The U.S. government’s highway safety agency is investigating complaints that engines can fail on as many as 1.4 million Honda and Acura vehicles.

The probe by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration covers the 2016 through 2020 Honda Pilot and Acura MDX, as well as the 2018 through 2020 Honda Odyssey and Acura TLX. Also included is the 2017 through 2019 Honda Ridgeline.

The agency says in documents posted on its website Monday that connecting rod bearings on vehicles with 3.5-liter V6 engines can fail, leading to complete engine failure. Connecting rods link the pistons to the crankshaft and convert vertical motion to move the wheels.

Honda recalled about 250,000 vehicles in November of 2023 to fix the same problem. But the agency says it has 173 complaints from owners who reported connecting rod bearing failures, yet their vehicles weren’t included in the recall. One owner reported a crash with no injuries.

The agency said it’s opening a recall query to determine the severity of the problem in vehicles not included in the 2023 recall.

Honda said it will cooperate with NHTSA on the investigation.

In documents explaining the 2023 recall, the automaker said had 1,450 warranty claims due to the bearing problem but no reports of injuries. Dealers were to inspect and repair or replace the engines if needed.

Manhattan congestion pricing reconsidered

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul is considering ways to revive a program that would have charged drivers a new $15 toll to enter certain Manhattan neighborhoods — before President-elect Donald Trump takes office and can block it.

In the days since Trump’s election, Hochul and her staff have been reaching out to state lawmakers to gauge support for resuscitating the plan — known as “congestion pricing” — with a lower price tag, according to two people familiar with the outreach. The people spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they were revealing private conversations.

Hochul, a Democrat, hit the brakes on the plan just weeks before it was set to launch this summer, even with all the infrastructure already in place.

She said at the time she was worried it would cost motorists too much money, but it was also widely seen as a political move to help Democrats in closely watched congressional races in the city’s suburbs. The fee would have come on top of the already hefty tolls to enter the city via some river crossings, and Republicans were expected to use it as a cudgel in an election heavily focused on cost-of-living issues.

Some of those Democrats ended up winning, but so did Trump, who has vowed to terminate congestion pricing from the Oval Office.

Mattel apologizes for porn website links

Toy giant Mattel says it “deeply” regrets an error on the packaging of its “Wicked” movie-themed dolls, which mistakenly links toy buyers to a pornographic website.

The error gained attention on social media over the weekend, where numerous users shared photos of the URL printed on the back of the boxes for the special edition dolls, which feature characters from the movie adaptation of “Wicked” set to hit theaters later this month. Instead of linking to Universal Pictures’ official WickedMovie.com page, the website listed leads to an adult film site that requires consumers to be over 18 to enter.

In a statement sent to The Associated Press, Mattel said it was “made aware of a misprint on the packaging of the Mattel Wicked collection dolls,” which it said are primarily sold in the U.S. “We deeply regret this unfortunate error and are taking immediate action to remedy this,” the company added.

Mattel did not confirm whether this action included removing unsold products with the incorrect link from stores. But as of Monday morning, at least some of these “Wicked” dolls appeared to be no longer available or not in stock on sites like Amazon, Target and Mattel’s.

— News service reports