Consumer Catch-up: More Takata recalls, changes in CFPB, fight against spambots

Ford, Mazda announce recalls

Ford and Mazda are adding more than 35,000 pickup trucks in North America to a list of vehicles that should not be driven.

More than 33,000 Ford Ranger pickups and nearly 2,000 Mazda B-Series small pickups from the 2006 model year have inflators that testing shows could injure those in the trucks.

Parts for the repairs are available. The companies say dealers will tow the pickups to service bays to replace the faulty inflators and provide loaner vehicles.

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Changes

We could soon see big changes in the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

In a memo obtained by Reuters, it appears the bureau's acting chief, White House Budget Director Mick Mulvaney, will be taking the bureau in a new direction.

Rather than concentrating on protecting consumers, the bureau will also promote a free market for financial services.

In the past, Mulvaney has said the agency should care as much for the concerns of the multinational financial giants it regulates as the main street consumers the agency was set up to defend.

Lawmakers want to crack down on spambots

Lawmakers at the capitol are cracking down on fake social media accounts. They say the online profiles, known as bots, have been misleading internet users for years.

Under a newly proposed Senate bill, requires all automated accounts have a special marking, letting users know what they are interacting with online.

Senator Bob Hertzberg (D - Van Nuys) said, "It's about fairness, it's about transparency, in politics, in business... because there's so many companies in California that operate these things and this could be a big impact on getting truth and transparency in the internet."

Lawmakers cite a 2017 study that found that as many as 15 percent of twitter accounts are bots.

Click here for a look at more stories by Michael Finney and 7 On Your Side.

Web copy written by Miranda Dotson