2006 Mazda Miata Limited Convertible Rear Wheel Drive A/c Manual Trans on 2040-cars

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Airbag recall widens to include BMW, Chrysler, Ford and Toyota

The recall of faulty airbag inflators supplied by Takata has exploded today to grow to seven automakers. In most cases, only models in certain high-humidity regions were affected because the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration found in its investigation that moisture played a roll in determining whether there would be a problem. However, some companies opted for national campaigns. The exact number of affected models for these campaigns isn't yet known at this time.
BMW is recalling an undisclosed number of 325i, 325Xi, 330i and 330Xi models from the 2001 through 2005 model years and the 2001-2006 model year versions of the 325Ci and 330Ci for the driver side and passenger side inflators. Only vehicles currently registered in Florida, Puerto Rico, Hawaii and the US Virgin Islands are covered under this recall.
Neither Chrysler's filing with NHTSA nor its press release list the specific models affected, but a company spokesperson told Autoblog that at this time it only covers the driver and passenger side inflators for the 2006 Dodge Charger in Florida, Puerto Rico, Hawaii and the US Virgin Islands

Mazda engineer explains why there won't be a Mazdaspeed3

When Mazda put the new, beautiful Mazda3 on its stand at last year's L.A. Auto Show, it didn't take long before someone asked about a Mazdaspeed3. It took even less time for the Japanese automaker's new global boss, Akira Marumoto, to cite his company's small size and say, " [My] answer would be no." During first drives of the compact hatch last month, Road & Track asked Mazda development vehicle engineer Dave Coleman what Mazda would need in order to resurrect an MPS version. Coleman detailed a few reasons for the Mazdaspeed's continued hiatus, the prohibitive cost foremost. But another hitch is that the Mazdaspeed we'd get now isn't the Mazdaspeed enthusiasts would want. Coleman told the magazine, "If we had an engine on the shelf that would fit that properly, then we could talk." But the price to develop an engine and supporting hardware to do the car right isn't in the budget for an automaker of Mazda's size. Perhaps more important, though, present-day Mazda wouldn't — and couldn't — whip up another raw, rapid hatch. The competition, and consumers, have changed. "Even the Mazdaspeed 3, in its last iteration, came out as raw as it did due to the constraints," Coleman said, and today's market won't put up with that kind of buzzy, excitable uncouth anymore. The question is, even if Mazda had the money, do the buyers pining for a zoom-zoomier Mazda3 want the mature, composed hot hatch they'd be offered? Head over to Road & Track to read Coleman's take on the matter, and how he lays out the gap that would swallow any potential MPS as, "What you think you want is rawness. What you really want is responsiveness and directness." Related Video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.

How Mazda got Skyactiv-X to work is incredible

"Take everything you know about engines and turn it around," Mazda North America Vehicle Development Engineer Dave Coleman says, patiently and with a look of benevolent pity, as he's quizzed about the particulars of the company's new engine. The Skyactiv-X engine is enigmatic — and deceptively simple in operation. And the bottom line for American consumers is that they'll be able to buy a car (or crossover; we don't know yet what vehicle will first get it) by late 2019 that provides diesel-like fuel economy but runs on regular old gasoline. In between diesel and spark ignition, but it's neither To truly understand it, you have to dive into the contradictions. Take that regular old gasoline: Contrary to common sense, the lower the octane, the better it works. In the lab, the Skyactiv-X engine loves 80 octane. The lowest Americans get is 87, so the engine is tuned for that octane. Go higher and you lose some low-end torque. Coleman was right. It's hard to wrap your head around an engine that thrives just at the point when most gas engines would aggressively self-destruct. It uses a supercharger to pump additional air — but not additional fuel. It uses spark plugs to start a combustion cycle that normally doesn't need a spark. And, quixotically, it's not displacing Mazda's own American-market diesel engine, currently languishing in a seemingly endless hell of regulatory approval. More bizarre: Mazda is a tiny automaker facing real existential headwinds, and gasoline compression ignition is a massive challenge. GM and Hyundai announced compression ignition, or HCCI, projects (full name, homogeneous charge compression ignition) to great fanfare, but they never amounted to a production hill of beans, crippled by reliability issues or horrible vibrations. Worse, they only worked at an unusably narrow range — low RPMs and low loads. HCCI research improved direct-injection gas and diesel engine technologies for these companies, but HCCI itself remains untamed. The benefits of lean combustion Why even try to tame HCCI? The answer is much better fuel economy and lower emissions. Less burned carbon-based fuel, less carbon dioxide released. That's simple. But there are some thermodynamic reasons for the lean combustion you can achieve with compression ignition that are worth explaining. The ideal amount of fuel for a conventional engine to burn is about a 14:1 air-to-fuel ratio. That lets every molecule burn nicely, in theory.