U.S. investigates one million Fiat Chrysler vehicles for roll-away crashes

The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is launching an investigation into about 1 million newer Fiat Chrysler Ram pickup trucks and SUVs after receiving complaints the vehicles rolled away after being parked, it said on Tuesday.

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV (0QXR.L) said it is cooperating with the government investigation that covers the 2013-2016 model year Ram 1500 pickup truck and 2014-2016 Dodge Durango SUV. The government said it has reports of 25 crashes from owners alleging vehicle roll-away and nine injuries and urged drivers to set the parking brake before exiting the vehicles.

The vehicles under investigation have an electronic rotary control for driver gear selections that is different to the shifter that Fiat Chrysler recalled earlier this year for roll away issues. read more »

VW agrees to pay $200 million to offset U.S. emissions

Volkswagen AG has agreed to pay just over $200 million to offset emissions from about 80,000 3.0-liter diesel U.S. vehicles, a person briefed on the settlement told Reuters.

The agreement is expected to be announced as early as Friday, and is in addition to $2.7 billion that VW previously agreed to pay to offset emissions from about 475,000 2.0-liter diesel vehicles. U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer on Friday delayed a hearing until later in the day so negotiations can continue over reaching a final resolution on the 3.0-liter vehicles.

A sticking point over a comprehensive deal has been how much VW will agree to offer owners in compensation for getting vehicles repaired or selling them back. Talks among Volkswagen, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission and lawyers for the suing owners have gone on for weeks.

Reuters reported on Nov. 15 that Volkswagen had reached agreement with U.S. regulators for a mix of buybacks and fixes for the 80,000 polluting Audi, Porsche and VW 3.0-liter vehicles. The agreement includes a buy-back offer for about 20,000 older Audi and VW SUVs and a software fix for 60,000 newer Porsche, Audi and VW cars and SUVs, the sources said. read more »

Uber self-driving car drives through red light in San Francisco – video

One of Uber’s computer-controlled cars is seen driving through a red light in central San Francisco as a pedestrian is about to cross the road. The video was uploaded to YouTube on Wednesday by Charles Rotter, an operations manager for a traditional cab company. Uber has blamed the traffic violation on ‘human error’ read more »