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Nutson's Weekly Automotive News Digest May 30-June 5, 2016- Recalls, Air Bags, Rossi Wins, New Car Sales Down, TDI Fix


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By Larry Nutson
Senior Editor and Bureau Chief
Chicago Bureau
The Auto Channel

AUTO CENTRAL Chicago, June 5, 2016; Every Sunday Larry Nutson, Senior Editor and Chicago Car Guy along with fellow senior editors Steve Purdy and Thom Cannell from The Auto Channel Michigan Bureau, give you TACH's "take" on this past week's automotive news in easy to digest mega-tweet sized nuggets. If you wish to know more just click on the link that will take you to the full story as published here on The Auto Channel.

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The Past Week's Automotive News Highlights In Easy To Digest Chunks
May 30-June 5,2016

* There were fewer footstep in U.S. auto dealers in May. Sales dropped 6% compared to last May, totaling 1.54 million. GM was down 18%, Ford down 6%, Toyota down 10%, Honda down 5%, and Nissan down 1%. FCA was up 1%. Some speculate that production volume is too high and therefore more incentives are needed to move the iron…and aluminum. Average incentives rose a substantial 7.1% to just over $3,000 per vehicle with Subaru offering the least incentives and GM the most. The Seasonally Adjusted Annual Rate (SAAR) increased to 17.71 million, up from 17.42 million for April. A Bloomberg survey of 11 auto industry analysts project that when seasonal trends are considered it is more like 17.4 million.

* The University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute's latest report from Michael Sivak and Brandon Schoettle says the average fuel economy (window-sticker value) of new vehicles sold in the U.S. in May 2016 was 25.4 mpg—up 0.2 mpg from the value for April 2016. This improvement likely reflects the increased price of gasoline in May, and the consequent increased interest in more fuel-efficient vehicles by buyers of all vehicle classes. Fuel economy is down 0.4 mpg from the peak reached in August 2014, but still up 5.3 mpg since October 2007 (the first month of their monitoring).

* In another report from the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute by Michael Sivak and Brandon Schoettle they examined motorists’ preferences among levels of vehicle automation, including preferences for interacting with and overall concern about riding in self-driving vehicles. The main findings are: • The most frequent preference for vehicle automation continues to be for no self-driving capability, followed by partially self-driving vehicles, with completely self-driving vehicles being the least preferred choice. • Concern for riding in self-driving vehicles remains higher for completely self-driving vehicles than for partially self-driving vehicles. • Respondents still overwhelmingly want to be able to manually control completely self-driving vehicles when desired. • Overall public opinion has been remarkably consistent over the two years that this survey has been conducted. The general patterns of responses have not changed over the course of these two surveys, despite the increased media coverage of self-driving vehicles.

* California-based IndyCar rookie, Alexander Rossi, won the 100th running of the epic Indianapolis 500 race. In a risky strategy Rossi, driving in only his second oval track race, was able to minimize fuel consumption at the end of the race to save a pit stop. He actually ran out of fuel on the parade lap. He was only the 10th rookie to win the race. Rossi led only 14 laps during the race where the lead changed an astounding 54 times among 13 drivers. Rossi was driving the No. 98 NAPA Auto Parts/Curb Honda car for Andretti Racing.

* The New York Times, in an editorial, asks: "Wanna Buy a Car With Killer Airbags?" Millions of vehicles with defective Takata airbags have been recalled around the world. It's the largest auto recall in history. This week, several companies recalled an additional four million cars with those airbags, which have been linked to a number of deaths worldwide. Yet even now, four automakers — Fiat Chrysler, Toyota, Volkswagen and Mitsubishi — are selling new cars that contain the faulty airbags, according to a report by the Democrats on the Senate Commerce Committee. And Fiat Chrysler and Toyota have refused to disclose which of their models have the devices.

* A Chinese company, Ningbo Joyson Electronic Corporation is interested in buying the troubled Takata Corporation in spite of the latter’s involvement in the largest recall in automotive parts history, according to Automotive News Europe. Ningbo Joyson recently acquired a Takata competitor. Up to 100 million vehicles are subject to the airbag recalls worldwide with 13 deaths and 100 injuries attributed to the faulty units. Analysts estimate the recall may cost around $24 billion.

* Michigan may be the epicenter of U.S. automotive manufacturing and R&D but state officials want to move beyond that to focus on becoming the leader in “mobility,” which “runs the gamut from defense to our highways to test beds,” said Steve Arwood, CEO of the Michigan Economic Development Corporation speaking at an annual business conference on Mackinac Island this week. The State will initiate "Planet M,” an emphasis on mobility, to reflect Michigan’s leadership in advanced mobility including testing. A new connected and autonomous testing facility is being built at the former Ford Motor Company B-24 plant at Willow Run in Ypsilanti following the state-of-the-art Mcity test facility in nearby Ann Arbor.

* In Europe, Volkswagen now has regulatory permission to begin fixing diesel Passat, CC and Eos cars effected by the emissions cheating scandal. Those represent only about 10% of the cars on the recall list just in Europe. VW has acknowledged cheating on 11 million EA 189, 4-cylinder diesels worldwide. VW officials insist that the fix for these cars will not hurt fuel mileage on these cars. In the U.S., the California Air Resources Board, the Federal government and the company have not come to agreement on fixes.

* Nissan recalled nearly 80,000 Pathfinder SUVs in the U.S. because the brake lights can stay on even when the driver isn’t stopping. The recall covers Pathfinders from 2013 and 2014. The problem relates to a brake light switch that was installed incorrectly.

* And, in last weekend's Monaco Grand Prix Formula 1 race Lewis Hamilton brought the thee-pointed star of Mercedes-Benz back to the P1 spot on the podium. This after his crash in the previous race with teammate Nico Rosberg that took the both out on the first lap.