USA RECALL #12 - Sun Visor May Detach During Air Bag Deployment on Dodge and Chrysler models

RECALL Subject : Sun Visor May Detach During Air Bag Deployment

Report Receipt Date: JUN 03, 2016 

NHTSA Campaign Number: 16V401000 

Component(s): AIR BAGS 

Potential Number of Units Affected: 139 

Manufacturer: Mitsubishi Motors North America, Inc.

SUMMARY:

Mitsubishi Motors North America, Inc. (MMNA) is recalling certain model year 2001-2002 Chrysler Sebring and Dodge Stratus vehicles, equipped with beige interiors. The affected vehicles were previously repaired for a recall issue using an incorrect part. The incorrect part may not prevent the passenger side sun visor from detaching if the passenger frontal air bag deploys and the passenger side sun visor is folded down in a certain position.

CONSEQUENCE:

If the passenger side sun visor detaches and is propelled rearward, there is an increased risk of occupant injury.

REMEDY:

Chrysler will notify the affected owners. Dealers will install the correct tether strap to retain the passenger sun visor, free of charge. The manufacturer has not yet provided a notification schedule. Owners may contact Chrysler customer service at 1-800-853-1403.

NOTES:

Owners may also contact the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Vehicle Safety Hotline at 1-888-327-4236 (TTY 1-800-424-9153), or go to www.safercar.gov.

Maserati nears culmination of centennial celebration with an international gathering.

Three-day drive from Modena to Turin celebrates Maserati’s first Centenary and starts with a prologue in Bologna, by the Fountain of Neptune that inspired the Maserati Trident Badge.

The most eagerly anticipated Maserati event in a year of celebrations is just days away. The unique Maserati Centennial International Gathering marks the culmination of the company’s official Centenary celebrations.

After the prologue in Bologna on Wednesday, 17 September the event will officially start in Modena on Thursday, 18 and conclude in Turin on Saturday 20 September. The three-day event includes an exciting combination of exhibitions and parades, a regularity competition, track practice session, guided tours of the two Maserati factories and a Concours d’Elegance, with cars and collectors from all over the world taking part.

More than 200 Maseratis of all periods, both classic and modern, will be the stars of an unforgettable celebration as they parade through Italian towns along the route. A full complement of road models from the Trident marque’s history will take part including the A6GCS/53, 3500 GT, 5000 GT, Sebring, Mistral, Mexico, examples of the original Ghibli and, Quattroporte, Bora, Indy and Khamsin. The stunning Boomerang prototype will also be in attendance, along with cars from the current model range.

The Gathering will feature cars from across the globe. Current Maserati owners will come from  the United States, China, Korea, Russia, the Arab Emirates and Azerbaijan. When it comes to classic cars, there will be representatives from countries as far afield as Australia and, closer to home, Norway, Sweden, Great Britain, France, Germany and Greece, highlighting the international affection for the Maserati brand.

Among the cars participating in the International Centennial Gathering, are vehicles forming a special convoy of Maseratis from China.  After a month-long tour that began in Beijing in mid-August, crossed the whole of Asia, entered Russia at Ekaterinburg, touched Moscow and passed through Minsk, Warsaw, Prague and Munich, the convoy will arrive in Milan on Sunday and then travel on to Modena.

Wednesday, 17 September

The prologue of the Centennial Gathering on Wednesday, 17 September, in Bologna offers participants the chance to visit Maserati’s first premises at Via de’ Pepoli, where Alfieri, Ettore and Ernesto Maserati opened their first workshop. It is a stone’s throw from Piazza del Nettuno, where they will have a photo-opportunity with their cars by the statue of the god of the seas that inspired the famous choice of badge – the Trident, in red white and blue, the Bologna colours, that went on to become unmistakable on the international motorsports scene. The inspiration to use the iconic emblem came to the only brother not involved in the engineering business, Mario, who was a painter by profession.

Thursday, 18 September

On Thursday the world’s finest Maseratis will officially start the International Gathering by meeting in the centre of Modena, in Piazza Grande, Piazza Mazzini and Via Emilia, before parading in the late afternoon to the factory on Viale Ciro Menotti. It still occupies the historic red brick complex the company moved to in 1939 after the take-over by the Orsi family in 1937, a move made on the understanding that the Maserati brothers would continue to work there for another 10 years.

At the historic headquarters, which for the last decade has also included a modern office building and a futuristic showroom, event participants will take part in a very unusual dinner in the striking setting of the production lines that manufacture Maserati GranTurismo and GranCabrio and Alfa Romeo 4C. This represents a unique opportunity for participants to dine in the surroundings of a state-of-the-art production facility, which also works in harmony with the manual skills of Maserati’s highly specialised workforce.

The dinner, during which tenors of the Luciano Pavarotti Foundation will perform, will offer a unique sensory experience, where the senses of sight, taste and hearing will combine to provide an unforgettable event. It is well known that the bond between the great Modena-born tenor and Maserati was always very strong.

Before this, in the afternoon, participants will visit the outstanding “MASERATI 100 – A Century of Pure Italian Luxury Sports Cars,” exhibition which retraces the brand’s history with some of the most important cars from its past. Housed in the futuristic Museo Casa Enzo Ferrari, a few metres from Viale Ciro Menotti, the exhibition will remain open to the public until January 2015. In terms of the historic value of the items on show, this is the biggest international exhibition of Maserati cars ever held and is an opportunity not to be missed for participants in the exclusive Centennial Gathering.

Friday, 19 September

The destination of the gathering’s second stage is linked to the creation of a racing car that was to set a world speed record. On Friday morning participants will drive towards Turin with a break at the San Martino del Lago circuit near Cremona, where the track practice sessions and regularity competition will take place. This is certain to bring out the racing spirit found in every Maserati’s genes, while their familiar comfort will come to the fore during the journey itself.

This leg of the journey pays homage to Baconin Borzacchini and his 16-cylinder Maserati V4, in which the Italian driver set the world record for the flying 10 kilometres, at an average speed of 246.069 km/h, on 28 September 1929 in Cremona. The record was set on a partially unpaved section of straight normal road temporarily closed to the meagre traffic of the time. It is now part of the ordinary road network and open to traffic so Gathering participants will actually get the chance to drive along the route used to set the original record.

Once the activities on the track have been completed, the procession of fine Maseratis will provide a beauty pageant along the streets of Cremona before setting off for Turin, home of the “Avv. Giovanni Agnelli” plant at Grugliasco that produces the new Quattroporte and Ghibli models.

In Turin, the Maseratis will be parked on show in Piazza Castello. In the evening, a gala dinner will be held in the splendid, majestic setting of the Reggia di Venaria palace: a real event within the event!

Saturday, 20 September

The third and final act of the Centennial Gathering will take place on Saturday 20 September; in the morning, the final section of the regularity competition will be held on the climb to the Basilica of Superga. This will be followed by a guided tour of the Grugliasco plant.

The concluding stage of the event, the Concours d’Elegance, will be held in the afternoon. The cars, divided into 10 classes on the basis of year of construction and type, will be showcased in Piazza San Carlo, in the real heart of Turin.

The Concours and regularity competition awards ceremony will mark the event’s farewell to the large number of fans who are certain to attend. Amongst the prizes, some of which will be kept secret until the time of presentation, Maserati has chosen to reward winners with two “Master Maserati” driving courses and an exclusive “Master Italian Lifestyle Experience.”

Aston Martin celebrates a decade of racing success.

This year Aston Martin Racing celebrates ten years as Aston Martin’s modern motorsport division and looks proudly back at a decade of success that boasts Le Mans class-wins and victories at the highest level of sportscar racing around the world.

From the Le Mans-class winning DBR9, which was announced in November 2004, through the brand’s successful venture into prototype racing with the DBR1-2, to the current Vantage-based GTs which are contesting this year’s FIA World Endurance Championship and Nürburgring 24 Hours, the team has played an important role in defining the most recent decade in Aston Martin’s illustrious 101-year history.

David Richards, Aston Martin Racing Chairman, said: “Aston Martin Racing was established to reinforce the motorsport DNA of our products by racing production based GT cars at the highest level of the sport and support our customer teams around the world.”

“Many will remember the David Brown era of Aston Martin and that famous win at Le Mans in 1959. Whilst the intervening years have seen a wide variety of Aston Martins taking part in races it was the introduction of the DB9 in 2004 that gave us the opportunity to return to GT racing at a time when the sport was experiencing a major resurgence.”

In 2004, GT racing was on the rise and sports car manufacturers were looking at which of their road cars could succeed on-track. The newly-launched Aston Martin DB9, with its technically advanced, lightweight VH architecture and powerful 6.0-litre V12 engine made it ideally suited to the GT1 regulations of the time.

The DBR9, based on the iconic DB9 sports car, proved to be extremely successful.  After winning the GT1-class in its competitive debut at the 2005 12 Hours of Sebring, it came third in the world-famous 24 Hours of Le Mans three months later. In its second year at Le Mans it took a step further up the podium and in 2007 and 2008 it took the GT1 class-win.

With GT success to its name, Aston Martin Racing set its sights on repeating its 1959 success and winning Le Mans outright. To do this, it needed to design an LMP1 prototype car.

The result was the DBR1-2 and the team’s move into LMP1 racing exceeded all expectations by finishing an excellent fourth overall in 2009. However, in 2012, the team decided to return to its Aston Martin’s racing heritage and race cars based on its road cars.

“From a marketing point of view, there is a much stronger link between GT racing and our product range,” explains Head of Motorsport at Aston Martin David King. “The Vantage was the obvious choice; it was designed to offer optimum performance, handling and comfort on the road so it was ideal for developing into a GT car.”

On the Vantage chassis Aston Martin Racing developed a highly-successful GT4, a championship-winning GT3 and the FIA World Endurance Championship race-winning GTE.

“The WEC forms the centrepiece of our motorsport campaign,” comments John Gaw, Team Principal at Aston Martin Racing. “The Vantage GTE, our WEC competitor, has been extremely successful. “Of the last twelve WEC six-hour races, a Vantage GTE has been on the podium every time with a class win at six of last year’s seven races.”  

The GT3, launched in 2012, has also played a key role in Aston Martin’s motorsport achievements in recent years. As well as customer successes including winning the British GT Championship, the car has taken the brand’s Nürburgring assault to a higher level.

In 2013, the second year of a five-year plan, Aston Martin Racing’s works Vantage GT3 led the Nürburgring 24 Hours for ten hours before a night of heavy rain halted running and disrupted the race. This year, the team will return with the GT3 to race alongside Aston Martin’s Test Centre cars which will, this year, include a close-to-road-specification Vantage.

“GT racing is very much the future of Aston Martin Racing,” comments Gaw. “We now have our race cars running on every Continent in some of the world’s most competitive sportscar races and championships with some of the top GT drivers behind the wheel.”

Aston Martin Racing will contest the 2014 WEC with four Gulf-liveried Vantage GTEs, plus a six-car entry at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. It will also enter its Bilstein-liveried Vantage GT3 into the ADAC Nürburgring 24 Hours.

CHRYSLER RECALL #1 - Active head restraint function

Chrysler Group LLC will recall approximately 490,000 cars and utility vehicles worldwide to address active head-restraint function.

Active head restraints are designed to mitigate neck injuries by automatically moving forward during certain rear-impact collisions. Potentially faulty microcontrollers in some vehicles may prevent the systems from functioning properly.

Chrysler Group is unaware of any related injuries or accidents. Airbags and shoulder-restraint systems are not affected.

The potentially faulty microcontrollers were installed in a supplied component. They entered the supply chain after the 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan caused a worldwide microcontroller shortage.

Chrysler Group will replace the component or upgrade system software as needed, at no cost to its customers.
Affected are the 2011-2013 Chrysler Sebring, 200 and Dodge Avenger midsize cars; 2011-2013 Jeep Liberty SUVs and 2011-2012 Dodge Nitro SUVs.

The campaign involves approximately 442,000 vehicles in the U.S.; 25,000 in Canada; 10,000 in Mexico; and 12,000 outside the NAFTA region.

Chrysler Group will notify affected customers. Questions or concerns can be addressed by calling 1-800-853-1403.

AUDI SPORTS CARS SELECTED AS LE MANS ICONS

The Audi R10 TDI and the Audi R18 e-tron quattro have gone down in Le Mans history. Now they have been selected to join the illustrious circle of the ten most iconic Le Mans sports cars of all time by a panel of expert judges and the fans.

On the occasion of the 90th anniversary of the Le Mans 24 Hours on June 22/23, 2013, the Automobile Club de l’Ouest (ACO) had run a poll to select the Le Mans icons. More than 20,000 fans cast their votes online. The final decision was made by a twelve-member panel of expert judges including FIA President Jean Todt and ACO President Pierre Fillon in Paris on Friday. They selected the ten race cars that most decisively shaped Le Mans history in their respective decades.

Two of the ten Le Mans icons come from Ingolstadt. The Audi R10 TDI, in 2006 the first Le Mans winning car with a diesel engine, was voted the most legendary Le Mans sports car of the past decade. The Audi R18 e-tron quattro, in 2012 the first Le Mans winning car with hybrid drive, is the most important present-day Le Mans sports car.

Dumfries-born Allan McNish claimed the R10 TDI's first pole-position on its race debut in the 2006 Sebring 12 Hours with McNish, Tom Kristensen and Dindo Capello going on to win the race and achieve a first-ever victory for a diesel-engined sportscar in an international endurance sportscar race. In total, McNish scored 11 wins in the R10 TDI including his last Le Mans 24 Hour race victory in 2008. McNish also netted the first "pole" for the R18 e-tron quattro (2012 Spa 6 Hours).

"These two accolades fill us with great pride," said Wolfgang Dürheimer, Member of the Board of Management for Technical Development of AUDI AG when the results were announced in Paris. "Audi uses the Le Mans 24 Hours to demonstrate its technical expertise and to test new technologies on the race track. The R10 TDI and the R18 e-tron quattro are two particularly good examples of ‘Vorsprung durch Technik.’"

Three days earlier, also in Paris, Head of Audi Motorsport Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich had accepted another award. An expert judging panel of the Festival Automobile International recognised the Le Mans winning Audi R18 e-tron quattro with the "Grand Prix de l’Environnement”. Through the intelligent combination of a compact V6 TDI engine and a hybrid system Audi Sport managed to reduce fuel consumption by ten percent compared to the year before.

In the 2013 season, Audi is competing with the updated hybrid sports car in the FIA World Endurance Championship and at the Le Mans 24 Hours.