auto news

  • Uber driver kills 6 people, claims he was being mind controlled by the Uber app

    <p>Yes, it's time for another edition of the worst Uber drivers ever. Previous editions have included <a href="https://bgr.com/2015/01/18/worst-uber-drivers-ever/">an Uber driver who crashed into a cop car</a> and then got busted with pot in his glove compartment, and <a href="https://bgr.com/2016/01/15/worst-uber-drivers-ever-2/">an Uber driver who left a pregnant woman stranded</a> while nonetheless charging her $13. The latest Uber driver fiasco is no laughing matter, however: It involves a driver who allegedly shot and killed six people and claimed that his own phone's Uber app was mind controlling him. FROM EARLIER: <a class="hu" href="https://bgr.com/2016/03/15/amazon-tips-how-to-see-total-lifetime-spending/">How to see exactly how much money you’ve spent at Amazon in your life</a> <a href="http://wwmt.com/news/local/sheriffs-dept-reveals-dozens-of-pages-of-documents-related-to-kalamazoo-shooting">WWMT.com</a><a href="http://wwmt.com/news/local/sheriffs-dept-reveals-dozens-of-pages-of-documents-related-to-kalamazoo-shooting"> reports</a> that former Uber driver Jason Dalton has been charged with going on a shooting spree</p>

  • State Revokes Anti-Muslim License Plate “FMUSLMS”

    How, exactly, a license plate reading “FMUSLMS” made it through the Department of Public Safety’s screening process and onto the road is a question many Minnesota residents are asking. But it did.

  • Zika Virus Hits Tata Motors, Causes Company To Rename Newest Car

    The Zika virus is becoming an increasingly big deal, and the World Health Organization has announced that its rapid spread across the Americas qualifies it as a global health emergency. In lieu of this information, India’s Tata Motors—the group that owns Jaguar Land Rover—has decided to rename its upcoming “Zica” hatchback, due to the name’s similarities. When it is officially revealed tomorrow at New Delhi’s Auto Expo 2016, the nameplate on the car will still read Zica.

  • Corroded Engine Blocks Lead GM To Escape Flint’s Tainted Water

    Many of Flint, Michigan’s 100,000 residents are dealing with water polluted by lead. The issue began in April 2014, when—in an effort to save money—the city switched from metro Detroit’s water to water piped in from the Flint River. A new report by Automotive News, however, describes how General Motors’ engine plant in Flint noticed the problem right away and switched water sources in Dec. 2014—after many of its engine blocks had already been corroded.

  • It’s Obama’s Auto Industry—But Not For Much Longer

    President Barack Obama took to the Detroit auto show today for a victory lap around the industry his administration saved — but that might not reflect his influence for long.

  • Fiat Chrysler Accused Of Faking Sales By Angry Dealer

    An explosive racketeering lawsuit by a car-dealer chain accuses Fiat Chrysler of paying dealers to fake new-vehicle sales—accusations which roiled stock markets overseas and brought a rapid rebuttal from the automaker.

  • U.S. auto sales in 2015 set record after strong December

    Automakers on Tuesday set a new U.S. sales record for 2015 even as December sales fell short of expectations, and most forecasters said sales should rise to another record this year. For full year 2015, U.S. sales hit a record of 17.47 million vehicles, breaking the mark of 17.41 million vehicles in 2000, according to Autodata Corp. Low gasoline prices, easy credit and moderate economic growth boosted the industry. WardsAuto, which provides data used by the U.S. government for economic analysis, said 2015 sales set a record at 17.39 million vehicles sold, breaking the 2000 mark of 17.35 million.

  • BMW hit with $40 million U.S. penalty for safety lapses

    U.S. auto safety regulators on Monday fined BMW $10 million, part of a $40 million civil settlement over the German automaker's safety lapses. The fine is the second paid by BMW since 2012 and the latest in a series of civil penalties imposed on major automakers.

  • VW creates U.S. diesel emissions claims program

    Volkswagen of America said on Thursday it is creating an independent claims program for the owners of nearly 600,000 diesel vehicles that emit up to 40 times legally allowable emissions. The German automaker said it is naming compensation expert Ken Feinberg, who administered compensation funds for the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill and General Motors ignition switch crashes, to create and administer the program. VW has acknowledged that 482,000 2.0 liter 2009-2015 diesel cars and 85,000 3.0 liter SUVs and larger cars have higher-than-allowed emissions and faces more than 500 lawsuits and a U.S. Justice Department investigation.

  • Volkswagen chief appoints new top management team

    Volkswagen's chief executive Matthias Mueller named his new management team on Thursday, including the replacement for the group's research and development chief who left earlier this month as a result of the diesel emissions scandal. "These structural changes speed up the decision-making process, reduce complexity and increase efficiency," Mueller said in a statement.

  • GM CEO Mary Barra 'Missed’ Importance Of Being A Woman

    As General Motors chief executive Mary Barra comes up on her two-year anniversary leading the company, she said one of the biggest things she’s learned is how important it is to other people that she’s a woman.

  • VW says only small group to blame for emissions scandal

    Volkswagen <VOWG_p.DE> said on Thursday only a small group of employees was responsible for cheating U.S. diesel emissions tests and there was no indication board members were involved in the biggest business crisis in the carmaker's history. Chairman Hans Dieter Poetsch said investigations into the affair were going well, but the scandal was the result of a "chain of errors" and it would still take months to say which individuals were to blame. VW admitted in September it had cheated U.S. emissions tests and installed software capable of deceiving regulators on up to 11 million diesel vehicles worldwide, news that wiped billions of euros off its market value and forced out its long-time CEO.

  • What oil's plunge means for gasoline prices

    Since oil prices declined to nearly seven-year lows, we take a look at how this drop will affect what consumers pay at the pump.

  • Old-Car Replicas Get New Life Thanks To Congress

    Fans of old cars and new engineering, rejoice: Your favorite old model may be coming back into production soon, thanks to a little-noticed provision in a new federal highway bill.

  • UAW wins historic victory in U.S. South with vote at VW plant

    The United Auto Workers union won its first organizing vote at a foreign-owned auto assembly plant in the U.S. South on Friday, in a groundbreaking victory after decades of failed attempts. About 71 percent of skilled trades workers who cast ballots at Volkswagen AG's <VOWG_p.DE> factory in Chattanooga, Tennessee voted to join the UAW, according to the company and the union. If the UAW victory, as expected, survives an appeal by Volkswagen to the National Labor Relations Board, the 164 skilled trades workers will be the first foreign-owned auto assembly plant workers to gain collective bargaining rights in the southern United States.

  • Feds Push More Ethanol Into Gasoline, But Can Your Car Take It?

    On Monday, federal regulators set out new targets for how much ethanol should be mixed into gasoline through 2016—and the goals are aggressive enough to push the emergence of fuels that many automakers don’t approve of in their new vehicles.

  • Charlie Sheen’s Saucy Fiat Video Canned After HIV News

    Despite generating plenty of buzz with an earlier commercial for the Italian brand, Fiat has decided to put in the “drawer” a commercial it was putting together for the new Fiat 124 Spider that featured legendary Hollywood “bad boy” Charlie Sheen. A still-incomplete video featuring Sheen driving wildly in the new roadster was played for several dozen reporters during a sneak preview of the new Fiat 124 Spider at parent Fiat Chrysler’s headquarters in Auburn Hills, Michigan on November 3rd.

  • California’s Red Tape Slows Google’s Self-Driving Roll

    Hustling to bring cars that drive themselves to a road near you, Google finds itself somewhere that has frustrated many before: Waiting on the Department of Motor Vehicles. Before granting that permission, California regulators want Google to prove these cars of the future already drive as safely as people. The Department of Motor Vehicles was supposed to write precedent-setting rules of the road by last Jan. 1. Google says no on both.

  • Volkswagen Gives Diesel Owners $1,000 in Gift Cards Ahead of Recall

    In an expensive downpayment for fixing 482,000 diesel engines, Volkswagen announced a package of incentives for current owners, including a $500 gift card, $500 off another VW, and three years of roadside assistance. The package, which owners can begin signing up for today, comes as VW is still working on repairs needed to bring the vehicles with its 2-liter turbo diesel into compliance with federal emission laws. Last month, independent researchers and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency found software in the VW vehicles that spoofed their emissions tests, allowing them to spew up to 40 times the legal limit of dangerous nitrogen oxides in everyday driving. “We are working tirelessly to develop an approved remedy for affected vehicles,” said Michael Horn, president and CEO, Volkswagen Group of America.

  • George Barris, Self-Proclaimed “King Of The Customizers,” Dies At Age 89

    George Barris, perhaps one of the most prolific builders and promoters of show cars, custom cars, and TV and movie cars, died early Thursday morning at his home in Encino, California, at the age of 89. He would want everyone celebrate (sic) the passion he had for life and for what he created for all to enjoy.” Barris, born in Chicago in 1925 as George Salapatas, moved with his older brother Sam to Roseville, California, in the late 1920s after the brothers’ parents died, according to a biography of George on his website. Related: Leadsled Mercurys to take the lawn at Pebble Beach Of the cars the brothers turned out until Sam’s death in 1967, perhaps the most famous and influential was the Hirohata Mercury, a 1951 club coupe that the brothers chopped, nosed, decked, and transformed into a two-door hardtop for Bob Hirohata in 1953.