As most are well aware by now, in the wee hours of the morning – during a massive New Year’s celebration in New Orleans – a man drove a Ford F-150 Lightning pickup into a crowd of people, killing at least 15 and injuring many more. This senseless, horrific act has left many – including law enforcement – working to try and figure out why such a thing happened in the first place, as well as scrambling to ensure that they capture other folks that may have been involved in this act of terror. However, what we do know is that the Ford F-150 Lightning used in the attack was rented on Turo, prompting a response from Blue Oval CEO Jim Farley and that third-party car rental service as well.
New Orleans…we are deeply saddened by this violent attack. Our hearts go out to the victims and injured, their families and the emergency responders. Ford is, and will continue to work in full cooperation with authorities.
— Jim Farley (@jimfarley98) January 2, 2025
In a post to X, Farley wrote “New Orleans…we are deeply saddened by this violent attack. Our hearts go out to the victims and injured, their families and the emergency responders. Ford is, and will continue to work in full cooperation with authorities.” Additionally, Turo released its own statement on the matter, confirming that a Tesla Cybertruck used in a separate incident in Las Vegas – which may or may not be connected to the New Orleans terror attack – was also rented using its service.
“It is with a heavy heart that we confirm that this morning’s horrific attack in New Orleans and this afternoon’s Tesla Cybertruck explosion in Las Vegas both involved vehicles rented on Turo. Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families,” the company wrote. “Our trust and safety team is actively partnering with law enforcement authorities to share any information that could be helpful in their investigations. We do not believe that either renter had a criminal background that would have identified them as a security threat, and we are not currently aware of any information that indicates the two incidents are related.”
At the moment, investigators are not only trying to determine what prompted these attacks, and also working to ensure that the city of New Orleans is secure as it prepares to host college football’s Sugar Bowl later today, as well as the NFL’s Super Bowl in February.
“We remain shocked and saddened by yesterday’s horrific events, and our hearts are with the victims and their families. We are outraged by the misuse of our marketplace by the two individuals who perpetrated these acts,” a Turo spokesperson said.
“Every Turo renter is screened through a proprietary multi-layer, data-science-based trust and safety process. We utilize over 50 internal and external data sources to build, maintain, and improve on our best-in-class Turo Risk Score.
These individuals in question had valid driver’s licenses, clean background checks, one was honorably discharged from the US military, and the other was an active-duty Army green beret. They could have boarded any plane, checked into a hotel, or rented a car or truck from a traditional vehicle rental chain. We do not believe these two individuals would have been flagged by anyone – including Big Rental or law enforcement.
Turo operates a safe and trusted marketplace. As of September 30, 2024, we have collected data from over 90 million booked days, 27 million trips, 8.6 billion miles driven, through 12 years of operating history, less than 0.10% of Turo trips end with a serious incident such as a vehicle theft.”
Comments
Joe must be so happy he got the terrorists to reduce their carbon footprint.
Wait, are they sure this wasn’t a BlueCruise 1.0 problem?
No you will see just how much data Ford and others are collecting on you. Watch the FBI subpoena hundreds of GBs of data from the Lightning. Everything from GPS to audio and video surveillance.
All manufactures started using telematics in the late 2000s. They install it to provide realtime and archival data for marketing and product development. Speed, gear, rate of acceleration and deceleration, and arcane stuff like how often are you using the Homelink garage door opener and foot-wave hatchback vs the key fob. I don’t know about Ford but law enforcement can contact OnStar to slow or stop a GM vehicle in a chase.
“…senseless, horrific act…” If you the publisher believe and state likewise, then why do you print an article about this? You think this’ll make more people buy Ford trucks? Your marketing dept is disgusting and should be fired for trying to capitalize on this heinous crime
The Ford F-150, rented from Turo, ultimately came to rest against what appears to be a JLG 600 Series articulating lift. The piece has nothing to do with sales, it does relate to Ford news, and the fact that the Lightning is currently the most widely available electric truck. One theory is that the terrorist(s) chose to rent a battery powered truck because of its greater weight, silent approach, and greater acceleration, allowing them to get to speed with virtually no sound before driving around the police barricade, and over 3 tons of mass to carry farther into the crowd. I also have read that the truck was rented in Texas, which means that it would have had to stop along the way to recharge- this was planned, right down to the make and type of truck.
Whether or not both drivers had a connection to the Middle East (where oil is king, natch), the use of an EV in both events and rented the same way says to me that a message has been sent. The one in Las Vegas probably was aimed at Trump and Musk.
Rental car agencies may think twice about having vehicles like this one in their fleet.
Ceo’s , mayor and other community leaders have spoken about this tragedy. You know who hasn’t said a word ? the shooters commander in chief…. brandon He’s probably sucking down an ice cream checking his watch.