2011 Honda Cr-v Ex-l on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Judge allows class-action lawsuits against Honda, automakers

Millions of plaintiffs in 2014 brought a class-action lawsuit in against Takata and Honda, and the airbag manufacturer and carmaker petitioned to have the case thrown out. A US District Judge in Miami ruled against the companies on December 3, allowing the case to proceed. The case in question, Craig Dunn et al vs. Takata Corporation et al, is thought to be the first class action filed in the ongoing airbag imbroglio. Other cases have been filed, but on behalf of individuals. Takata and Honda are named defendants in the case, but the 453-page suit is also aimed at BMW, Ford, Mazda, Nissan, and Subaru. The plaintiffs claim violations of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act specifically by Takata and Honda, alleging that those two companies conspired to hide information about airbag inflators that could rupture and spray shrapnel around a car's cockpit. Honda said Takata hid information from it and ceased doing business with the airbag company, while a recent Wall Street Journal review of documents indicated that Takata changed testing information to suppress actual results from Honda. The class-action suit charges violations of the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act, too. Meanwhile, Takata has strengthened its legal team with the addition of Lanny Breuer, a partner at Covington & Burling LLP. Breuer was a US assistant attorney general from 2009 to 2013, heading the criminal division. Honda has been dealing with individual cases out of court, with litigation in cases of five out of six US deaths settled for undisclosed sums.

8 automakers, 15 utilities collaborate on open smart-charging for EVs

We're going to lead with General Motors here. GM is one of eight automakers working with 15 utilities and the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) at developing a "smart" plug-in vehicle charging system. Why did we start with GM? Because it's the first automaker whose press release we read that mentioned the other seven automakers. Points for sharing. For the record, the collaboration also includes BMW, Toyota, Mercedes-Benz, Honda, Chrysler, Mitsubishi and Ford. The utilities include DTE Energy, Duke Energy, Southern California Edison and Pacific Gas & Electric. The idea is to develop a so-called "demand charging" system in which an integrated system lets the plug-ins and utilities communicate with each other so that vehicle charging is cut back at peak hours, when energy is most expensive, and ramped up when the rates drop. Such entities say there's a sense of urgency to develop such a system because the number of plug-in vehicles on US roads totals more than 225,000 today and is climbing steadily. There's a lot of technology involved, obviously, but the goal is to have an open platform that's compatible with virtually any automaker's plug-in vehicle. No timeframe was disclosed for when such a system could go live but you can find a press release from EPRI below. EPRI, Utilities, Auto Manufacturers to Create an Open Grid Integration Platform for Plug-in Electric Vehicles PALO ALTO, Calif. (July 29, 2014) – The Electric Power Research Institute, 8 automakers and 15 utilities are working to develop and demonstrate an open platform that would integrate plug-in electric vehicles (PEV) with smart grid technologies enabling utilities to support PEV charging regardless of location. The platform will allow manufacturers to offer a customer-friendly interface through which PEV drivers can more easily participate in utility PEV programs, such as rates for off-peak or nighttime charging. The portal for the system would be a utility's communications system and an electric vehicle's telematics system. As the electric grid evolves with smarter functionality, electric vehicles can serve as a distributed energy resource to support grid reliability, stability and efficiency. With more than 225,000 plug-in vehicles on U.S. roads -- and their numbers growing -- they are likely to play a significant role in electricity demand side management.

Hurricane Sandy cost automakers 15,000 vehicles, may have ruined up to 200k

Hurricane Sandy was the largest Atlantic storm in US history, and its total economic impact is just now coming into view. According to Automotive News, Toyota, Chrysler, Nissan and Honda are set to scrap around 15,000 new vehicles ruined by the storm. Nissan alone accounts for about 40 percent of those, with 6,000 Nissan and Infiniti models deeded "un-saleable" due to damage. The company saw 56 dealerships shuttered due to the storm, but 51 of those have since reopened.
Toyota, meanwhile, had some 4,000 vehicles at its Newark port facility, and of those, 3,000 may be scrapped. An additional 825 were dealer inventory when they were ruined. Honda and Acura dealers are reportedly sending 3,440 vehicles to the salvage yard. By comparison, Chrysler weathered the storm fairly well with 825 units destroyed, while Hyundai suffered only 400 lost units and Kia scrapped around 200.
As you may recall, Fisker also suffered some losses, and Automotive News reports the manufacturer saw 320 Karma models damaged beyond repair. Ford and General Motors have yet to come up with estimates, and no automaker has commented on the full cost of replacing the vehicles.