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Jeep to stop using bad Takata airbag inflators next week

FCA is gradually ceasing to produce vehicles equipped with Takata airbag inflaters found to be inherently faulty. These airbags, which lack a certain drying agent, have been linked with dangerous premature ruptures. According to FCA, the only vehicle still in production with the named airbag is the 2016 Jeep Wrangler, and in this case they are passenger-side airbags. Fiat Chrysler says it isn't aware of any incidents involving these air bag inflaters in Jeeps, but amidst concerns that vehicles with failure-prone airbags are still being marketed to customers, North American-market 2016 Wranglers will cease to be equipped with them starting next week. As per FCA's statement, global production is expected to end by mid-September. In addition to Toledo, Ohio, the Wrangler is produced in Egypt. FCA isn't going to sell the cars with the deemed-faulty airbags without disclosing the fact to the customers: anyone buying a 2016 Wrangler will be notified that the vehicle will most likely be subject to a recall in the future, even if there is not currently a recall announced for them. NHTSA has specified a "Coordinated Remedy Program" recall schedule for the coming years, and the airbag inflaters will degrade over a time frame of several years, when subjected to a humid environment. Related Video: News Source: Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, The Wall Street JournalImage Credit: Julien Amado / Autoblog Quebec Plants/Manufacturing Recalls Chrysler Jeep Ownership Safety Takata airbag recall

DoJ fines Japanese parts firms $740M in massive automotive price-fixing scandal

Nine Japanese suppliers have pleaded guilty in US court over charges of price fixing in the automotive parts industry, resulting in the Department of Justice doling out a total of $740 million of fines, according to a report from Bloomberg. The scandal, which has resulted in General Motors, Ford, Toyota and Chrysler spending up to $5 billion on inflated parts and driving up prices on 25 million vehicles has sent the DoJ hustling into investigations. "The conduct this investigation uncovered involved more than a dozen separate conspiracies aimed at the U.S. economy," Attorney General Eric Holder (pictured above) said during yesterday's press conference.
As the investigation stands, the DoJ has issued $1.6 billion in fines against 20 companies and 21 individual executives, with 17 of the execs headed to prison. Deputy Assistant Attorney General Scott Hammond said, "The breadth of the conspiracies brought to light today are as egregious as they are pervasive. They involve more than a dozen separate conspiracies operating independently but all sharing in common that they targeted US automotive manufacturers."
Big-name suppliers indicted in the investigation include Mitsubishi Electric, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Hitachi Automotive and Mitsuba Corporation. A list of fines and other corporations named in the investigation is available at Bloomberg.

Chrysler reveals 6.4-liter 2023 300C: Watch it live

[Update: The 2023 Chrysler 300C has been revealed.] Last week, Chrysler teased a new performance model to be unveiled on the eve of the Detroit Auto Show. The day has arrived, and Chrysler has remained tight-lipped about what exactly it plans to show, but based on the specs in the teaser (and Chrysler's diminutive lineup), we have a pretty good idea what we might see this evening.  Chrysler's teaser included a photo of the wheel from the 300 sedan, which not that long ago was offered in an SRT variant. The big, red Brembo caliper behind the face of this alloy suggests that we could be looking at a revival of the old SRT formula, likely with the combination of the 6.4-liter Hemi V8 and eight-speed automatic transmission — a pairing that was never offered on the old SRT model.  While this certainly isn't definitive, Chrysler said the new variant will be "one of the most powerful and luxurious special edition vehicles" in its brand history. The SRT model based on this generation of the 300 left the market in 2015 with 470 horsepower. Other models with the 6.4-liter offer as much as 485, so there's headroom here for a new model if Stellantis is so inclined. There's also the possibility that a supercharged Hemi could be introduced, or that AWD could enter the mix, but given the sunset status of Chrysler's current internal-combustion powertrains, it's unlikely that such a level of development money would have been thrown at a soon-to-be-discontinued model. But hey, Stellantis, we'd still love to see the Challenger SRT-10. Just saying.  Join us tonight at 6 p.m. EDT to find out exactly what Chrysler has in store.