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Brand new cars are being sold with defective Takata airbags

If you just bought a 2016 Audi TT, 2017 Audi R8, 2016–17 Mitsubishi i-MiEV, or 2016 Volkswagen CC, we have some unsettling news for you. A report provided to a US Senate committee that oversees the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and reported on by Automotive News claims these vehicles were sold with defective Takata airbags. And it gets worse. Toyota and FCA are called out in the report for continuing to build vehicles that will need to be recalled down the line for the same issue. That's not all. The report also states that of the airbags that have been replaced already in the Takata recall campaign, 2.1 million will need to eventually be replaced again. They don't have the drying agent that prevents the degradation of the ammonium nitrate, which can lead to explosions that can destroy the airbag housing and propel metal fragments at occupants. So these airbags are out there already. We're not done yet. There's also a stockpile of about 580,000 airbags waiting to be installed in cars coming in to have their defective airbags replaced. These 580k airbags also don't have the drying agent. They'll need to be replaced down the road, too. A new vehicle with a defective Takata airbag should be safe to drive, but that margin of safety decreases with time. If all this has you spinning around in a frustrated, agitated mess, there's a silver lining that is better than it sounds. So take a breath, run your fingers through your hair, and read on. Our best evidence right now demonstrates that defective Takata airbags – those without the drying agent that prevents humidity from degrading the ammonium nitrate propellant – aren't dangerous yet. It takes a long period of time combined with high humidity for them to reach the point where they can rupture their housing and cause serious injury. It's a matter of years, not days. So a new vehicle with a defective Takata airbag should be safe to drive, but that margin of safety decreases with time – and six years seems to be about as early as the degradation happens in the worst possible scenario. All this is small comfort for the millions of people who just realized their brand-new car has a time bomb installed in the wheel or dashboard, or the owners who waited patiently to have their airbags replaced only to discover that the new airbag is probably defective in the same way (although newer and safer!) as the old one.

Audi wants to keep you healthy while behind the wheel

Health tracking is all the rage. You can get smart watches and smart wristbands and all sorts of silly tech to give you intricate metrics about your wellbeing. Hell, my bathroom scale is connected and will automagically sync my latest weight, body fat, and heart rate readings to an app on my smartphone. Bathroom scales and wearables aside, Audi is hoping to bring this fitness-tracking tech to four wheels with its new Fit Driver system. No surprise, the new program was announced at the technophile's paradise that is the Consumer Electronics Show. Paired with a wearable, like an Apple Watch or FitBit, that would monitor heart rate and skin temperature, the car's sensors can track a driver's breathing and driving style. This data can be analyzed alongside weather and traffic information, effectively allowing the car to determine how stressed or tired a driver is. Systems within the vehicle would then be tweaked to "relax, vitalize, or even protect the driver." This can take the form of an automatic massage and adjustments to the cabin temperature, ambient lighting, and infotainment. So when you're about to go full road rage because there's a Camry doing ten under in the left lane, Sirius could flip on the easy listening of Watercolors to calm you down. Naturally, this technology is still in the early stages, and there's no word about when it could actually arrive in production vehicles. But as driverless systems evolve, Audi is aiming to develop such an advanced health suite that an autonomous vehicle could detect a medical emergency, pull over safely, and call for assistance. Here's to the future, folks. Check out the official release below. Audi Fit Driver Audi envisions a future in which drivers leave their cars more relaxed than when they entered them. The car, as a personal yet simultaneously connected space, is ideal for health and fitness monitoring. Under the motto "my Audi cares for me", Audi Fit Driver will become a supportive driving companio. The Audi Fit Driver project focuses on the well-being and health of the driver. A wearable (fitness wristband or smartwatch) monitors important vital parameters such as heart rate and skin temperature. Vehicle sensors supplement this data with information on driving style, breathing rate and relevant environmental data such as weather or traffic conditions. The current state of the driver, such as elevated stress or fatigue, is deduced from the collected data.

Audi TT images leak out ahead of Geneva debut

Audi has done an incredibly poor job of keeping the third-generation Audi TT a secret. The first images of the car's rear leaked out late last week, and Audi released its own teaser video for the car last week, too, showing off its aluminum body. Now, the first official photos have surfaced out ahead of the car's debut at the 2014 Geneva Motor Show on March 4. The official photos are practically identical to the renderings from two weeks ago.
However, it appears that Audi has been able to keep one secret up its sleeve. If you look closely at the TT's grille, the badge appears to read TTS. It also has chrome and brushed aluminum trim on the mirror caps, rear diffuser and front air dam. The interior is also quite similar to the concept interior of the new TT was first shown in January at CES. So, images of the actual TT are likely to still be fresh when the car rolls across the stage at Geneva.
Check out all of the leaked photos in the gallery, and official details about the 2015 TT are expected in the next 24 hours.