GM/Toyota/iStockphoto/Thinkstock(DETROIT) -- General Motors passed Toyota Motor Corp. to lead J.D. Power & Associates’ Initial Quality Study for the first time since the survey started 27 years ago.

J.D. Power’s survey of new vehicles was redesigned for 2013 to measure the quality and problems related to new technologies, the marketing information services company said.

GM’s four American brands -- Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac -- ranked above average in its study this year. GM’s truck brand GMC ranked second, the highest it has ever ranked, and Chevrolet was fifth while the Toyota brand ranked seventh.

GMC both jumped considerably from last year’s rankings. Last year, GMC ranked 12th while Chevrolet was 15th and Toyota was eighth.

General Motors as a corporation had eight model-level segment awards, five of which were for Chevrolet.

“That’s pretty impressive for any manufacturer,” said John Tews, a spokesman for J.D. Power.

Here are J.D. Power’s top 2013 Nameplate IQS Rankings, which are above industry average, based on the fewest problems per 100 vehicles:

1.    Porsche
2.    GMC
3.    Lexus
4.    Infiniti
5.    Chevrolet
6.    Acura
7.    Toyota
8.    Honda
9.    Jaguar
10.  Hyundai
11.  Kia
12.  Mercedes-Benz
13.  Audi
14.  Cadillac
15.  Buick
16.  Chrysler
17.  Lincoln

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iStockphoto/Thinkstock)(WASHINGTON) -- The Federal Reserve announced Wednesday that it won't be changing its $85 billion a month bond purchasing stimulus program, though labor market conditions have improved in recent months. It will keep its target interest near zero while unemployment remains above 6.5 percent.

The Fed, which has been injected trillions of dollars into the slowly recovering American economy, made an announcement on its intentions in three parts on Wednesday. This is the Fed's most closely watched announcement since a third round of its bond purchasing program, or "quantitative easing" in September last year.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said the Federal Reserve may end its bond purchases in mid-2014 if its economic forecasts are correct.

The Federal Reserve said in its statement Wednesday that economic activity has been "expanding at a moderate pace" since its monetary policy-making group, the Federal Open Market Committee, met in May.

Stock investors are worried that an end to the stimulus program will mean a swoon in equity prices. Bond investors fear that higher interest rates will depress the value of their holdings. When interest rates go up, the value of bonds declines.

The agency lowered its unemployment forecasts for this year to 7.25 percent, slightly better than its previous projection of up to 7.5 percent. Its forecast for the unemployment rate next year is 6.65 percent.

The Labor Department reported earlier this month that the unemployment rate for May rose to 7.6 percent with the addition of 175,000 jobs.

After its two-day meeting, the committee decided to keep the target rate for the federal funds rate at zero to 1/4 percent. Between the next year or two years, inflation is projected to be more than a half percentage point above the committee's two percent long-term goal, the Fed said.

Bernanke held a press conference expanding upon the Federal Reserve's statement and economic outlook. But he didn't reveal anything about when he might step down as Federal Reserve chairman when a reporter asked about his future.

"I don't have anything for you on my personal plans," Bernanke said at the press conference.

He is widely expected to leave his post at the end of his term later this year. President Obama essentially confirmed this departure in an interview with PBS' Charlie Rose earlier this week.

Appointed by President George W. Bush, Bernanke became chairman of the Federal Reserve in Feb. 2006 and began his second term in Feb. 2010 after he was re-appointed by President Obama. Bernanke's second term as chairman ends Jan. 31, 2014 and his term as a board member ends on Jan. 31, 2020.

The Federal Open Market Committee consists of twelve people, consisting of members of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and Reserve Bank presidents.

The Fed's actions greatly impact the U.S. economy for investors, business owners, consumers and homeowners. Interest rates on loans, stock and bond markets, all react to Fed policy.

"The last thing the Fed wants to do is cause rates to move quickly enough to choke off recovery," says Gus Faucher, senior economist with PNC financial.

Americans have likely already seen the last of rock-bottom mortgage interest rates, but rates are still historically very low, creating a competitive period to buy a home and lock in a low rate.

Markets in recent weeks have been rife with speculation that the Fed will be pulling back sooner than previously expected.

Mortgage rates have also been moving higher, up nearly three quarters of a percent since March.

"The change in mortgage rates we've seen so far are not overly dramatic," Bernanke said during the press conference.

Despite Wednesday’s reassurance by the Fed that there will be no hasty exit from its stimulus efforts, there is no doubt that these efforts will have to come to an end at some point, maybe as early as next year. When the stimulus measures end, interest rates will rise.

"Rates are going higher, we are very close to the day and they are going to rise in a consistent way. If you are looking to buy anything that requires a loan, buy it now and lock in a low rate," says Mark Zandi, Chief Economist Moody's Analytics.

Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio

ABC News(NEW YORK) -- Beloved cereal icon Cap’n Crunch is involved in a soggy controversy.

It turns out the so-called Cap’n is not actually a captain at all. By the looks of his uniform, he may only be a commander. (Gasp!)

An eagle-eyed cereal eater and blogger on Foodbeast.com first spotted that the spokes-pirate, whose full name is Cap’n Horatio Magellan Crunch, has only three stripes on his sleeve, which, in naval terms, means he is a commander, not a Cap’n. It takes four stripes to become a captain, which is one rank above commander.

The news led to outcry across social media this week with cereal fans decrying they were heartbroken over the offense, with some even calling the Cap’n a liar and a traitor on Twitter.

Like all true celebrities, the cereal-selling star took to Twitter to refute the allegations and defend his image.

“It’s the Crunch -- not the clothes -- that make a man,” @realcapncrunch tweeted.

“All hearsay and misunderstandings!” @realcapncrunch wrote. “I captain the S.S. Guppy with my crew, which makes me an official Cap’n.”

“So much fuss about my name. O, be some other name. What’s in a name? That which we call Cap’n Crunch, by any other name would taste as sweet.”

The beloved character debuted in commercials in the 1960s and has amassed a huge following through the years. PepsiCo, whose Quaker Oats division makes the cereal, announced in April that the Cap’n would host his own YouTube talk show, along with his sea dog side-kick, featuring comedy sketches and topical banter.

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iStockphoto/Thinkstock(SEATTLE) -- Cary Collings of Puyallup, Wash., won two separate lottery jackpots last week just over 24 hours, according to the Washington Lottery.

Collings, 61, hit his first jackpot on June 13 after buying a few “Red Hot 5′s” scratch tickets at a local gas station.  One of them was a top prize winner that made him $55,555 richer.

The next morning, Collings drove to the Washington Lottery’s regional office to claim his prize.  On his way, he stopped at a local Fred Meyer grocery store and bought three “Bring on the Ben’s” scratch tickets.

On the first of those three tickets he scratched, Collings won the $200,000 grand prize.

Collings, who could not be reached Wednesday by ABC News, told the Washington Lottery he has been playing lottery since it started in 1982.

He told lottery officials he is unsure what he will do with his double winnings.  According to the local Puyallup Patch, Collings is married and works for Boeing in Auburn, Wash.

Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio

THOMAS COEX/AFP/Getty Images(NEW YORK) -- Your Instagram feed of photos of your friends and their food might soon include video too.

According to various reports, Instagram will add video to its popular photo-sharing service.  The announcement is expected at the Facebook event being held on Thursday.

Facebook, which bought Instagram for $1 billion in April 2012, sent mysterious invites to an event late last week via snail mail.

"A small team has been working on a big idea.  Join us for coffee and learn about a new product," the press invitation read.

Technology websites All Things D and TechCrunch have both independently reported that the Instagram team is planning to add video capabilities to the app.

"The new video product is something that the service said it was planning to do for two years now, and there have been numerous rumors about it in recent weeks," Mike Isaac of All Things D reports.

When reached by ABC News, Facebook said it doesn't comment on rumors or speculation.

TechCrunch first reported that Facebook would release a new news reader app at the Thursday event, but now maintains that the event will be dedicated to just the new Instagram feature.

Details on how the service will work are slim.  Though, Matthew Keys, the former social media editor at Reuters, reports on his blog that the feature would allow users to upload between five to 10 seconds of video.

The service, as described in the reports, would be a direct competitor to Twitter's Vine app, which allows user to upload and share six-second videos.  The iPhone and Android app has quickly become very popular, with reports that Vines are being shared more on Twitter than Instagram photos.

Still, Instagram has a much larger built-in user base.  The photo-sharing service has over 100 million active users, who upload around 40 million photos per day.

The Facebook event begins Thursday at 10 a.m. PT.

Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio

AT&T(NEW YORK) -- In the days following Superstorm Sandy, Starbucks and other restaurants in the New York City region had lines out the door.  The customers were not in line to get coffee or food, but instead to use the electric outlets to charge their dead cellphones.

The administration of New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, AT&T and other organizations are now looking to cut down on those lines by erecting solar charging stations across New York City’s five boroughs.

“After Hurricane Sandy, I asked our private sector partners to step up and help improve the resiliency of New York City.  AT&T is doing just that, and we’re grateful for their efforts,” Bloomberg said in a statement.

Called the AT&T Street Charge project, the 25 charging stations will be spread out across the city.  Many of the first stations, including ones in Riverside Park and Fort Greene Park, began to provide power to phone owners on Tuesday.

Designed by Brooklyn design agency Pensa, the charging stations look a lot like the Samsung-sponsored stations you might see in airports, except these have a more natural look to them, are sponsored by AT&T and along the top of the tall structure is a solar panel provided by Goal Zero. 

Each structure has six USB ports, including three built-in tips -- one for an iPhone 5, one for an iPhone 4, and a MicroUSB for an Android or BlackBerry phone -- and three female USB ports for people who have their own cords.

According to AT&T, it will take two hours to fully charge a phone with the solar power, but it expects most people just to plug in to get enough juice to get to the next location.

Those wondering if the towers would provide juice after a storm will be happy to know that the solar chargers sip up the sun’s energy and UV rays even in cloudy conditions and then store it in the lithium batteries to allow for charging day and night.  Each of the stations are positioned, however, to collect the most amount of sunshine.

AT&T added that the units are sturdy, but can be moved in case of a significant weather event and relocated with 24 hours notice.

The Street Charge program is just one of many steps that the Bloomberg administration has taken in the wake of the large storm to improve digital tools and communications across the city.

Last week, the city announced a partnership with the neighborhood social network Nextdoor. The network allows people in different neighborhoods to communicate with one another and receive updates about breaking news from the city.

The 25 charging stations will be rolled out over the summer.

Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio

Digital Vision/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) -- The National Institutes of Health (NIH) tops this year's list of the best employers for Baby Boomers, according to the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP).

The list, co-sponsored by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), ranks 50 employers on such elder-friendly features as flex-time, benefits for retirees, and health and pension plans.

The rest of the top five are Scripps Health of San Diego; Atlantic Health Systems of Morristown, N.J.; the MD Anderson Cancer Center at the University of Texas at Houston; and Mercy Health System of Janesville, Wis.

Why do health care employers dominate the list?  Jean Setzfand, AARP vice president for financial security, says health care's dominance is a trend she has been observing for several years now.

Care providers, she says, recognize their clientele is aging and want to hire employees who understand and sympathize with those customers' needs.  These employers "value the skill set of the older worker," she says.  They also need to recruit and retain skilled labor, which often means an older worker.

It's not as though AARP's 50 companies are the best for Baby Boomers only, Setzfand says.  They're the best, she thinks, for workers in general, no matter what their age.  But to the extent that the 50 offer special benefits aimed at Baby Boomers, they're especially attractive to that cohort.

Since 2001, AARP has recognized employers who recruit older workers or who have implemented programs to retain, retrain and engage workers aged 50 and up.  Such workers, says AARP in a statement accompanying the list, "will be increasingly crucial to the success of the U.S. economy over the coming decade."

The 2013 winners reflect a variety of employment sectors, both profit and non-profit.  They include government, academia, healthcare, aerospace, construction and financial services. 

Top-ranked NIH recruits older workers through job fairs and by notifying recent retirees of job opportunities, according to AARP.  Workers 50 or older account for 47 percent of its employees.

Second-ranked San Diego healthcare system Scripps uses senior placement agencies to recruit mature workers and retirees, who make up 36 percent of its workforce. 

AARP says Scripps offers benefits that include flextime, job sharing and telecommuting for employees working 16-plus hours per week.  Employees can elect to participate in a formal phased retirement program.  Full-time employees can transition to part-time work on a permanent or temporary basis.  On-site grandchild-care is offered.

This year's winning companies were selected by a panel of 14 judges that included Nevin Adams, co-director of the Employee Benefit Research Institute's Center for Research on Retirement Income; Ellen Bruce, director of the University of Massachusetts' Gerontology Institute; and David Gamse, CEO of the Jewish Council for the Aging.

AARP and SHRM reviewed only companies that applied for consideration -- about 150 in all.

Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio

PRNewsFoto/Chrysler Group LLC(NEW YORK) -- Chrysler said Tuesday that due to customers’ “raised concerns” it would add or replace trailer hitches on some older-model Jeeps now at the center of a safety debate between the automaker and the U.S. government.

Mike Palese, a Chrysler spokesman, told ABC News Tuesday that the trailer hitch would “provide more ability to absorb some crash forces” in rear-impact accidents.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration had been seeking a recall of the Jeep Grand Cherokee, model years 1993 to 2004, and Jeep Liberty, model years 2002 to 2007.

In its initial findings, the NHTSA said that at least 51 people had died in the vehicles involving rear-impact crashes and fires. The problem, according to the government, is the location of the fuel tank.

It is situated behind the rear axle, and slightly below the bumper. That makes it vulnerable to rupture when the vehicle is hit from behind.

Chrysler’s action covers fewer model years of the Grand Cherokee, only those from 1993 to 1998, leaving out some vehicles covered by the government’s initial recall request.  Chrysler told ABC News that owners of those vehicles do not need fixes, unless they have an after-market trailer hitch on the car. Then they should come to the dealer for an inspection and possible replacement of the hitch.

The company still insists that the government’s analysis is incomplete and the vehicles are safe and have no defect. The automaker called Tuesday’s move a “voluntary campaign,” not a recall.

Clarence Ditlow, executive director of the Center for Auto Safety, said his group was “skeptical.”

“It is a safety recall,” he said. “We’re no longer arguing over whether there is a recall but what the remedy is. [The] NHTSA has the ability to approve the remedy. What NHTSA needs to do is test the remedy.”

Ditlow said his group also wanted Chrysler to expand the recall to include Jeep Cherokees, model years 1993 to 2001. Those vehicles have the gas tank in the same location as the ones subject to the automaker’s voluntary campaign. The NHTSA had been investigating that model but had not asked Chrysler to recall it.

Ditlow’s group had wanted a shield over the fuel tank as well as a new check valve system to shut off the flow of gasoline if the filler hose is yanked out of the tank in a crash.

Chrysler said it would not be adding shields over the fuel tank or changing the fuel nozzle.

In a statement on Tuesday, the NHTSA said it was pleased with the actions taken by Chrysler.

“Consumers impacted by the safety recall and customer satisfaction campaign should have their vehicles serviced promptly....We will continue our investigation into this issue,” the group said.

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