2014 Chevrolet Malibu 1ls on 2040-cars

Auto blog

GM recalls 330,000 fullsize trucks for airbag replacement

General Motors has announced a recall of 330,198 fullsize pickups in the US in the aftermath of the announcement made on May 19 that doubled the number of vehicles being called in to replace Takata's defective airbag inflators. That announcement expanded the nationwide recall to an estimated 33.8 million vehicles in the US. Heavy Duty versions of the 2007 and 2008 Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra are included in GM's move, for the purpose of replacing the passenger airbag inflators. The announcement made by the National Highway Traffic Safety Association cited long-term exposure to moisture as a possible cause of the inflator issues. GM says it isn't aware of any problems with the recalled pickups due to moisture, nor has it had any reports of crashes, injuries, or fatalities, and has not received any complaints. GM will notify owners, who can then take their trucks to the dealers to have them repaired free of charge. You'll find a statement from GM and the recall notice from NHTSA below. Related Video: General Motors Statement General Motors is recalling 330,198 2007 and 2008 model year full-size Chevrolet Silverado heavy duty and GMC Sierra heavy duty pickup trucks in the U.S. to replace the passenger air bag inflators manufactured by TK Holdings Inc. (Takata). This recall implements Takata's air bag inflator equipment recall announced on May 19, 2015 (NHTSA recall number 15E-041). GM is not aware of any humidity-related ruptures in Takata air bag inflators in any GM-badged vehicles in the field and knows of no crashes, injuries, fatalities or complaints regarding air bag performance in these vehicles. Including Canada and exports, the total number of vehicles being recalled is 374,715. Population breakdown: United States 330,198 Canada 39,630 Exports 4,887 Total 374,715NHTSA RECALL NOTICE: Report Receipt Date: MAY 28, 2015 NHTSA Campaign Number: 15V324000 Component(s): AIR BAGS Potential Number of Units Affected: 330,198 Manufacturer: General Motors LLCSUMMARY: General Motors LLC (GM) is recalling certain model year 2007-2008 Chevrolet Silverado 2500HD and 3500HD trucks manufactured November 28, 2006, to August 29, 2008, and 2007-2008 GMC Sierra 2500HD and 3500HD trucks manufactured November 27, 2006, to August 29, 2008.

Recharge Wrap-up: U of M wins Solar Challenge, family attempts record-breaking e-bike ride

The University of Michigan Solar Car Team has won the 2014 American Solar Challenge. It is the team's eighth national championship, its fifth in a row, and its first using Siemens' product lifecycle management (PLM) software. The race took place over 1,722 miles and seven days traveling across eight states. The team's car, called "Quantum," outpaced the nearest competitor by four hours. Looking forward, Michigan Solar Car Project Manager Pavan Naik says, "The switch to Siemens tools will give us the ability to model and simulate everything and truly allow us to optimize the performance of our new vehicle. As we start on our quest to win the World Solar Challenge in 2015, we'll be leveraging a full complement of PLM solutions." Read more in the press release below. The EcoCar3 competition, in which teams will convert Chevrolet Camaros into hybrid electric cars, begins in September. The various college teams will have four years to lessen the car's environmental impact as much as possible while maintaining performance and, of course, that cool Camaro design. EcoCar3, which is put on by the US Department of Energy and General Motors, kicks off with a workshop in Novi, Michigan from September 16 - 18. Read more at the DOE website at the dedicated EcoCar3 site or watch the announcement video at our previous post. Zap and Jonway Auto are shifting to a high rate of EV production. Zap already has two lines creating the Urbee EV to met demand, and is switching over a third to make electric minivans and SUVs. The company aims to produce 30,000 EVs by 2015 for the Chinese market. Zap says it has a backlog of 25,000 Urbee orders. Read more in the press release below. A family of four hopes to make a world record-breaking, 6,000-mile electric bike journey this fall. The family, which recently drove from Argentina to Montana in a pickup with a camper, will ride from Montana to Maine, then down the East Coast to Florida in an attempt to break the record for longest electric bicycle ride. They'll use two bikes. The Father, Thomas, will ride one of the bikes carrying one of the children, while the rest of the family rides in a support vehicle, with the mother, Dylan, riding the second bike when they can find others to drive. They have started a crowdfunding campaign for some of the equipment needed to document the trip. See the video below or read more at Treehugger.

Poor headlights cause 40 cars to miss IIHS Top Safety Pick rating

Over the past few months, we've noticed a number of cars and SUVs that have come incredibly close to earning one of the IIHS's highest accolades, the Top Safety Pick rating. They have great crash test scores and solid automatic emergency braking and forward collision warning systems. What trips them up is headlights. That got us wondering, how many vehicles are there that are coming up short because they don't have headlights that meet the organization's criteria for an "Acceptable" or "Good" rating. This is a revision made after 2017, a year in which headlights weren't factored in for this specific award. This is also why why some vehicles, such as the Ford F-150, might have had the award last year, but have lost it for this year. We reached out to someone at IIHS to find out. He responded with the following car models. Depending on how you count, a whopping 40 models crash well enough to receive the rating, but don't get it because their headlights are either "Poor" or "Marginal." We say depending on how you count because the IIHS actual counts truck body styles differently, and the Infiniti Q70 is a special case. Apparently the version of the Q70 that has good headlights doesn't have adequate forward collision prevention technology. And the one that has good forward collision tech doesn't have good enough headlights. We've provided the entire list of vehicles below in alphabetical order. Interestingly, it seems the Volkswagen Group is having the most difficulty providing good headlights with its otherwise safe cars. It had the most models on the list at 9 split between Audi and Volkswagen. GM is next in line with 7 models. It is worth noting again that though these vehicles have subpar headlights and don't quite earn Top Safety Pick awards, that doesn't mean they're unsafe. They all score well enough in crash testing and forward collision prevention that they would get the coveted award if the lights were better.