounds terrifying, which explains why Segway has equipped the GT3 Pro SuperScooter with hydraulic disc brakes and ABS, along with coil-sprung suspension. Sensible upgrades, but is it enough to prevent you from folding yourself into a dustbin during an unplanned high-speed dismount? Range isn’t bad, either; Segway claims 86 miles if you take it slow at 15 MPH, and a more realistic 34 miles of range at VMax.
If this sounds appealing to you, there’s one other thing you should keep in mind beyond making sure your health insurance is paid up and getting a good helmet: The price. The Segway GT3 Pro SuperScooter stickers for $2,699.99, and that’s not exactly cheap. Still, if you want a surprisingly quick way of commuting to keep mileage off your fun car, this might be the move.
The Best Car Of The Past 50 Years Is…The Volkswagen Polo?
Car awards are often a truly bizarre corner of the industry. Sometimes they get it right, and sometimes you end up with the 1997 Chevrolet Malibu taking home a Car of the Year award. In a move likely to raise eyebrows, a committee called the Best Cars of the Year awards that’s included people like professional stunt driver Russ Swift, former Aston Martin CEO Dr. Andy Palmer, and John Oates has announced its pick for the best car of the past 50 years, and it’s the Volkswagen Polo. You’re making that face, aren’t you?
Sure, it’s convenient that the Polo is celebrating 50 years on the market right in time to receive this award, and it doesn’t take much thinking to conjure up a list of more technologically important cars and more benchmark-resetting cars in the past 50 years, but let’s hear them out for a minute. As Best Cars of the Year awards founder and motoring journalist Mike Rutherford said of the winner, “The 20 million motorists who have been buying Volkswagen Polos since 1975 cannot be wrong.”
Weirdly, I get where they’re coming from here. The Volkswagen Golf is one of those classic yardstick cars, and the Polo has historically been a smaller Golf in concept, imbued with the same sort of showroom appeal and occasionally stepping out with some quirkiness. There was the wonderfully strange Mk2 Polo breadvan, the supercharged G40 model, the quad-headlight-equipped Mk4 Polo, and the roll cage-equipped Polo ClubSport augmenting normal hatchbacks and sensible diesels. In short, something for everyone. You know, I can see what they’re getting at.
What I’m Listening To While Writing TMD
Eight years after its release, “104 degrees” by Slaughter Beach, Dog still conjures up a vibe. The feeling of comfort in settling down. Maybe I’m just tired, but something about that image seems nicer and nicer with each passing year.
The Big Question:
When was the last time you checked your bushings, ball joints, and associated componentry?
Top graphic images: Land Rover; Autoparts_Premium
Since the avg age of my on-road fleet is 26 I’m checking stuff like that all of the time. Just did a wheel bearing on the TT.
That scooter shit is scary. Has Jackass written all over it.
Let’s face it: legislation has never kept up with technology; that would be almost impossible. And even if it could, law enforcement is already stretched pretty thin, and laws are useless without enforcement.
There are plenty of signs that the USA is on the path to becoming a lawless anarchy. People at the top, rich folks and politicians, are fairly free to ignore laws and courts at this point. People in the middle (the few that are left) do have to care somewhat because they’re not quite immune to laws and courts, and people at the bottom just don’t care.
Oh, Eggsalad. We’re going to have plenty of laws. Just not the kind that benefit the majority of the populace.
The dumbest things about those electric scooters are that they are illegal to ride anywhere. They are too powerful and fast to be allowed on sidewalks and bike lanes, and can’t be licensed to go on the roads.
Painting with broad brush there. Scooter legality depends on each state’s law.
Find me a place that allows a 50mph scooter to be ridden legally.
In Nevada, an electric scooter is treated the same as a bicycle or ebike, and can be operated at speeds up to 15 MPH on roadways. (Nevada NV Rev Stat § 484B.785)
There are 3 classes of e-bikes. In a lot of places in the US, class 1 and class 2 are treated like regular bikes. So wherever you can ride a bike, you can ride one of those. Both are capped at 20 mph before any form of electric motor cuts off and its up to your legs if you want to go faster.
Class 3 can throttle up to 20 mph but pedal assist up to 28. Where you can ride them gets a bit murkier depending on where you are.
The “offroad use only” bikes are just that. Off road use only. So 45mph, 50 whatever. If you want to ride one on the road, you need to add signals, brake lights, etc.
Problem is all these kids now have offroad bikes and zero fear of traffic and no one enforcing the existing rules. They just figure a bike is a bike regardless of its capabilities. I regularly watch a kid riding wheelies at about 50mph in the middle of traffic by my house. People in my area are pushing to ban ebikes altogether because they can’t be bothered to understand bikes like his are already banned but the cops can’t be bothered to enforce existing rules.
Great, now back to the question. Where can you use a 50mph scooter legally?
My own property, Antarctica, offroad areas that do not specifically require licenced vehicles.
If they only got half of Hall and Oates in for voting, the results are irrelevant.
I was (still?) wondering if it’s THAT John Oates.
Probably – a quick search shows he is a car guy.
https://www.autoweek.com/car-life/a1718686/when-it-comes-cars-john-oates-knows-exactly-what-he-likes/
Four days ago when I changed the oil and greased the, count ’em, 11 grease-certs under the front end of my ’94 Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham.
Everything was good – it should continue to wallow around the highways like the road-whale it is for the foreseeable future.
I miss my ’94 Brougham. It had the chrome wheels a white walls. So serene.
It is odd that a vehicle intentionally designed with a heavy-duty suspension for hard use has a component failing that most lighter-duty vehicles rarely have a problem with.
It’s one thing for it to fail if you pound the ever-loving snot out of the thing. I’m guessing most Range Rovers are used for fairly light-duty commuting, so doubly concerning there.
Anyway, by the logic of the Polo best-car award, McDonald’s has the best burgers.
Why can’t Hyundai just sell those Santa Cruzes in the US? 😛
And no, the Polo wasn’t the best car of the last 50 years. That would go to the Corolla or Camry.
Corolla for sure. Those things are built like tanks. Plus they last forever.
They didn’t sell enough of them in the UK for most to even know what they are. And they are hateful to drive, which is WHY they never sold all that many “over there”. The Golf/Polo were best sellers for decades, everybody knows and loves them, and even the wheesy engined ones are pretty great drives.
Kevin, I don’t know if you’re referring to the Corolla here or not… but for the sake of discussion, I’ll assume you are. While they might not have sold well in the UK, Toyota has managed to move over 50 million Corollas over 12 generations. They must be doing something right.
In fact, my oldest son just bought my old 2006 Corolla from me and he loves driving that more than even V8 beasts. Why? Because you can literally drive that car to its limits frequently, and so long as you follow the maintenance schedule, it will last for a couple decades more.
It’s not the most fun car, but it’s lightweight unibody makes the car feel like it has a bigger engine than it really does, they are comfortable and very easy to work on and to drive.
The Corolla is an entirely adequate car that is very well suited for the needs of the average *American*. Which is to say, it’s transportation that with exceptions, isn’t a whole lot of fun, but also isn’t much of any bother. The average Brit, and average European in general, wants a bit more out of a car than, “boring, but never needs anything”. And so historically Toyota had very little market penetration on the other side of the pond with them. It’s just not their sort of thing the way a Polo or a Golf is. Different strokes for different folks.
I always take issue with the whole “Toyota has sold 50 gazilion Corollas” thing given that there is basically nothing in common between sundry generations and models. They are just lots of very different cars that happen to all be called “Corolla”. Rather different from VW Beetles and Ford Model Ts where there was evolution over the production run, but they were all very fundamentally the same design.
Considering that an entire anime series was built upon the Toyota Sprinter Trueno, which was one popular variant that was sold as a JDM, I’d like to beg to differ. Initial D was based upon the real life experiences of street racers in Japan from that era. The 4A-GE from those early 80s Corolla are the stuff of legends.
Can you make a playlist of the WILT tracks on the Autopian YT? I rarely get a chance to listen while I’m reading in the morning but I would like to go back and check them out because I love the variety.
Scooters have becomes so fast, they need to be renamed Zoomers. Which is, coincidentally, the target market for these Darwin Dashers.
Young people on scooters that go too fast. Retirees on e-bikes that go too fast. Mad Max 4: Sidewalk Wars.
The retirees in my area are in those 4 wheeled scooters with doors.
I really like Slaughter Beach, Dog!
I’m not sure a 50mph scooter is something that just anyone should be able to buy.
I feel like 50mph scooters are a self-correcting problem. Those that buy them will take themselves out of the gene pool, thus improving the herd.
Last week, before I sent my w126 on a 1200km loop to Oblivion and back.
Tesla had (still has?) a similar problem with their aluminium knuckles on Model S/X.
The Polo is actually a great choice. It was affordable, reasonably well made, and worked in basically every country/city on earth thanks to its good packaging. Basically a Honda Fit/Jazz with much more longevity and broader appeal.
That’s like naming the Camry or Accord the best US car of the past 50 years. You just smile and nod and move on 🙂
Basically every country except the US. I liked the idea of a 7/8 scale Golf, although it might have been a little snug for 6’2″ me. But, living in the states, I’ve never had a chance to sit in one.
There are so many cool, relatively pedestrian, cars in Europe that frustrate me that we can’t get here.
I’m sure the $2,699.99 price will be increasing once the injury lawsuits start rolling in.
I’ll at least wiggle the tire and do a cursory check on components when I do a tire rotation so about once a year I guess.
Already two replies about mandatory regular safety inspections, interesting — I didn’t know any state actually did these (beyond the emissions cash-grab…).
I’m on board, but for now our state has massive bipartisan support to NOT do them. It’s a rare combination of “government stay out of my life!” and “I can’t afford the repairs on my salary!” so nothing ever happens.
But more driver training needs to be the first focus. Having good equipment counts for a lot, but it’s a drop in the bucket compared to human error. Or you can have both, which is what I witnessed a couple weeks ago as a Brodozer with 6″+ spacers on the wheels literally lost an entire front wheel at highway speeds and damaged 2-3 other vehicles. I was the first 911 call.
My county in PA is an emissions county, visual and OBD2 check via scanner – no sniff test anymore. Any pre-OBD2 car is now exempt (25 yr rule). They do check all lights, windows, horn, tires, brakes, bearings, suspension, etc… Rust can be an issue and some places are more lenient than others, general rule of thumb is no holes (underbody AND exterior). One local shop is very picky about rust, another about brakes.
Considering that this is the only time a lot of older cars EVER get looked at I call it a positive. Just go across the border and see what is running in Ohio.
PA also emissions exempts any car driven less than 5000 miles a year.
I live in Indiana and we don’t do smog checks here… It’s so bad here, that it’s not uncommon to see someone tooling around in an early 90s buick regal with the floor completely rusted out and the brakes shot, so that you have to footstop the ride just like Fred Flintstone.
College pal had an ’82 Civic with structural carpet. Ohio.
“structural carpet” – I’m waiting for Torch to write a full-length article about that now.
The rust repair doesn’t need to be good… The rockers on my ’89 Cherokee were spray foam and bondo. But the floor pans and frame rails were solid, although the floor pan was patched. Same with the suspension mounts.
Maine is pretty serious about the annual safety inspection – and until I was in high school it was TWICE a year. Which was smart in an era where a new car could dissolved into a rotter out wreck in just a few years.
Some of the rolling disasters I see on the roads in states with no inspection terrify me. Just a stroll around a Wallyworld parking lot in FL will show you countless cars with the cords showing through the tires.
The safety inspections (that I’ve heard have been discontinued) in Texas were every other year and it was essentially, do the wiper blades look ok, do all the lights work and does the horn honk. The vehicle never went up on a lift and a sniffer was never stuck into the exhaust pipe (at least in the country in which I lived). But it was only $7.
This just in: Ford F Series named best vehicle in the US
I agree, I think sales isn’t always the best metric for ‘good’. How many PT Cruisers did they sell again?
This just in: Ford F Series most recalled personal vehicle in history.
Yeah… I have the receipts too: https://www.craftlawfirm.com/news/nhtsa-vehicle-recall-data/
I’m not sure what this has to do with my tongue in cheek post, but thanks for the info I guess.
My state has mandatory annual safety inspections that are supposed to check, so I rarely do. If I’m looking at a potential project car, I check prior to purchase so I know what I’m getting into and could use to haggle. Also my daily is under 3 years old, and only has about 17k miles, so it’s really not worth checking.
Can someone explain to me how it’s legal to sell a scooter capable of 50mph while not classifying it as a motorcycle? Why are we allowing these on our roads?
These kinds of things are everywhere suddenly and every kid with a smartphone has already figured out how to remove any limiters they might have been shipped with. I guess it’s just convenient to ignore them for now since how would you ever ticket one, but eventually people are going to start bailing off these things at 30+ and I don’t know where this all leads.
Somewhat related, a friend of my step son was hit riding an electric motorcycle on a public road Monday, multiple broken bones. Kid was 12, on a non-street legal kids bike. Driver was likely speeding knowing the area. The numer of Adult (let alone kids) operating non licensed (likely uninsured) vehicles of various types on public roads has skyrocketed around here. I’m not one to push for more motor vehicle laws, but I fee like anything motorized should have to have some type of licensing and/or insurance, at least liability.
I see a lot of kids on these in may area, and IMO kids should NOT be on these things. There’s the safety factor, and also the fact that they should be pedaling and not so lazy.
Recently I saw a teenage girl blow through a 4 way stop sign, phone in her right hand, holding the handlebar with her left. Which means that if she panic stops, she’s grabbing a handful of FRONT brake.
but for a while there, we made a lot of value for the shareholders and politicians they bribed to make them legal.
And that really is the meaning of life, creating that shareholder value.
No need to bribe anyone to *make* anything legal, under Common Law (some variant of which is used in almost every English-speaking country) everything is legal by default unless prohibited by specific legislation.
In my state, and maybe others, the distinction between a scooter and a motorcycle is the existence of a seat. Some scooters have removable seat posts. Remove the seat assembly and it becomes a scooter in the eyes of the law. Install the seat assembly and it might be a motorcycle depending on state law.
The law needs to catch up here. Some ebikes are capable of near-highway speeds and require no licensing, lights and so on.
Problem we have here is the ebike folk like to get on the greenways (no motorized vehicles allowed) and let ‘er rip! Really surprised no one’s been run over…lots blind hills/curves.
This scooter goes 105 mph and looks like a deathtrap.
Up until I got my Leaf I was car free for 2 years, so it has been a while. I’m taking my Leaf in today for it’s 6 month inspection.
My car just passed PA state inspection yesterday. Say what you will about these programs, but they do keep the worst offenders off our roads. You can be confident the car next to you has tires/brakes/working steering and suspension and is unlikely to break in half. Anecdotally, I see FAR less roadside breakdowns in PA than in other places.
As an executive with JLR, I want to assure all of our Canadian clientele that Operation Moose Knuckle is fully underway and you should receive an unsolicited DM or text message with more details presently.
Recall For Steering Knuckles Cracking.
Mum always told you not to crack your knuckles! Now, see?
I check my balls and associated componentry on a regular basis
There’s a joke in here about going to a professional for a second look, but I’m too busy to work it out.
“Now turn the steering wheel and cough.”
Are your balls jointed? I keep checking through the bushing and related componentry, but still can’t find my ball joints.
Great, can’t wait to be dodging those 50 MPH scooters in bike lane as I peddle along with my 20 MPH e-bike.
You’re probably safe in the bike lane, I’ve seen these things trumbling along in the main traffic lanes, at night, with no helmets or pads or anything. I’m sure that’s fine.
I’ve dodged legit, gas-powered motorcycles going the wrong way in the bike lane. I don’t trust anyone to stay out of the bike lane.
Or, worse, pedestrian paths and then crossing roads without nary a twitch to look for traffic.
Either mowing down pedestrians, or to be mowed by a car.