This time last year, we were under the impression that General Motors’ first attempt at an autonomous vehicle would come without pedals, a steering wheel, or any other controls traditionally associated with driving. Cruise Automation, the GM subsidiary tasked with developing the vehicle, seemed confident it could deliver something that didn’t need to rely on human intervention to be truly safe. This promise was reiterated by GM in January of 2018 via a request to produce the car sans controls though federal exemption.

U.S. laws governing what constitutes a safe automobile were written before autonomous vehicles entered development, creating problems. It wasn’t evident to anyone that GM could legally manufacture a vehicle that lacked traditional controls, as existing laws stipulated that all automobiles had to have them. While the Department of Transportation has proven rather lenient on policing AVs in terms of testing, rewriting the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards or providing exemptions was a bridge too far — especially when self-driving tech is new, frequently misunderstood, and backed heavily by corporate interests. The existing guidelines remain unchanged and new legislation pertaining to self-driving vehicles has stalled in Congress.

Apparently sick of waiting, General Motors now appears satisfied to just build AVs with manual controls. Read More >

The automotive industry is in turmoil. There’s an industrywide push toward electrification that has yet to prove itself as truly profitable, volume seems to be tapering off in the developed world, and emissions regulations aimed at improving air quality are operating counter to existing consumer tastes. As a result, automakers are scrambling to find the best path forward.

In 2017, that path involved encouraging the new U.S. president to roll back Obama-era fuel economy mandates, thus providing some breathing room and staving off fines as automakers began to realize they wouldn’t be able to meet tightening targets. The administration listened, leading to a proposal that would effectively freeze mileage standards at about 37 miles per gallon — rather than the previously decided 54.5 mpg — by 2025.

However, California and a coalition of supportive states claim they won’t be going along for the ride. This group says it will maintain the old standards, regardless of what the White House says. The staredown has automakers worried; they’ve now banded together to issue a letter asking both sides to calm down and keep talking.  Read More >

It’s a bad week for owners of current- and older-gen Ram pickups, assuming they’re safety conscious and have busy summer schedules. Fiat Chrysler Automobiles launched two recalls this week targeting its full-size trucks; the latest being a voluntary callback of nearly 343,000 2019 and 2020 Ram 1500s over a software glitch that could disable airbags and seat belt pretensioners.

Then there’s the voluntary recall of old-gen Ram 1500s from the 2018 and 2019 model years (Ram “Classic” for 2019) that could drop their driveshaft while driving. Read More >

1. After our most recent Rare Rides post, your author perused The Big List of BDB Ideas and discovered a suggestion commenter Sgeffe made many moons ago. He suggested the most basic coupe A-bodies on offer in 1979. Feeling cheap? Let’s get weird.

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TTAC Commentator 1500cc writes:

Hi Sajeev,

I have an odd problem with the brakes on my 2014 Cadillac ATS 2.0 AWD. It has 35k miles on the clock and the Brembo brakes up front. It started happening last spring: when I’d apply the brakes I’d feel (more so than hear) a grinding or gritty feeling through the brake pedal. The odd part was that the brakes were nice and smooth when cold, and only started to act up after I drove a little bit and the brakes warmed up. Also, it only seemed to do this in the final few feet of a stop, say from 10 mph down to zero (or maybe I just couldn’t detect it at higher speeds). The grinding was proportionate to how hard I pressed on the pedal, but pulsed a bit with the rotation of the wheels as if the rotors were warped.

So the first thing I did was pull the front wheels (for some reason it felt like it was coming from the front) and while the rotors were good and rusty, there was lots of meat left on both the rotors and pads. But just to be sure, I installed new front rotors and pads (a shop said the rotors were too gnarly to turn). Didn’t help. Okay, let’s look at the rears, then. They actually were worn to the point of needing replacement, so on went new pads and rotors there, too. But the problem is unchanged, including the pulsing sensation.

Searching the internet, I’ve seen a few forum threads with pretty much the exact symptoms (fine when cold, grindy/gritty when warm) on everything from Explorers to pickups to Porsches. Unfortunately I couldn’t find one thread that actually had the answer. There were some left-field suggestions like an overfilled master cylinder (I took an ounce or so out of mine just to be sure), but nothing fixed it. What could it be? Read More >

There was a time when the only thing cushioning your head from a direct impact with the steering wheel in the event of a crash was the skin it was wrapped in. Since then, airbags have proliferated, breeding inside millions of cars to a point where they now explode down from the headliner.

Considering automotive safety pretty much only moves in one direction, this was bound to happen. There may come a day when airbags are no longer limited to the interior of cars.

ZF Group, best known for its transmissions, is currently testing a “pre-crash external side airbag system” that it considers to be the world’s first. Having debuted a prototype in 2016, ZF is now conducting live demonstrations where an inflatable barrier bursts forth from the rocker panel to provide additional cushioning for side impacts.  Read More >

From time to time, TTAC will highlight automotive products we think may be of interest to our community. Plus, posts like this help to keep the lights on around here. Learn more about how this works.

Listen up, ungrateful youngsters — dear old Dad has a special day coming up and you need to remember to get something for him. He’s brought you to hockey practice, bailed you out of the drunk tank, and deftly handled the gruff owner of a taxi company into one of whose cars you reversed into at 1:00 am the previous night. That last one was a suspiciously specific example. Anyway.

We’ve pawed through Amazon and found a few items that he’ll actually want, which means there will be no pen holders shaped like Mount Rushmore or loudly patterned ties on this list. Also, I’m a Dad myself, so I know what to look for. Now, get to reading this list before I count to 10 and turn this car around for good. Don’t make me come back there.

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There are a number of things holding up the electric revolution, but one of the biggest obstacles is the high sticker price of battery-powered vehicles compared to internal combustion rivals. General Motors recognizes this wants to reassure potential customers that this won’t be the case forever. On Wednesday, GM President Mark Reuss told the UBS Global Industrials and Transportation Conference that his company will deliver “very average transaction prices” for battery driven vehicles sooner than anticipated.

Many analysts fingered 2025 as the first year we could realistically expect electric cars to fall in line with their ICE counterparts in terms of price. But those earlier predictions are now under fire from world events — notably, uncertainty surrounding the world’s ability to mine the necessary materials at scale, plus a trade war involving one of the world’s largest battery producers. Read More >

Thursday night’s falling apart of the proposed Fiat Chrysler-Renault merger was a setback for FCA, but the automaker wants everyone to know it remains on the hunt for a willing partner. Essentially, nothing’s changed from the days when former CEO Sergio Marchionne made eyes at the likes of General Motors and Volkswagen, only to receive the cold shoulder.

Sure, it didn’t work out with the French, Chairman John Elkann wrote to FCA employees, but that doesn’t mean FCA won’t soon find a date for the dance. Read More >

Hearing the Cutlass name inspires visions of 442, of color-key rally wheels, or perhaps thoughts of tacky aftermarket ruination and glittery paint.

This grey fastback sedan doesn’t often come to mind, but perhaps it should. Presenting the 1978 Oldsmobile Cutlass Salon. Likely, Olds called it Salon because you can fit big hair into it.

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This is what handing 16.8 percent of your company’s ownership to another automaker gets you. Just days after BMW and Jaguar Land Rover announced an electric powertrain agreement, Subaru and Toyota claim a new, shared electric vehicle platform is on the way, as well as a jointly developed crossover.

The effort will mean Subaru — a brand with only a single (Toyota-assisted) plug-in hybrid on the market — will finally have the means to enter the growing EV field. Read More >

China has fined Ford Motor Company’s main joint venture in the country, Changan Ford Automobile Co., over antitrust violations. However, the more likely scenario is that the People’s Republic is trying to flex some muscle after the Trump administration declared a ban on doing business with Huawei, the world’s largest telecommunications provider, on national security grounds.

The oversimplified gist of the situation is that America doesn’t trust a telecom firm with direct ties to the Chinese Communist Party that could easily be tapped by the Chinese government for espionage. Several countries banned Huawei equipment earlier this year after the U.S. Justice Department unsealed a raft of indictments, included 23 counts pertaining to the alleged theft of intellectual property, obstruction of justice, and fraud relating to sanctions against Iran.  Read More >

As Ford Motor Company attempts to turn around its money-losing overseas business, its manufacturing footprint — and workforce — continues to shrink. In the UK, the automaker plans to end operations at its Bridgend, Wales engine plant by September 2020, citing “significant underutilisation” of the facility.

The Bridgend plant builds Ford’s 1.5-liter EcoBoost four-cylinder and unfamiliar-to-Americans 1.5-liter three-pot, but demand is drying up. Read More >

Following a whirlwind 10-day courtship, Fiat Chrysler withdrew its marriage proposal to Groupe Renault on Wednesday night, citing irreconcilable differences.

FCA blames France.

The proposed 50:50 merger with the French automaker, floated on Memorial Day, was snatched off the table following an FCA board meeting, the automaker stated in a release, adding that it had “become clear that the political conditions in France do not currently exist for such a combination to proceed successfully.” Read More >

There’s drama in Auburn Hills tonight. And, by the sounds of it, for many days leading up to this point. Reid Bigland, Fiat Chrysler’s U.S. sales boss and the appropriately imposing head of the cash-cow Ram brand, has filed a whistleblower lawsuit against his employer.

Bigland, who joined Chrysler in 2006 and soon found himself heading up Maserati, Alfa Romeo, and Dodge, plus serving as CEO of FCA Canada (a role he maintains), claims the company’s HQ is awash in bad blood. The exec says he’s being punished for not taking the fall in a federal investigation into FCA’s sales reporting. Read More >