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Takata air bag recall list

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration confirmed yesterday that 33.8 million vehicles with Takata airbags are going to be recalled. It's the largest recall in automotive history. The already record-breaking rate of automotive recalls this year shows no signs of slowing down, especially since millions of cars with defective airbags made by global supplier Takata are under ongoing scrutiny. The federal government is warning owners that inflator mechanisms in the air bags can rupture, causing metal fragments to fly out when the bags are deployed. The faulty air bags have already been blamed for multiple deaths. How do you know if your vehicle is safe? The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration released an updated list of vehicles under recall. Sometimes however, the government's website will crash and the list may not be complete. Check your VIN at the NHTSA website to make sure. The list of cars affected by the recall has not been released, but seem to span multiple models over the years for many of the automakers.

Jonas wreaks havoc on auto industry

Many folks along the East Coast are still stuck at home from Winter Storm Jonas' brutal snowfall over the weekend, but the blizzard had some nasty temporary effects on the auto industry, too. Winter weather emergencies kept people from leaving the house, and that spelled trouble for factories and dealers. The terrible conditions in Washington, DC, even prevented the the Washington Auto Show from opening. General Motors, Toyota, and BMW had to close factories due to the weather. BMW cited concerns for its workers driving to the plant for canceling some Friday and Saturday shifts in Spartanburg, SC, according to Automotive News. Toyota closed its Georgetown, KY, factory on Friday, and GM shut down the second shift at its Bowling Green, KY, site for that day, too. Showrooms in the blizzard's path saw a massive drop in sales over the weekend because the customers weren't coming. Some affected dealers are now trying to make the best of a bad situation by offering potential buyers even deeper discounts to get them through the door, according to Automotive News. The piles of snow also mean hours of work for employees to clean off all the cars on the lot. The good news is that none of these issues should pose longterm problems. Weather reports don't show much snow for the East Coast in the coming days, which should allow the industry quickly to return to normal.

BMW i8's three-cylinder sounds like it's shaping up quite nicely

We've run across some rather interesting news... or perhaps we should say interesting sounds. The folks from Bimmerpost have scrounged up a short video showing a preproduction BMW i8 running through a few gears in Sport mode at a quick pace, and if you were concerned that the somewhat eco-friendly nature of the upcoming German sports car would neuter its ability to stir the aural senses, fret not.
Judging by the lovely noise coming from the engine compartment of the i8 in the video, BMW's expertise in tuning high-strung, small-bore engines - remember, BMW Motorrad has quite the penchant for well-conceived motorcycle engines - has come through loud and clear. Now, it's worth mentioning that BMW's controversial Active Sound technology will be included with the i8, so the production car may not sound exactly like this version, which is running with the tech disabled. Owners won't have the ability to disable Active Sound on production i8s.
In related news, Bimmerpost reports that BMW will equip the i8 with an external Active Sound Design system to go along with its Pedestrian Protection System. That means those on the outside will likely hear piped engine recordings from the rear and a sort of "howl" from the front in order to warn pedestrians that the otherwise quiet (when running on electricity, that is) car is approaching. It will also feature technology that can stop the car before contacting a pedestrian.