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Fiat Chrysler starts production of ventilator components in Italy

MILAN — Fiat Chrysler has begun producing ventilator parts to help Italy's Siare Engineering boost its output of the medical equipment needed to treat patients during the coronavirus crisis, the carmaker said on Friday. Carmakers around the world are ramping up production of critical healthcare products and machines to respond to the enormous demand during the pandemic. Italy, the epicenter of the virus outbreak in Europe, had asked Siare to triple its normal monthly production as a part of government efforts to increase the number of intensive care beds. FCA said that with the support of luxury group Ferrari and holding company Exor, which controls both carmakers, it had produced the first electrovalves, a key part in ventilators, at its plant in Cento, in northern Italy. The Cento plant is usually used to produces high-performance car engines for the global market. It had been closed because of the coronavirus but has partially reopened for this project. "With the additional supply of electrovalves from Cento, Siare estimates that it will be able to reduce total production time for ventilators by as much as 30-50%", the statement said. In addition to the production of the electrovalves, a team of specialists from FCA is also working alongside Siare staff at their production facility near the city of Bologna. "The objective is to help increase Siare's total production, with a gradual scaling up of daily output beginning from the first week of April", FCA said.

Chevy Bolt EV, Chrysler Pacifica, Honda Ridgeline take 2017 NACTOY prizes

Every year the 2017 North American International Auto Show kicks off with the North American Car of the Year Awards. We say "awards" after all those mentions of our home continent because it's not just cars. This year, in fact, the awards spread out to three separate honors: Car, Truck, and Utility. And without further ado, here are the winners. The 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV is the Car of the Year, the Honda Ridgeline is the Truck of the Year, and the Chrysler Pacifica is the Utility of the Year. Honda's win is perhaps the biggest surprise, upsetting favorite the Ford F Super Duty for the win. The second-generation Ridgeline rides on a unibody platform and is offered in front- or all-wheel-drive, which is unconventional for a pickup. But the layout also offers a cargo bed with an in-floor trunk and solid fuel economy figures of 19 city, 26 highway in its most-efficient form. The Chevy Bolt EV, however, was probably the easiest winner to predict. Its 238-mile range and sub-$30,000 starting price after tax credits make it a breakthrough in the landscape of electric vehicles. With the Chrysler Pacifica available in a plug-in hybrid form, this year's award illustrates the industry's shift towards efficiency and electrification. And with Ford's recent announcement on future EVs, it might not be long will it be until we see a hybrid truck on the award stage as well.Related Video:

NHTSA investigating Chrysler for airbags, ignition switches

Chrysler is being targeted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in a pair of actions that focus on over 1.2 million Jeeps, minivans and crossovers.
The first is a "preliminary investigation" that focuses on an airbag issue afflicting the Jeep Commander built in model years 2006 and 2007 and Grand Cherokee from 2005 to 2006. In total, 700,000 vehicles could potentially be affected. It's not entirely clear what the airbag issue is, with The Detroit Free Press simply stating that the restraint systems in the affected Jeeps may be "faulty."
The other investigation is what's called a "recall query" and it covers a problem that General Motors should be familiar with. In this case, there could be a problem with the ignition switches of 525,000 vehicles, ranging from 2008 to 2010 Chrysler Town & Country and Dodge Grand Caravan minivans, to the 2008 to 2010 Dodge Journey crossover. Again, it's not entirely clear what sort of behavior prompted the 32 complaints that NHTSA has received on these vehicles.