1974 Eldorado Coupe - Extremely Sharp And Clean on 2040-cars

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GM under fire from safety advocates over braking problem caused by recall fix

Safety experts are lambasting General Motors over what they say is the automaker’s slow notification of owners of certain 2019 sedans and trucks that a recall fix could cause power braking to fail and increase the risk of a crash, the Detroit Free Press reports.  GMÂ’s original recall in December targeted about 550,000 Cadillac CT6 sedans and Chevrolet Silverado 1500 and GMC Sierra 1500 pickups, all from the 2019 model year, over potentially defective electronic stability control and antilock brakes. In that case, GM said the errors would not show up as a diagnostic warning on the instrument cluster. But after GM had done recall work on 162,000 vehicles, about 1,700 owner have complained that their power brakes didnÂ’t work after they had the recall done and then used the OnStar app to start their vehicle. GM then issued a supplemental fix for customers whoÂ’d already had their vehicles serviced. In this case, a diagnostic warning should illuminate saying either “Service Brake Assist” or “Service ECS,” which GM says is a signal that a customer should not drive the vehicle and instead call their dealer, which will tow the vehicle and have it repaired. Safety advocates say the automaker hasnÂ’t gone far enough to protect customers. “The fact that you could potentially start a vehicle and not have brakes is a pretty risky proposition,” Sean Kane, president of the Safety Research and Strategies, which works on auto issues for plaintiffs and governmental organizations, told the Freep. “The fact that they wouldnÂ’t notify owners (sooner) is pretty stunning.” GM told the Freep it was required to notify the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and file paperwork before it notified customers about the original recall, which was made Dec. 12. It then had to investigate and resolve the problem created by its original recall fix before alerting customers. GMÂ’s call center and dealers are contacting the remaining 900 customers who havenÂ’t yet had the update made to the original recall repair. GM also hired a vendor to send recall letters to the 550,000 customers affected by the original recall notifying them about the update. There are no known injuries or deaths related to the problem. Read the Freep story here.

Cadillac CT6 beefs up with 400-hp twin-turbo V6

Cadillac's engine lineup is set to get a makeover led by the potent powerplants under the hood of the CT6. Our man Steven Ewing is onsite at an event in Detroit reporting all the details. Here's what we know so far: The CT6's top engine will be a 3.0-liter twin-turbo V6. It's the first twin-turbo with cylinder deactivation, which essentially makes the V6 able to convert to a V4 unit. Power will be 400 horsepower at 5,500 rpm and 400 pound-feet of torque at just 2,500 rpm. No word on what a potential CT6-V would get. The CT6 will also have a naturally aspirated V6 that Cadillac is claiming to be all-new. It's rated at 335 hp at 6,800 rpm and 284 lb-ft at 5,300 rpm. That's an improvement of 14 hp and nine lb-ft compared with today's 3.6-liter V6, and fuel economy increases nine percent. Cadillac says it's the highest output for a naturally aspirated V6 that's SAE-certified and runs on regular fuel. Both of these V6s will have stop/start technology and will be paired to with eight-speed automatic transmissions. The 3.6-liter V6 will also be used in the 2016 CTS and the 2016 ATS. Meanwhile, Ewing reports that Cadillac says the ATS-V is actually more powerful than initially announced, though there are no numbers to flesh that claim out as yet. The brand also plans to offer four- and six-cylinder diesel engines in various vehicles and new V8 options. The CT6 bows at the New York Auto Show. It will use an aluminum-intensive body that reduces weight by 198 pounds compared with a steel setup and continues Cadillac's creased design language used on the CTS and ATS models. The CT6 goes into production late this year in Detroit. Related Video: Cadillac Next-Gen V-6 Engines Led by 3.0L Twin Turbo Segment-leading power, efficiency in world's most advanced six-cylinder DETROIT – Cadillac today announced a new generation of V-6 engines, led by an exclusive Twin Turbo V-6 that will be one of the industry's most advanced six-cylinder gasoline engines. It leverages the latest technology to balance efficiency, performance and refinement in the upcoming, top-of-the-range CT6 luxury performance sedan. The all-new Cadillac 3.0L Twin Turbo is designed to achieve new thresholds of refinement and specific output for the brand's new prestige luxury sedan, which makes its world premiere March 31, at the New York International Auto Show. Production begins late this year at General Motors' Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly Plant.

Junkyard Gem: 1981 Cadillac Eldorado with V8-6-4 engine

Skyrocketing fuel prices caused by geopolitical events in 1973 and 1979 led to gas lines, federal fuel economy requirements, and an increasing reluctance on the part of American car shoppers to buy big, thirsty Detroit luxury machines. General Motors had pulled off some amazing technological feats in the past — the small-block Chevrolet V8 engine and Hydramatic transmission being two extraordinarily successful ones — and so Cadillac's bosses figured that a combination of computer wizardry and clever mechanical engineering would give the 368-cubic-inch Cadillac V8 a cylinder-deactivation system and resulting superior fuel economy. Here's a very rare example of one of those 1981 Cadillacs, found in a California self-service wrecking yard. The idea behind the V8-6-4 was that computer-controlled solenoids would physically disengage the rocker arms for one or two cylinders on each engine bank under low-load conditions, converting the engine from a 368-cube V8 to a 276ci V6 or 184ci V4 (that's 6.0, 4.5 or 3.0 liters, respectively, for the metric-system aficionados among us). This sort of variable-displacement magic is commonplace today, but it was science-fiction stuff in 1981. An "MPG Sentinel" display on the dash would let the driver know how many cylinders were active at the moment, and the car would get Chevy Citation fuel economy with Cadillac luxury. The V8-6-4 was the standard engine in all 1981 Cadillacs (except for the Seville, which had the troubled Oldsmobile diesel engine as the base powerplant and the V8-6-4 as an option). Unfortunately, the V8-6-4 worked about as well as the Oldsmobile diesel: very poorly. Within a few years, most owners of these engines had disconnected the rocker-deactivation solenoids and just drove their cars as regular full-time V8s. This one has the snazzy "Cabriolet Roof Treatment" option, which boasted "textured elk grain" vinyl and could be had in one of 17 available colors. Front-wheel drive gave the early-1980s Eldorado plenty of interior space, despite its more proletarian Olds Toronado origins, and these velour-covered seats made for very comfortable road trips. The price tag started at $17,550, or about $51,650 in 2019 dollars. The 1981 Imperial went for $18,311, and that car was based on the same platform as the lowly Plymouth Volare. Meanwhile, A BMW 733i cost $28,945 and a new Toyota Cressida a mere $11,599. The 1981 Cadillacs were just a little too much ahead of their time, it turned out.