Volkswagen is recalling 10,200 Audi A3, TT and TT Roadster vehicles that were built between Sept. 29, 2005 and Aug. 26, 2009, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Yes, we know that TT and TT Roadster aren’t mom-mobiles — well, they are if you leave the kids at home with a sitter &mdsah; but the A3 can be a great fit for a small family.

The cars are being recalled because the closing force of an internal spring of the fuel tank ventilation valve isn’t strong enough to hold the valve closed. Under extreme driving, this could allow fuel to leak and if an ignition source is present, could lead to a vehicle fire.

Audi dealers will replace the fuel tank ventilation valve with an improved valve free of charge.

For more information, owners can call Audi at 800-253-2834 or NHTSA at 888-327-4236.

Halloween has been on my boys’ minds for weeks now. They haven’t committed to costumes yet, but it’s been a constant topic of discussion. Full disclosure: I buy my sons’ Halloween costumes because I’m not — and have no desire to be — crafty. I’ve already had to gently break it to my oldest son that he wouldn’t be getting the $40 costume he was lusting after. He took it well, but I know he’s hoping to change my mind.

Pony Ice Cream for Halloween, StephanieKlein.com
Stephanie Klein captures the difficulties children have in deciding on their Halloween costumes. She innocently asks her son if he’d like to be a spider or a sheep for Halloween. His response? “A train. No, a train track,” she writes. I wish her the best of luck making that costume.

Toyota told its dealers today to use a heavy-duty self-locking plastic tie — or zip ties — as a temporary fix to keep floormats in place in the 3.8 million Toyota and Lexus vehicles the company recalled last week. I’m a big fan of zip ties; I’m planning on using some to secure my Halloween decorations to my house, but I’m not sure how I feel about using them on problematic floormats.

Toyota recalled the cars because the removable floormat could move forward and cause the gas pedal to stick and cause a crash. These zip ties can hold up to 50 pounds and are attached to the driver’s seat frame, said Brian Lyons, Toyota spokesman. Using the zip ties allows the floormats to be flipped up onto the seat if they need to be moved or cleaned.

I’ve been really looking forward to getting rid of my oldest son’s booster seat when he turned 7 this year. I was ready for some car-seat freedom, but I’ll have to wait a little longer because I just realized he has to ride in a booster seat until age 8 in Illinois. Currently, each state has its own laws for car-seat usage, but it’d be much simpler if the federal government would create one set of laws.

I managed to mix up the age requirement for booster seat usage in my home state. I don’t want to think of all of the bad things that could have happened had I gotten rid of my son’s booster seat. A set of federal child-safety seat laws would give parents a better chance of remembering when their child needs to move into the next child-safety seat. There’s quite a bit of disparity between the states’ laws.

GM stopped production of new Saturns yesterday after its deal to sell the brand to Penske Automotive Group fell through on Wednesday. The deal’s failure surprised GM executives, Saturn dealerships and the thousands of Saturn owners and potential buyers. We especially liked the 2009 Saturn Vue Hybrid as a family-hauler. Here’s what you need to know if you own a Saturn or are considering buying one.

Dinnertime is the new parenting battleground at my house. My husband and I are done being short-order cooks in an attempt to fix something our boys will eat. If the boys don’t want to eat what we’re having for dinner, then they get nothing. It’s a little harsh, but I’m done giving them a bowl of cereal or a sandwich every time they don’t like what we’re eating. It’s made our family dinnertime a little more peaceful, too. These bloggers are having their own dinner battles, too.

The Faces of Hunger, Confessions of a Pioneer Woman
Ree Drummond is the Pioneer Woman, and, yes, she lives on a ranch. This mother of four knows a little something about dinner drama, but her youngest is destined to win the battles for awhile. All it takes is one look at that adorable baby face (photo above) and I’d cave, too.

Calling distracted driving an “epidemic,” the Obama administration convened a two-day meeting to figure out how to get a cell phone and text-happy nation to leave their handheld communication devices alone in the car. Moms are all about multitasking and in the car that often means driving while talking to your kids and checking your text messages.

Last year, 5,870 people were killed and 515,000 injured in crashes where at least one driver was reported to be distracted, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Toyota will recall 3.8 million Toyota and Lexus vehicles because of a problem with a removable floormat that could cause the gas pedal to stick and cause a crash, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. This is the largest recall in the automaker’s history.

Toyota plans to alert owners next week. In the meantime, Toyota and Lexus owners should immediately remove the driver-side floormat from their cars and not replace them, according to NHTSA.