Consumer News: Car insurance rates spike 60% faster if tariffs on Mexico, Canada happen, research says

Players can only chat with people in their age group

By Mark Huffman of ConsumerAffairs

• Roblox is the first online gaming or communication platform to require facial age checks to access chat, establishing a new industry standard.
• The rollout began with a voluntary age check period. The requirement will begin in select markets in early December and expand globally in early January wherever chat is available.
• The Facial Age Estimation process was designed to protect privacy. Images and video are deleted immediately after processing.

Roblox is rolling out a major safety updatethat will require users to verify their age using a quick facial scan before they can access chat features. The goal is to reduce contact between adults and minors and make communication safer across the platform.

Roblox says this new policy is designed to:

• Limit who kids can talk to by grouping users by age

• Prevent adults from initiating chat with minors

• Ensure kids have age-appropriate experiences

• Create a new industry standard for online communication safety

The company is the first major gaming platform to require facial age checks for chat.

What changes for your child

Your child wont be able to use chat unless they complete a facial age check or upload an ID.
The process is done inside the Roblox app using the devices camera and takes just a few seconds.

Once verified, Roblox assigns users to an age bracket:

• Under 9

• 912

• 1315

• 1617

• 1820

• 21+

Your child will automatically be restricted to chatting only with kids in their age group or nearby age groups. Adults will not be able to engage with minors unless added as a Trusted Connection (for example, a parent or older sibling).

If your child is under nine, chat will be off unless you turn it on after they complete an age check.

Chat outside of experiences remains limited for users under 13.

What doesnt change

• You stay in control. You can still manage your childs account through Parental Controls.

• Strict content filtering remains in place. Kids under 13 still receive the most restrictive chat filtering.

• No image or video sharing. Roblox continues to block all media sharing in chat.

• All chat is monitored. Roblox uses AI and human review to watch for harmful behavior.

Is the age check safe?

Roblox said it designed the system to protect privacy:

• Images and video used for the scan are processed by a third-party vendor (Persona)

• They are deleted immediately after age is estimated

• Roblox does not store your childs image or face data

The company said this method is safer than storing IDs or biometric information long-term.

How parents can verify their child

1. Open the Roblox app on your childs devic

2. Go to settings and select Age Verification

3. Choose Facial Age Estimation

4. Follow the prompts to complete the scan

5. Once complete, you can modify your childs birthdate or adjust settings in Parental Controls

No additional apps or uploads are required.

The CEO's choice of headgear drew boos from environmentalists despite the investment in hybrid manufacturing

Toyota on Tuesday unveiled a $912 million investment in U.S. plants, most of it going to ramp up hybrid vehicle production in the U.S., an announcement that was overshadowed by CEO Akio Toyoda hosting a red, white and blue NASCAR event in Japan while sporting a Trump-Vance shirt and red MAGA hat.

The investment ispart of a previously announced planto invest up to $10 billion in the U.S. by 2030, whichPresident Trump revealed last month. Most of the investments are expected to be completed by 2027. Toyota already leads hybrid vehicle production with more than 51% market share through the third quarter of this year, according to Motor Intelligence data.

The company is looking to further increase manufacturing of hybrid-compatible engines and vehicles at certain American facilities.

Customers are embracing Toyotas hybrid vehicles, and our US manufacturing teams are gearing up to meet that growing demand, Kevin Voelkel, senior vice president of manufacturing operations, said in a statement.

Political repercussions

Toyoda took note of recent US-Japan trade tensions during his bold display of pro-Trump sentiment but tried to maintain a neural stance the subject of tariffs.

Im not here to argue whether tariffs are good or bad. Every national leader wants to protect their own industry, Toyoda said ahead of the race.But environmental forces were quick to pounce.

By wearing President Trumps face on his chest, Chairman Toyoda has shown he will do anything to appease and cozy up to this anti-EV and anti-climate administration,said Adam Zuckerman, senior clean vehicles campaigner with Public Citizens Climate Program. "Seventy-five percent of polled Republicans and 90% of polled Democrats who own Toyotas said that the company should support stronger emissions standardsstandards that Toyota has worked with Trump to dismantle.

Electrification Toyota's way

Toyotas $912 million hybrid-investment announcement is aclear signalthat it is scaling up its U.S. manufacturing of electrified vehicles but the EV (battery-electric) portion of that strategy is still under development. But it's important to note that the focus is on electrified vehicles (specifically hybrids in this instance) rather than 100 % battery-electric vehicles only.

The $912 million will include expansion at plants in West Virginia, Kentucky, Mississippi, Tennessee and Missouri.Shifting production of hybrid-compatible engines/components to the U.S. helps mitigate import-tariff risks and respond to growing U.S. market demand.

Toyota notes that to date (U.S.) it has sold more than 6.6 million electrified vehicles (hybrid, PHEV, BEV, fuel-cell) in the U.S. since 2000.

It plans to launch two U.S.-made all-electric vehicles (BEVs) in 2025, and expand to seven EV models in the U.S. by mid-2027.

Connected cars stumble when the signal drops

• Cars increasingly depend on the same fragile cell networks as smartphones
• Coverage gaps can cripple navigation, safety features, and remote apps
• Automakers are scrambling for solutions, from multi-carrier modems to satellites

Automakers have spent the past decade selling the promise of the always-connected cara vehicle that can download new features on the fly, report maintenance problems before drivers notice them and automatically call for help after a crash. But that promise runs into a hard limit: the same cell phone dead spots that frustrate everyday smartphone users.

Modern vehicles depend heavily on 4G and 5G cellular networks to power telematics, navigation, over-the-air updates, and remote-vehicle control apps. When coverage disappears, so do many of the features consumers increasingly take for granted. As more car systems rely on cloud connectivity, the impact of these gaps grows larger.

Dead spots create problems drivers can feel

Dead zones appear in all the familiar placesmountain passes, rural stretches of interstate, tunnels, bridges and remote coastal or desert regions where carriers simply dont have enough towers. While a phone losing service is an inconvenience, a connected car losing service can quickly present a more serious problem.

Navigation systems may stop receiving real-time traffic data, leaving drivers with outdated or incomplete routing. Electric vehicles can lose access to live charger availability, forcing drivers to rely on old information. Remote functions like lock/unlock or remote start often fail because the car briefly goes offline. Even streaming services built into the dashboard may freeze or buffer endlessly.

These interruptions dont always last long, but they happen frequently enough that consumers routinely complain about the mismatch between what automakers advertise and what their cars actually deliver.

Some outages carry safety implications

Beyond convenience, certain dead-zone failures can matter in an emergency. Automatic crash notification systems may not be able to send data to call centers if the vehicle is out of range. Stolen-vehicle tracking systems lose the ability to ping the cars location. Some advanced driver-assistance features that depend on cloud-fed hazard or road-data updates wont refresh until coverage returns.

Most vehicles can still make a traditional voice 911 call if any carrier signal is present, but in true dead zones even that backup may fail. As automakers lean harder on telematics for safety and diagnostics, coverage gaps become a more critical point of failure.

Automakers try workarounds, but none are perfect

Manufacturers are experimenting with ways to smooth out the gaps. Some vehicles now use multi-carrier SIMs that can hop between wireless networks, although switching isnt instantaneous. Others cache limited map or hazard data so the vehicle can function briefly without a connection. Still, anything requiring live informationtraffic, weather, remote commandssuffers.

Over-the-air software updates may stall or restart if connectivity drops mid-download. Infotainment features that depend on real-time data simply shut down until the signal returns.

A satellite-assisted future may be on the way

Long term, the industry sees satellites as the escape hatch. Low-Earth orbit constellations could provide a backup layer of coverage for emergency services and essential telematics, eliminating the most dangerous dead zones. Several major automakers have announced partnerships aimed at integrating satellite capability into upcoming models, though most consumers wont see it before the late 2020s.

Until then, the connected car is only as connected as the nearest cell towerand for many drivers, that remains a shaky link.

Cloudflare suffered an internal service degradation, not a cyberattack

By Mark Huffman of ConsumerAffairs

• The Cloudflare, Inc. network experienced a major outage on Tuesday, affecting a broad swath of internet traffic.

• The disruption was triggered by a configuration-file malfunction which caused internal traffic-handling software to crash, rather than by a cyber-attack.

• The impact was global, hitting high-profile platforms such as ChatGPT, X (formerly Twitter), Canva, and many others that rely on Cloudflares infrastructure.

Cloudflare has completed an investigation and has offered an explanation for Tuesdays incident that interrupted internet traffic. On Tuesday morning, Cloudflare said it began to detect what it described as an internal service degradation.

The root cause was traced to a configuration file used to manage threat traffic that grew beyond its expected number of entries, which in turn triggered a crash in the software responsible for traffic handling across multiple Cloudflare services.

Importantly, Cloudflare stated that there was no indication of malicious activity behind the incident.

By around 6:40 a.m. ET, Cloudflare recognized the degradation and began investigations. A fix was deployed within a few hours, but residual effects persisted in some customer services while traffic flows stabilized.

Who was impacted

Because Cloudflare powers a large chunk of the webits network supports roughly one-in-five websites globally. Major visible disruptions were reported by platforms including:

• ChatGPT (via OpenAI) and X, where users saw errors or were unable to load services.

• Canva and other web apps that sit behind Cloudflares CDN and security infrastructure.

• Entities beyond just consumer apps: for example, regulatory bodies in the U.K. (such as the Financial Conduct Authority) and intelligence agencies reported access issues.

• Some transport and public-service websites also experienced downtime or slowness as they routed via Cloudflares infrastructure.

In short: while many end-users simply saw 500 Internal Server Error or Service Unavailable messages, the underlying effect was a large-scale ripple through online services and apps worldwide.

Why it matters

This incident underscores the fragility of modern internet infrastructure. When a major provider like Cloudflare has an internal software failure, the downstream impact is broad and visible.

According to tech industry analysts, the fact that a configuration file issue could topple widely-used services demonstrates how much of the internet hinges on a few key nodes.

For businesses and services that depend on Cloudflare, the outage highlights the importance of having contingency plans, including alternative routing or fallback providers. For everyday users, its a reminder that disruptions in infrastructure can manifest as inability to access favorite apps and websiteseven if those sites themselves are operating normally.

A study shows the best deals are when the temperature drops

By Mark Huffman of ConsumerAffairs

• MLK Day offers the best used-car bargains of the year, with 65.5% more deals than average.

• January is the strongest month overall for used-car shoppers, delivering 55.6% more deals.

• July 4th is the worst holiday to buy, with 22.4% fewer used-car deals; June is the worst month, down 22.8%.

Dealers usually trot out deals on new cars during the holidays, but if a used car is more in line with your budget, research suggests youll get a better deal if you wait a new weeks.

A new analysis from iSeeCars shows that the best opportunities to find meaningful savings occur during the coldest months of the year, with Martin Luther King Jr. Day emerging as the single best day to buy a used car.

The study examined more than 40 million used-car sales across 2024 and 2025, defining a good deal as at least 10% off the average used-car price of $26,889, or roughly $2,689 in savings. While the typical chance of finding a deal on any given day is just 13.7%, that number varies dramatically depending on the season or holiday.

Cold weather=hot deals

According to the data, MLK Day offers 65.5% more deals than average, followed by New Year's Eve and New Years Day, which offer 58.6% more. The pattern extends across the winter calendar: January (+55.6%), Presidents Day (+47%), February (+36.2%), and other cold-season holidays all rank near the top.

Consumers struggling to find a good deal on a used vehicle will have far more opportunities in the colder months, said iSeeCars Executive Analyst Karl Brauer. He noted that used-car prices tend to follow the average temperature, generally falling from November through March and bottoming out between December 31 and late February.

Warm weather brings higher prices

The study also highlights the months and holidays when buyers are least likely to find savings. June ranks as the worst month, with 22.8% fewer deals than average, closely followed by May and July. Holidays centered in the warmer season also performed poorly, with July 4th (-22.4%), Fathers Day (-19.7%), Juneteenth (-19.7%), and Memorial Day (-18%) all offering significantly fewer deals.

Brauer cautioned shoppers about summer holiday promotions: If youre seeing announcements about special offers between Memorial Day and Labor Day, be skeptical. Do your own research to compare an advertised cars price versus its market value.

The study found that winter holidays consistently outperform summer ones. Along with MLK Day and New Years festivities, Presidents Day, Veterans Day, Christmas Eve, and Thanksgiving/Black Friday offer above-average opportunities. In contrast, Labor Day, Mothers Day, Memorial Day, and July 4th fall toward the bottom of the list.

Seasonal patterns

Monthly data mirrored the holiday rankings. January, February, and December top the list, while April through August generally underperform, and May through July show some of the lowest chances of finding a used-car deal.

Still, Brauer emphasizes that deals are always possiblejust harder to find in summer. If you need to replace a car in the summer months you can still find a good deal, he said.