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Category Archives: news analysis
Ford Employees to Beta Test Latest My Ford Touch Patch
Ford Motor Company will beta test new software designed to ease myriad consumer complaints about the My Ford Touch infotainment system, which caused Ford and Lincoln vehicles to sink to below average in Consumer Reports quality ratings.
Ford’s overall reliability rank among 28 major car makes slipped from the 10th to the 20th spot this year—the biggest drop for any major nameplate in Consumer Reports 2011 Annual Auto Survey. The badly needed software upgrade is coming for 2013 models – and to owners of existing My Ford Touch equipped vehicles. Continue reading
Posted in auto news, engineering, news, news analysis, people, quality, recalls, safety
Tagged auto informed, autoinformed.com, automotive electronics problems, automotive news, Ken Zino, lincoln my touch patch, microsoft software problems, My Ford Touch, my ford touch patch, my touch, my touch beta testing
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CMU Research Backs Ban for Cell Phones When Driving. NTSB Wants States to Prohibit All Non-Emergency Use of Cell Phones
Research by Carnegie Mellon University’s Marcel Just shows that simply listening to someone speak on the other end of a cell phone reduces the amount of brain activity associated with driving by 37%, compared to driving alone. The decrease in available brain resources can cause drivers using cell phones to commit the same type of driving errors that can occur under the influence of alcohol. Continue reading
Chrysler to Build 2013 SRT Viper at Conner Avenue Plant
Chrysler Group announced today that it will reopen its Conner Avenue Assembly Plant in Detroit for the production of the next generation 2013 SRT Viper. The closed Viper plant was the victim of the Chrysler bankruptcy in 2009 and was originally listed as an asset to be sold. However, there were no takers for the sale of the Viper and its entire Conner Avenue plant for only $10 million. The Viper business earned $16 million in 2008 by building 1,545 cars and engines, according to a bankruptcy filing. Continue reading
New Compact Acura ILX to be Built in Indiana by Honda
This means Acura ILX will be Acura’s first-ever hybrid model, as well as the first Acura model to be produced in Greensburg, Indiana, which also builds the new 2012 Civic model. The plant recently added nearly 1,000 associates to support the move to two-shift production, which started on Oct. 24, 2011, doubling the plant’s capacity to 200,000 vehicles per year. In what is a major public relations error, Honda did not even release a teaser photo of the ILX. Continue reading
News Bits – Carbon Fiber, Chinese Leaf, Rolls-Royce, Thailand Floods and Impending Goodyear Airline Tire Shortage?
General Motors and Teijin Limited, Japanese company with roots as a textile maker will co-develop advanced carbon fiber composite technologies for potential high-volume use globally in GM cars, trucks and crossovers.
Nissan Motor and Dongfeng Motor delivered 15 Nissan Leaf EVs to the Guangzhou Municipal Government in China.
Rolls-Royce Motor Cars has announced that it will enter the South American market for the first time in the company’s history.
Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company says that as a result of the Thailand flooding commercial airlines are facing a potential global shortage of bias aviation tires
Posted in alternative fuels, auto news, aviation, electric vehicles, fuel economy or emissions, manufacturing, news, news analysis, transportation
Tagged auto informed, autoinformed.com, automotive news, carbon fiber, chinese leaf, Ken Zino, news bits, rolls royce, thailand floods and goodyear airline tire shortage
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Toyota Cuts 2012 Forecast as Yen and Thailand Floods Hurt
Toyota Motor Corporation today drastically cut its fiscal year 2012 forecast based on the ongoing negative effects of the strong Yen and the production disruptions caused by the Thailand floods. As a result, Toyota has revised down its 2012 full year profit forecast by -¥250 billion to ¥200 billion. Continue reading
The Secret of Future Success for Ex Auto Plants is Location
The study is the latest example of how devastating the collapse of the automobile industry is to the economies of local communities, many of them now with grim futures. Simply put, the best outcome for a community is to keep auto plants operating. The lack of a U.S. industrial policy – alone among all other industrialized nations and clearly a problem in the view of critics of multinational corporations – is not addressed in the study. Continue reading
Posted in auto news, economy, manufacturing, news, news analysis, results
Tagged auto informed, autoinformed.com, automotive news, center for automotive research, closed auto plants, department of labor, Ken Zino, redeveloping closed auto plants, unemployment, war on the middle class
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Ford Family and Other Shareholders to Receive Dividends
Ford still remains heavily in debt – at $12.7 billion. However, Ford decreased automotive debt by $1.3 billion in the third quarter of this year, including payment of the remaining $1.8 billion balance of secured Term Loan debt, which was offset partially by an increase in controversial taxpayer-subsidized low-cost loans from the Department of Energy to support advanced technology under the guise of retooling existing plants. Continue reading
U.S. Auto Fatalities Drop to Lowest level in More than 60 Years
The Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration – NHTSA – today released 2010 fatality and injury data showing highway deaths fell to 32,885 for the year, the lowest level for auto fatalities since 1949. What was termed a record-breaking decline in traffic deaths occurred as American drivers traveled nearly 46 billion more miles during the year, an increase of 1.6% compared to 2009. Continue reading
Tidbits – Leaf, Marchionne, Volt, Politics, Rust, Electronics
Nissan has re-opened “reservations” for the 2012 Nissan Leaf electric vehicle in Delaware, Indiana, Louisiana, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island. Deliveries will begin next spring. Nissan LEAF is now available for order in 30 states, including Washington, D.C. National … Continue reading
Dodge Dart Reborn based on Alfa Romeo Platform
The new Dodge Dart will appear in modified form with a lengthened and widened platform, which Dodge claims will have segment-leading interior roominess. Dodge exited the compact car segment (or so-called c-car segment) when then owner Daimler killed the Neon back in 2005 – as gasoline was relatively cheap at just over $2 a gallon and truck and SUV sales were booming. The Neon nameplate goes back to the 1995 when Bob Lutz then at Chrysler boasted it would beat the Japanese in the economy car segment. It didn’t come close. Continue reading
Posted in auto news, marketing, new vehicle, news, news analysis
Tagged alfa romeo giulietta, auto informed, autoinformed.com, automotive news, car spy, Dodge, dodge dart, economy cars, Fiat, jim dunne, Ken Zino
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Toyota to Export U.S. Built Camry to South Korea
The Camry mid-size sedans will be made at Toyota’s manufacturing plant in Georgetown, Kentucky, which is Toyota’s largest manufacturing facility outside of Japan. The strong Japanese Yen is causing Toyota to increase production out of its home country. Whether a U.S. made Camry is any more suited for the Korean market given Japan’s troubled relations with Korea is debatable. Continue reading
Honda Recall for Goldwing Motorcycle Fires Active
This safety defect follows the admission by Honda last week that Honda is once again expanding a recall covering the driver’s side airbag installed on its most popular cars, crossovers and minivans built in 2001 and 2002. This ongoing global safety defect has resulted in recalls in North America, Japan, Australia and other regions. Continue reading
Posted in news, news analysis, recalls, safety
Tagged auto informed, autoinformed.com, automotive news, goldwing fires, honda goldwing recall, Ken Zino, nhtsa, recalls, safety recall
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Honda Airbag Recall Grows. More than 300,000 Vehicles Added
Initially, Honda only recalled 4200 vehicles three years ago and ignored the rest of the world. However, this Honda problem was ongoing as the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration was fining Toyota for safety defect cover-ups – ones that ultimately resulted in millions of dollars in fines and a shredded Toyota corporate and vehicle quality reputation. During the past year or so, Honda has issued more than 22 public statements about various safety defects and recalls in the U.S. Continue reading
