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Five automakers now being investigated by NHTSA for airbag woes

It appears that Toyota's renotification to owners of recalled vehicles from last year is just the tip of the iceberg for what could potentially be a much larger industry-wide recall. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is opening a preliminary evaluation investigation into roughly 1.1 million vehicles from Chrysler, Honda, Mazda, Nissan, Toyota and parts supplier Takata regarding faulty airbag inflators in several models.
NHTSA has received six reports - three directly, two from Takata and one from Toyota - of vehicles with ruptured airbag inflators from 2002-2006, which resulted in three injuries. So far, all six incidents have occurred in high humidity areas like Florida and Puerto Rico. According to Toyota's latest recall announcement, the inflators may have an improper propellant that could cause it to rupture in a crash and the bag to deploy abnormally.
This new investigation follows a previous recall from April 2013 of about 3.4 million vehicles worldwide for the airbag inflators from Takata. As Autoblog reported, Toyota jumpstarted the new situation when it found that the original list of serial numbers for the faulty part was incomplete and discovered more cars in need of replacement. Honda and Nissan told us that they were investigating whether further models would need called in again as well. Mazda told Autoblog: "Regarding the current Takata situation, we're working closely with NHTSA and investigating the situation, but nothing else to report at this time." Chrysler Group responded to us with the statement: "Chrysler Group engineers are conducting the appropriate analysis. The Company will cooperate fully with the National Highway Traffic Administration."

New allegations against Ghosn concern payments to Saudi businessman

BEIJING – Fresh misconduct allegations brought by Tokyo prosecutors against ousted Nissan Chairman Carlos Ghosn center on the use of company funds to pay a Saudi businessman who is believed to have helped him out of financial difficulties, two company sources with knowledge of the matter said. Prosecutors arrested Ghosn for a third time on Friday, accusing him of aggravated breach of trust in transferring personal investment losses to the automaker. The prosecutors' statement said they believe that around October 2008, Ghosn was trying to deal with losses on paper of 1.85 billion yen ($16.6 million) incurred on a swap contract he had with a bank which it did not name. A person helped arrange a letter of credit for Ghosn and a company run by the person later received $14.7 million in Nissan funds in four installments between 2009 and 2012, the statement said, adding that the payments were made in Ghosn's and the person's interests. "By doing so, (Ghosn) behaved in a way that breached trust, and inflicted damage on the property of Nissan," the statement said. The statement also said Ghosn had earlier sought to have Nissan shoulder the appraisal losses directly. According to the Nissan sources who have knowledge of the company's probe into its former chief, the person who helped Ghosn is Khaled Al-Juffali, vice chairman of one of Saudi Arabia's largest conglomerates, E. A. Juffali and Brothers, and a member of the board at the Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority. He is also majority owner of a company called Al-Dahana which owns half of a regional joint venture called Nissan Gulf with the other half held by a wholly owned unit of Nissan Motor. Sheikh Khaled Juffali has no comment on this subject, according to an emailed statement from E. A. Juffali and Brothers. Ghosn's Tokyo-based lawyer, Motonari Otsuru, was unavailable for comment on this article, according to a person who answered the phone at his law office. A representative for the Ghosn family declined to comment. Other media have said Ghosn has through a lawyer denied that he shifted losses to Nissan and has told investigators that the four payments were for legitimate business purposes, including a reward for handling problems at Nissan dealers in Saudi Arabia. Tokyo prosecutors declined to comment. Asked about Ghosn's reported comments, a Nissan spokesman said: "We cannot comment on matters related to Ghosn's arrest for breach of trust.

Renault-Nissan to build EVs in China with Dongfeng

BEIJING — Nissan and its partner Renault will build electric cars in China in a new venture with Dongfeng Motor, as global automakers scramble to get ready for stringent electric vehicle quotas being introduced by the nation. China, the world's biggest auto market, wants all-electric battery cars and plug-in hybrid vehicles to make up at least a fifth of the country's auto sales by 2025, as part of its solution to tackle alarming pollution levels in major cities. Ford announced earlier this month it was exploring setting up a joint venture with car maker Anhui Zotye Automobile Co to build electric vehicles in China under a new brand. Tesla, Daimler, Volkswagen and General Motors have already announced plans for making electric vehicles in China, The new joint venture, called eGT New Energy Automotive Co, will be owned 25 percent each by Nissan and Renault with Dongfeng owning 50 percent, Nissan and Renault said in a statement on Tuesday. They said eGT will design a new electric vehicle on a subcompact crossover SUV platform of the Renault-Nissan alliance. "The establishment of the new joint venture with Dongfeng confirms our common commitment to develop competitive electric vehicles for the Chinese market," Carlos Ghosn, chairman and chief executive officer of the Renault-Nissan alliance, said in the statement. The statement did not give details of financial commitments of the joint venture partners or say by when the vehicles will be launched. Dongfeng already partners Nissan in China. Both Nissan and Renault already market electric cars. Nissan's Leaf compact hatchback has become the world's top-selling electric car since its launch in 2010, while Renault began selling its Zoe model in 2012. The game changer for global automakers, many of whom until recently have resisted an industry shift to heavily electrified vehicles, is China, an auto market with strong potential for growth where stringent policies favoring cleaner energy cars are being aggressively pursued. Under China's latest proposals, electric vehicle sales quotas, which are expected to take effect as early as 2018, are due to require 8 percent of automakers' sales to be battery electric or plug-in hybrid vehicles by next year, rising to 10 percent in 2019 and 12 percent in 2020.