Luxury car firm Bentley is recalling hundreds of vehicles over fears that its “Flying B” hood ornament could impale pedestrians.

The recall affects 620 cars in the U.S. and Canada and a total of 1,436 worldwide, the company told msnbc.com.

It covers the Arnage, Azure and Brooklands models sold between October 2006 and October 2009 for suggested retail prices of $246,999 to $363,000.

The winged B is meant to retract if there is a collision, but the U.K.-based Bentley Motors said it had discovered the mechanism needed to be better protected against rust and corrosion.

It informed the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration which isssued a recall notice in the United States.

Fixed in an hour
Richard Durbin, a spokesman for Bentley, said the B itself was not an issue and would not be removed from the cars.

“If the car is involved in a collision, the B will [normally] automatically retract,” Durbin said.

The problem was “the mechanism which causes that retraction, which in certain cases one can see … wouldn’t retract as quickly as it should,” he added.

“There is a new retraction system, which is better protected against corrosion and rust,” he said. “We have all the customers contact details and we will get back in contact with them. We have built a new mechanism which can be fitted in an hour.”

The problem with the retraction system was spotted by a car sales firm in the U.K. and Durbin said Bentley was unaware of any accidents in which a pedestrian had actually been impaled.

Source (article): MSNBC

Source (picture): CARBODYDESIGN

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

Feb. 5 (Bloomberg) — Ford Motor Co., seeking to raise cash to avoid a federal bailout, is in talks to sell its Volvo Car unit to China’s Geely Automobile Holdings Ltd., according to three people familiar with the discussions.

Ford probably will get less than the $6.4 billion it paid for Sweden-based Volvo in 1999, said one of the people, who declined to be identified because the preliminary talks are confidential. Ford has also approached China’s Chery Automobile Co. and Chongqing Changan Automobile Co., the people said.

Dearborn, Michigan-based Ford lost a record $14.6 billion last year and is trying to avoid asking for government loans to survive as U.S. auto sales plunge to the lowest level in almost 27 years. Geely founder Li Shufu, 45, may want to buy Ford’s last European luxury brand after the addition of sedans to the Chinese automaker’s range of low-cost compacts helped boost profit “significantly” last year.

“Whether it can consummate into a deal is a big question,” said Alice Chong, an analyst at CIMB-GK Securities. Buying Volvo “would help Geely break into new markets and get better technology, but Geely may have to suffer short-term losses as sales in Europe and the U.S. are collapsing.”

Ford spokesman Mark Truby and Geely spokesman Zhang Xiaodong declined to comment. Zhou Qin, a Changan Auto spokesman, did not answer a call to his mobile phone and Chery spokesman Jin Yibo did not answer a call to his office phone.

Geely’s Approach

Geely, China’s largest privately owned carmaker, first approached Ford about buying Volvo a year ago, before the U.S. automaker had decided to sell its Swedish auto unit, two of the people said. Preliminary talks began in December after Ford said it would consider selling the unit.

Geely has received permission from China’s National Development and Reform Commission to study the acquisition, said the people. The government agency must sign off on any major merger and acquisition talks before discussions can begin.

The automaker has already received commitments from Export- Import Bank of China to provide the necessary financing for the acquisition, the people said.

“Chinese automakers want to tap foreign rivals’ resources in technical development,” said Zhang Xin, an analyst at Guotai Junan Securities Co. in Beijing. “To catch up with foreign automakers by themselves takes a lot of both time and capital. Acquisitions could help them.”

Sales documents will be sent to prospective buyers in the middle of February, a person familiar with the plans said last month.

Ford fell 3 cents to $1.92 at 10 a.m. in New York Stock Exchange trading. The shares have fallen 70 percent in the past 12 months.

Volvo’s Struggles

Volvo, based in Gothenburg, Sweden, has struggled as the global auto market declines and other automakers make gains in safety technology, a long-time strength for the automaker. Volvo’s U.S. sales fell 64 percent last year. Ford said Volvo had a pretax loss of $736 million in the fourth quarter.

Volvo, the maker of S80 sedans and C70 coupes, was once central to a failed strategy by Ford to reap a third of its profits from luxury autos. The automaker has been shedding European brands under Chief Executive Officer Alan Mulally, recruited from Boeing Co. in 2006.

Last June, Ford sold Jaguar and Land Rover to India’s Tata Motors Ltd. for $2.4 billion. It sold its Aston Martin luxury line for $931 million in May of 2007 to a group of investors.

Geely’s Goal

Geely Auto’s profit rose last year, helped by sales of new models such as the 1.3-liter Panda. The Hong Kong-listed company also benefited from boosting its stakes in units under a group restructuring, it said in a stock exchange statement today. It didn’t release its actual 2008 results.

Geely Holding Group, based in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, eastern China, was founded two decades ago by Li, a former farmer who amassed a net worth of $220 million, according to Forbes magazine.

The company boosted overseas sales 80 percent last year, it said in December, without giving a precise sales number. In 2007, it sold almost 30,000 vehicles overseas, according to the company’s Web site.

The automaker is expanding outside of China and adding larger models as rising wages and increasing competition from foreign carmakers damp domestic sales of low-cost compacts. Geely Group expects to boost sales 25 percent this year, it said last month.

Geely Auto rose 1.7 percent to 60 HK cents at the close of trading in Hong Kong.

Ford provides engines to some Volvo cars and the two automakers share mechanical underpinnings on several models. Any buyer would have to be assured that Ford will remain healthy enough to provide those key components to Volvo, the people said.

Geely would likely seek to buy Ford’s entire equity stake in Volvo rather than negotiate with the Swedish unit over purchases of specific assets, the people said.

Ford creditors are likely to receive some, or even all, of the proceeds from any sale of Volvo. Ford pledged Volvo as part of the collateral it put up for $23 billion in loans it secured in 2006.

SOURCE: BLOOMBERG.COM