Automotive News: Germany's diesel scandal shines a light on how cozy the government is with carmakers, U.S. asks judge to dismiss Toyota acceleration case as monitoring ends
Germany’s diesel scandal shines a light on how cozy the government is with carmakers
The emissions cheating scandal that began with Volkswagen in 2015 has now spread to include all the big German automakers. In recent weeks Daimler, VW, Porsche, BMW, and Audi were found to have manipulated nitrogen-oxide emissions from some of their diesel cars and issued mass recalls.
With less than two months to go to election day, the government stepped in last week and hastily organized a summit with car chiefs, who were desperate to try and stave off a ban on diesel motors.
The industry bosses came out of the meeting with what many say is a slap on the wrist: They must refit around 5 million diesel cars with new software so they emit less nitrogen oxide, and pay into a public transit fund to reduce diesel pollution. Unintentionally, the summit also had the effect of drawing attention to how close lawmakers in Berlin are to the country’s automakers. read more »
U.S. asks judge to dismiss Toyota acceleration case as monitoring ends
The U.S. Department of Justice on Tuesday asked a federal judge to dismiss a criminal charge against Toyota Motor Corp after the Japanese automaker completed three years of monitoring as part of a $1.2 billion settlement over claims of sudden unintended acceleration in its vehicles.
The request, filed in federal court in Manhattan, should bring to an end Toyota's legal woes stemming from its admission that it misled U.S. consumers by concealing and making deceptive statements about the extent of sudden acceleration problems in 2009 and 2010. read more »
Why are recalled Takata airbags being recycled?
Because even though it's illegal, the law is hard to enforce
y now you’ve probably heard the story: millions of airbags manufactured by Japanese auto parts supplier Takata have been recalled by auto manufacturers. Last year, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) figured out that long-term exposure to high humidity and high temperatures breaks down the propellant used to trigger tens of millions of Takata airbags. The result: faulty airbags can go off unexpectedly and with enough force to break apart components sending shards of metal into the head, neck, and body of a driver or front seat passenger.
And that’s exactly what happened to 18-year old Karina Dorado.
In March, Dorado got into an accident in Las Vegas while driving her 2002 Honda Accord. The accident wasn’t severe, but the teen was almost killed. Metal from the Accord’s Takata airbag punctured her windpipe causing her to almost bleed to death. What makes this accident so troubling is that Dorado’s airbag had already been replaced once… with a recalled airbag from a 2001 Honda Accord.
“The vehicle she was driving had a recalled Takata airbag,” Billie Marie Morrison, an attorney representing the Dorado family said. Morrison said the airbag was “not the one that came with her car.” read more »
