DETROIT - General Motors Co is recalling 1.3 million compact cars in North America to address a power steering problem that has been linked to 14 crashes and one injury, the company said on Tuesday.

U.S. safety regulators opened an investigation on Jan. 27 into approximately 905,000 Cobalt models in the United States after receiving more than 1,100 complaints of power steering failures.

The recall covers the 2005-2010 model year Chevrolet Cobalt and 2007-2010 Pontiac G5 in the United States; 2005-2006 Pontiac Pursuit sold in Canada, and the 2005-2006 Pontiac G4 sold in Mexico, GM said in a statement.

GM said it told the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration about the voluntary recall on Monday after concluding its own investigation that began in 2009.

GM said the affected vehicle can be still be “safely controlled” but it may require greater steering effort under 15 mph. Drivers will see a warning light and hear a chime if the power steering fails.

“After our in-depth investigation, we found that this is a condition that takes time to develop. It tends to occur in older models out of warranty,” GM Vice President of Quality Jamie Hresko said in the statement.

“Recalling these vehicles is the right thing to do for our customers’ peace of mind,” he said.

GM said it is currently developing a remedy to fix the problem and will notify customers when the plan is finalized.

GM spokesman Alan Adler said Monday it will take time for the automaker to get 1.3 million new power steering motors from the supplier, JTEKT Corp., and GM will notify car owners when the parts are available.

Heightened scrutiny after Toyota recalls
The recall comes at a time of heightened public and regulatory scrutiny over vehicle safety issues in the wake of massive recalls by Toyota Motor Corp.

Toyota global quality control chief Shinichi Sasaki and North American President Yoshimi Inaba are scheduled to appear before a Senate committee on Tuesday for a third hearing on its handling of consumer complaints about sudden acceleration

Source (article): MSNBC

Source (picture): NYTIMES

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — Nissan is recalling 540,000 vehicles worldwide to fix faulty brake pedal pins and inaccurate fuel gauges.

The Japanese automaker’s North American division said no accidents or injuries have been reported, but the company is initiating the recalls based on three reports of brake pedal pins partially disengaging, hindering braking ability.

A separate, unrelated fuel-gauge issue can lead to inaccurate fuel readings in certain trucks and minivans. The gauge may show gas left when the tank is actually empty.

The brake pedal pin recall affects 2008, 2009 and 2010 Nissan Titan, Armada, Quest and Infiniti QX56 models — about 179,000 of which are in the United States. Owners of these vehicles should bring their their vehicles to a Nissan or Infiniti dealership for a visual inspection, the company said. Repairs will be made as necessary.

The fuel gauge recall affects 419,000 U.S. vehicles, including 2005 through 2008 Nissan Titan, Armada and Infiniti QX56 models, as well as Nissan Frontiers, Pathfinders and Xterras produced between January and March 2006 and between October 2007 and January 2008.

Nissan said it will notify owners affected by the fuel gauge recall as to when they should bring their vehicles into a local dealership for repair. In the meantime, the company encourages customers to keep their tanks at least half-full until their vehicle is inspected.

All vehicles currently on sale are free of the two problems, Nissan said.

“We regret any inconveniences that our customers may experience as we take these precautions,” Nissan North America spokesman Kevin Martin said in a statement released Tuesday.

Nissan is the latest automaker to hop on the recall bandwagon.

General Motors earlier on Tuesday announced a recall of 1.3 million Chevrolet and Pontiac models for power steering failures. Honda recalled 952,118 vehicles for problematic airbags in February. And Toyota has recalled millions of vehicles since January for problems related to sudden acceleration, which have been blamed for several accidents resulting in injuries and fatalities.

The bad news comes on the same day reports showed Nissan topped Asian automakers in year-over-year sales increases.

Nissan February sales surged 29% from last year, compared with a 13% increase for Honda and an 11% increase for Hyundai. Recall-plagued Toyota sold 8.7% fewer vehicles than it did a year ago.

Source (article): CNN.COM

Source (picture): LINCAH.COM

Cue dark hall, fluorescent lights, smoke machine and dance music. It must be the Scion press conference.

Scion, Toyota’s youth division, has traditionally introduced most of its concepts and products at the New York auto show. The buzz leading up to the press conference on Wednesday was that Scion would be unveiling a version of the Toyota iQ for the American market. The iQ is a small three-seat subcompact roughly the size of the Smart Fortwo, and meant to appeal to young urbanites.

Last week, spy photos of the car on a transporter in Southern California showed up on the Internet and seemed to verify the speculation. So when Jack Hollis, the vice president of Scion, introduced the concept car with the words “the future of personalized transportation,” there was little surprise.

But it wasn’t just a Toyota iQ rebadged as a Scion that appeared on the stage; it was a bright yellow-green custom concept car, with four flared fenders and 18-inch custom wheels. And it didn’t just appear on stage — the small car descended on a platform from the rafters, softly landing on the stage to enthusiastic applause. “How’s that for a quick download?” Mr. Hollis asked in classic Scion youth-speak.

“It’s small, but fierce,” he said. “If it should join our future line-up, I think it could reach iconic status like our xB because of its polarizing style and accessibility for personal expression.”

Indeed, the iQ is very likely to join Scion’s future lineup.

In regular practice, concept cars are used by automakers to predict future design. In the case of the iQ, Scion started with a stock iQ and built a concept car around it.

“Our job was to take an existing iQ and make a custom car,” said Troy Sumitomo, designer of the car and owner of Five Axis, based in Huntington Beach, Calif.

Mr. Sumitomo stood upstage from the iQ Concept and the scrum of photographers around it. He said that the centerpiece of the interior was the 10-inch pop-up monitor on top of the center console. When the monitor is closed, the image on its screen still projects out of its acrylic casing and casts its image in a spasm of moving colors throughout the cabin — theoretically, at least. With massive spotlights hitting the car, the monitor’s effect was severely diminished.

“Everything is based on the center console,” said Mr. Sumitomo, whose Five Axis is responsible for several past Scion concepts, including the Hako and the t2B concepts. “Because that’s where the driver interface is.”

Mr. Sumitomo said his goal with the interior was to capture a concept car flair. The headliner and seats are made of a wet-suit style material, called Scuba. The color scheme of the dials is new. The normal climate control and stereo controls have been replaced by three aluminum bezels. They don’t function. After all, it’s supposed to be a concept car. But Scion is expected to introduce the car to market — in a much more sedate form — in the not too distant future.

Source (article): NEWYORKTIMES

Sources (picture): NEWYORKTIMES, ICONOCAST