GM keeps dominating the bad news:
- Critical question went unasked by NHTSA, unanswered by GM – Automotive News: At this week’s congressional hearings, watch for General Motors CEO Mary Barra to apologize deeply for her company’s handling of deadly defects in its ignition switches.
- GM’s recalls mount: Moms just now find out ’08 crash that killed their boys may be tied to faulty part – DetN: Every night, Pam Harding says she speaks to her dead son, Joey, asks why he had to die and cries herself to sleep. For five years, she’s tried to accept she’d never know all the details of his death.
- GM CEO meets crash victims’ families – Just-auto: General Motors’ CEO has met with the families of some people killed in vehicles subject to one of the automaker’s biggest recalls.
- GM recalls 7m vehicles in first quarter of 2014 – Just-auto: General Motors said it had made 13 safety and noncompliance recalls with a worldwide total of 6,991,122 in the first quarter of 2014.
- GM recalls older model vehicles to fix power steering (again) – Just-auto: General Motors has informed the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration that it would recall more than 1.3m vehicles in the US that may experience a sudden loss of electric power steering assist.
- GM enters harsh spotlight as Congress hearings begin – Reuters: The U.S. Congress will try to establish who is to blame for at least 13 auto-related deaths over the past decade, as public hearings are launched on Tuesday on General Motors Co’s slow response to defective ignition switches in cars.
- CEO Barra expected to face tough GM recall questions – DetN: When General Motors CEO Mary Barra and National Highway Traffic Safety Administrator David Friedman take the witness stand before a House committee today, they will face tough questions about why they didn’t do more to address dozens of complaints linked to ignition switch failures linked to at least 13 deaths and 32 crashes.
- Documents identify GM engineer who OK’d switch redesign – DetN: The project engineer of faulty ignition switches that first appeared in the 2003 Saturn Ion — who in a 2013 deposition admitted he had little experience with ignition switches when assuming responsibility in’99 — also approved changes to those parts that started going into 2007 cars.
- CEO Barra testimony: Today’s GM ‘will do the right thing’ – DetN: Washington — The night before General Motors Co. CEO Mary Barra goes before Congress, she apologized in private to the families of the 13 people the Detroit automaker says were killed in crashes linked to faulty ignition switches in since-recalled cars.
- Barra set to testify as woes deepen – DetN: House Democrats want General Motors CEO Mary Barra to explain why the automaker approved production of an ignition switch in hundreds of thousands of now-recalled cars that in February 2002 repeatedly failed to meet GM’s specifications.
- GM CEO Barra meets with accident victims’ family members, apologizes – DetN: General Motors Co. CEO Mary Barra met Monday evening with about 25 family members of victims who have lost loved ones in accidents tied to GM’s recall of nearly 2.59 million vehicles with faulty ignition switches in what was described as an emotional meeting.
- GM faces questions on deadly ignition-switch defect as families mourn lives lost – Washington Post: Sarah Trautwein, 19, lost control of her blue 2005 Chevrolet Cobalt on Interstate 95 near Charleston, S.C. as she headed home from visiting friends in June 2009. Her car began to run off the road, authorities said, causing her to overcorrect and hit a tree in the highway median. She died instantly.
- U.S. congressional probe heats up as GM expands recalls – Reuters: A U.S. congressional probe is focusing on why General Motors Co employees repeatedly approved substandard ignition switches linked to at least 13 fatalities, as the automaker on Monday announced another major recall, this time related to power steering issues.
- Simmons Law Firm Investigates Legal Rights of General Motors Co. Vehicle Owners in Illinois, Missouri – Wards
- Thomas J. Henry Injury Attorneys Asks for Public’s Help in National GM Recall Investigation – Wards: Thomas J. Henry Injury Attorneys, a personal injury firm handling numerous GM recall injury and death cases, is asking for the public’s help in their nationwide GM Recall investigation.
There still are other news:
- Toyota joins European car companies’ R&D club – Just-auto: The European Council for Automotive R&D (EUCAR), representing the major European automotive manufacturers in their common research activities, has confirmed Toyota Motor Europe as a new member as from 1st April 2014.
- UK: Aston Martin talking to Mercedes-Benz about SUV – FT – Just-auto: A report in the Financial Times newspaper says that Aston Martin is in discussion with Mercedes-Benz over technical assistance for the development of an Aston Martin SUV.
- Top-end Jaguar XE confirmed with F-Type’s V6 engine – Indian Autos Blog: The Jaguar XE will go on sale next year and will be the most affordable Jag money can buy. Pitched as a rival to the BMW 3 Series, the XE will be based on a brand new aluminum platform called iQ.
- Overview of incentives for buying electric vehicles – ACEA: Incentives for electrically-chargeable vehicles are now applied in all western European countries. The incentives mainly consist of tax reductions.
- Overview of CO2-based motor vehicle taxes in the EU – ACEA: CO2 taxation is now well established across the European Union. 19 EU member states currently apply some form of CO2 tax.
- Subaru befriends police, Ford talks manure – Automotive News: Even cops love Subaru. Or at least that’s what the automaker’s latest viral hit would like you to think.
- UAW to rule ‘within week’ on 25% dues increase – DetN: A top United Auto Workers official says the union will make a final decision on whether to pursue a 25-percent dues hike ‘within weeks.’
- U.S. to require rear cameras in all vehicles by 2018 – DetN: The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration on Monday finalized long-delayed rules that will require automakers to install back-up cameras in all vehicles by May 2018.
- Tavares now chairman of PSA managing board – Just-auto: Carlos Tavares has been appointed chairman of the Peugeot SA managing board, effective 31 March 2014, as announced on 19 February.
- All New Vehicles Must have Backup Cameras by 2018 – thedetroitbureau.com: On the heels of a recent study showing backup cameras save lives, the U.S. Department of Transportation laid out the standards requiring automakers to have cameras on all new vehicles by 2018.
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