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WASHINGTON — Honda Motor Co. is recalling the popular Accord and Civic passenger cars to address problems with an ignition switch that could allow the key to be removed without the transmission being shifted into park, its third recall over the problem since 2003.

Honda said the most recent recall involved 384,220 vehicles and includes 2003 model year Accord and Civics and 2003-2004 versions of the Honda Element. Honda told the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration that the defect with the automatic transmissions could lead to a vehicle rolling away and increase the risk of a crash.

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NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — General Motors announced Friday that the automaker has raised its planned production of the Chevrolet Volt electric car to 45,000 in 2012.

Originally the automaker planned to produce 30,000 Volts in its second year of production.

The announcement coincided with a visit by President Barack Obama to the Detroit auto plant where early production of the car has already begun.

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LOS ANGELES (CNNMoney.com ) — In a construction van winding through Los Angeles’ crowded streets one hot spring morning, 25-year old Tim Morris laid bare his contribution to changing America’s dirty, fossil fuel-based economy.

“I’d like to see America and the world become sustainable,” said Morris, a transplant from Flint, Mich., who’s been in L.A. just a little over four months. “Solar is the biggest difference I can make with what’s on the

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NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — Automakers and advocates for the blind have agreed on a plan to address an unintended problem caused by electric and hybrid cars: They endanger sight-impaired and distracted pedestrians because they make no noise when running on electric power.

The groups joined together to present Congress with a proposal for minimum noise levels that future electric cars would have to make.

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SHANGHAI – It’s not quite as foldable as the space vehicle that cartoon figure George Jetson pops into his briefcase as he bops into the office.

But the EN-V concept car, GM’s “automobile solution” for the future, just might fit into an apartment foyer.

General Motors and its Chinese partner SAIC will showcase the “Electric Networked-Vehicle” launched Wednesday in their joint pavilion at the Shanghai Expo, which opens May 1 and runs for six months.

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DETROIT (CNNMoney.com) — Bob Lutz is generally not a close ally of environmentalists.

The vice chairman of General Motors is a frequent critic of fuel economy rules and once declared that global warming was a “total crock” of excrement, although he used a more common and colorful word in that description.

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COLUMBUS, Ohio – Consumers and businesses may finally be seeing some relief from rising utility bills, thanks to the biggest decline in U.S. electricity demand in decades.

Prices on wholesale markets are expected to decline for the rest of 2009, according to the Energy Information Agency. While rates will probably begin edging up again in 2010, it will likely be less than half the 6.2 percent jump recorded last year.

For decades as Americans bought more electronics, more appliances, air conditioners and other gizmos, energy demand has only moved in one direction and prices have followed suit.