Category Archives: engineering

New Ford Recalls – Aviator, Bronco, Expedition, F150, Ranger

Posted on 5 August 2025 by Ken Zino

Ford Motor Company (NYSE: F) is recalling ~392,000 vehicles from its Ford and Lincoln brands for a variety of safety defects according to the latest documents made public by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) this week. During the first half of 2025 Ford Motor booked a $1.3 billion loss from repairs of vehicles under warranty, cancellation of plans to build an electric sport utility vehicle and other one-time costs. Ford is operating under a consent order from NHTSA because of its handing of recalls.

The largest of the latest safety defect recalls involves the Electronic Brake Booster (EBB) module that controls the bakes on some of the most profitable and popular Ford Motor models in the United States. Here ~312,000 model year 2025 Lincoln Navigator SUVs, Ford F-150 pickups, Expedition SUVs, Bronco SUVs, and Ranger pickups can lose power-brake assist when driving. Continue reading →

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BMW iX3 Production, Supply and Use Sustainability

Posted on 4 August 2025 by Ken Zino

“During product development, extensive measures were implemented throughout the supply chain, production and use phases, explicitly focused on conserving resources and reducing the model’s environmental footprint. As such, the iX3 Neue Klasse marks an important milestone toward achieving the company’s 2030 and 2050 CO2 emission targets,” BMW said. Continue reading →

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Corvette Claims Production Car Records at Nürburgring

Posted on 4 August 2025 by Ken Zino

A Chevrolet Corvette Z06, ZR1 and ZR1X recently ran the 12.9-mile Nürburgring Nordschleife circuit where it’s said, for the first time in the track’s history, an automaker brought three different cars with three non-race-car drivers to record three lap times in a single visit. Three of the Chevrolet engineers who helped develop these cars drove the so-called Green Hell. While amateurs of a sort, all have extensive experience and advanced driving credentials.

“No auto manufacturer has done a Nürburgring lap attempt like this before,” said GM President Mark Reuss. “From development through production, and now at the Nürburgring Nordschleife, the Green Hell, we have clearly shown there is no limit to what our GM engineers and vehicles can accomplish. These are the best Corvettes in history, period.” Continue reading →

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Ferrari Recalls Purosangue SUVs for Brake Failures

Posted on 28 July 2025 by Ken Zino

“The possible short circuit which may derive from the potential contact between the fuse box’s power supply and the passenger-side footrest could lead to the activation of the brake warning light, the display of the pop-up message informing the driver to slowly bring the vehicle to a dealer, and the decrease of braking capability. If the driver does not heed the warning, the decreased braking capability could lead to a crash,” Ferrari told the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) in the mandatory safety defect recall filing made public by NHTSA this morning. Continue reading →

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CARB Amends Clean Truck Regs With Trucking Industry!

Posted on 24 July 2025 by Ken Zino

“California’s commitment to cleaner trucks has created an ecosystem of programs and incentives that will continue to drive progress despite the federal administration’s unlawful actions challenging our state’s efforts to reduce emissions and deploy to clean transportation technologies,” said CARB Chair Liane Randolph. “The amendments approved today provide manufacturers with flexibility, and we look forward to continued collaboration with manufacturers in efforts to reduce emissions, protect public health and ensure global competitiveness as the rest of the world shifts to zero-emission technologies.” Continue reading →

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BMW i Ventures Invests in Estes Energy Solutions

Posted on 23 July 2025 by Ken Zino

“What makes Estes different isn’t just the unique technology, it’s the people.” said Baris Guzel, Partner at BMW i Ventures. “This is a team that’s been in the trenches, building rugged, high-density battery systems with real-world safety and scale in mind. It’s that rare blend of deep engineering chops, operator mindset, and execution urgency. We couldn’t be more excited to partner with them.” Continue reading →

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GM Posts Q2 Earnings of $3 Billion

Posted on 22 July 2025 by Ken Zino

“Despite slower EV industry growth, we believe the long-term future is profitable electric vehicle production, and this continues to be our north star. As we adjust to changing demand, we will prioritize our customers, brands, and a flexible manufacturing footprint, and leverage our domestic battery investments and other profit-improvement plans,” said Mary Barra, GM Chair and CEO, “Overall, GM is well positioned to succeed in an ICE market that now has a longer runway, Barra said. Continue reading →

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Ford Fuel Injector Leak Recall Now at ~694,000

Posted on 21 July 2025 by Ken Zino

Ford Motor Company (NYSE: Ford) is recalling 2021-2024 Bronco Sport and 2020-2022 Escape vehicles equipped with 1.5-liter engines. A fuel injector may crack and leak fuel inside the engine compartment and cause a fire. This is an ongoing safety problem related to NHTSA Recall numbers 22V859, 24V187, 25V165. It’s the latest in a growing series of Ford recalls that were not properly repaired the first time because of software programming errors, requiring a recall of the recall, so to speak. The injectors were supplied by Dumarey Flowmotion Technologies S.R.L. of Italy. Continue reading →

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BMW Group – My Trips Apps Now Show Driver’s Carbon Footprint

Posted on 21 July 2025 by Ken Zino

The BMW Group said today that it is now offering customers an analysis of their driving personal carbon footprint stats in the My BMW App and MINI App for the first time. This in AutoInformed’s view is a breakthrough that will ease the ride on the sometimes-bumpy road to electrification.

“Our usage research shows: The information in My Trips is one of the most popular features in the app,” said Dirk Wiedmann, Senior Vice President Sales Steering and Strategy, Digitalization. “We are now expanding this successful function with carbon footprint calculation, giving our customers simple and straightforward access to sustainability-related information via a popular and widely used channel.” Continue reading →

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China – BMW Group Links with Momenta for ADAS

Posted on 15 July 2025 by Ken Zino

“This collaboration of partners sharing the same mindset, will enable us to offer our customers in China a unique automated driving experience. We are combining 20+ years of pioneering safety with locally trained driving knowledge and state of the art Chinese AI technology,“ said Dr. Mihiar Ayoubi, Senior Vice President, Driving Experience, BMW Group. Continue reading →

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Spring Hill to Make Advanced LFP Batteries

Posted on 15 July 2025 by Ken Zino

“At GM, we’re innovating battery technology to deliver the best mix of range, performance, and affordability to our EV customers,” said Kurt Kelty, VP of batteries, propulsion, and sustainability at GM. “This upgrade at Spring Hill will enable us to scale production of lower-cost LFP cell technologies in the U.S., complementing our high-nickel and future lithium manganese rich solutions and further diversifying our growing EV portfolio.” Continue reading →

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Another Ford Mach E Electrical System Recall

Posted on 14 July 2025 by Ken Zino

Ford Motor Company (NYSE: Ford) is recalling 239 2022 model year Mustang Mach E vehicles equipped with an extended range battery. The high voltage battery main contactors may overheat. This recall is an expansion of a previous NHTSA recall number 23V687 or 23V-687 because of a calculation error. Ford is operating under a consent order from NHTSA because of its handing of recalls. 

“The recalled Bussed Electrical Center parts NK48-10C666-AA, NK48-10C666-BA, or LK98- 10C666-AB were introduced into production on 05/27/2020 and were taken out of production on 05/27/2022. Vehicles produced 5/27/2020 through 5/24/2022 are included in the original recall population (23V687). Affected vehicles are equipped with the extended range battery, but without the GT powertrain. These vehicles are not produced in VIN order,” Ford told the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) in the mandatory safety defect recall filing that NHTSA made public today. Continue reading →

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Autonomous Cars – Cognitive Intelligence v Machine Learning

Posted on 14 July 2025 by Ken Zino

MOTOR Ai* announced today a $20 million “seed funding round to bring ‘cognitive intelligence’ autonomous driving  technology into full deployment, starting with German public roads.” The new capital will support hiring, commercial rollouts, and expansion of its technology. AutoInformed notes that the recent Nazi propaganda spouted by Grok, the X social media chatbot, is just the latest example of the problems with large language models, aka L.L.M.s. Gathering large amounts of data doesn’t mean that systems using LLMs can think and reason safely without unintended dire consequences, such as X’s CEO Linda Yaccarino being fired by Elon Musk or Tesla’s Autopilot or leaving the company for her own reasons? [Ironically there isn’t enough verifiable data on this -AutoCrat] Continue reading →

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Annals of Marketing – New Electric Mercedes-Benz GLC

Posted on 10 July 2025 by Ken Zino

Mercedes Benz said today that at its Technology Center in Sindelfingen, Germany, CEO Ola Källenius is testing the new Mercedes-Benz GLC with EQ technology.* In the latest YouTube video by Mercedes‑Benz, Källenius teases the model series. He previewed its design, capabilities, and handling. In previous videos, Ola Källenius drove the electric CLA and electric G-Class in the landscapes of Austria and Sweden, offering a sneak peek ahead of each vehicles’ world premiere. The new electric GLC, will be unveiled at Munich’s IAA motor show on 7 September 2025. Once upon a forgotten time this would have happened at the Frankfurt Motor show. Continue reading →

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Nürburgring – BMW M2 CS Beats Audi RS-3 Record

Posted on 3 July 2025 by Ken Zino

BMW said today that the new BMW M2 CS setsa new benchmark on the legendary Nordschleife racetrack of the Nürburgring on 11 April 2025. Driven by BMW M development engineer Jörg Weidinger, it completed the 12.9-mile Nürburgring-Nordschleife circuit in 7:25.5, beating the previous best time for compact cars by eight seconds. In March Audi set a new record lap in the compact vehicle class on the Nordschleife at 7:33.123 minutes. Depending on the ongoing Trump tariff wars, Audi might still retain the lower price entry point for a top Nordschleife runner., depending on who you value – in currency units – the ~8 seconds in elapsed times. Continue reading →

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