Audi E-tron GT Concept
Audi unveiled the e-tron GT Concept at this year鈥檚 LA Auto Show. It鈥檚 the offspring of a collaborartion and Porsche, using the same platform and battery pack as the Taycan. Starting with performance, Audi claims an all-electric range of 400 km, although that figure could change in the production car. The e-tron GT Concept can also be charged to 80% of its capacity in just 20 minutes using its 800-volt system for a range just shy of 320 km. The 590 PS dual-motor setup enables it to do the 0-100 km/h sprint in around 3.5 seconds and reach a top speed of 240 km/h. But what is it like to drive? According to Engadget鈥檚 Roberto Baldwin, pretty enjoyable, even at cruising speeds around LA. He did mention that the suspension isn鈥檛 ready for production, though, but other than that, what you see is mostly what you鈥檒l get. The concept car is a total tech fest, boasting touch-sensitive controls throughout the cabin and a surprisingly futuristic steering wheel which will also make it in the final item, according to the reviewer. In fact, the entire vehicle is about 鈥?5% ready to go into production鈥? he added.
鈥?The Times also revealed that employees at a former Takata plant in Georgia let defective airbag inflators pass inspections by manipulating leakage tests and creating new bar codes so the tests couldn鈥檛 be tracked. UPDATE 9/8/2016, 10:30 a.m.: Honda will recall another 668,000 vehicles in Japan to replace potentially defective Takata-supplied passenger-side airbag inflators. Affected cars include Accord, Civic, and Fit models built between 2009 and 2011. According to Reuters, that brings Honda鈥檚 recall total to 51 million Takata airbags. UPDATE 9/9/2016, 9:00 a.m.:BMW announced it will recall some 110,000 cars in Japan to replace potentially defective Takata-supplied airbag inflators. UPDATE 9/19/2016, 11:00 a.m.: General Motors will submit a petition to NHTSA for a one-year deferral of a pending recall of some 980,000 trucks and SUVs equipped with Takata-supplied passenger-side airbag inflators, Automotive News reports. Takata is slated to declare on December 31, 2016, that 鈥渁 large batch鈥?of parts are defective, but GM wants a 365-day deferral to complete a long-term aging research study with aerospace and defense manufacturer Orbital ATK.
UPDATE 9/26/2016, 10:45 a.m.: Takata revealed in a recent report that it neglected to notify NHTSA of a 2003 rupture of one of its airbag inflators in Switzerland, according to Reuters. NHTSA began looking into problems with Takata airbags in 2010, but Takata officials did not mention the Swiss incident to the agency at the time. In the newly released report, Takata said the Swiss incident did not relate to the NHTSA investigation and noted that Takata made production changes shortly after the 2003 incident. Japan-based parent company, 鈥渨as primarily responsible for the development, testing, and production of the inflators at issue in Recall Nos. 15E-040, 15E-041, 15E-042, and 15E-043.鈥?Other recently released Takata documents also revealed that 660 airbag inflators ruptured during testing of 245,000 of the devices, Bloomberg reports. The company continues to reiterate that its airbag inflators are more at risk when they鈥檙e subjected to humid climates and as they age. UPDATE 9/28/2016, 10:00 a.m.: Honda announced today that the driver鈥檚-side airbag of a 2009 Honda City ruptured in a September 24 crash in Johor, Malaysia, in which the driver was killed.
This marks the fourth Malaysian death this year linked to a Takata-supplied airbag that ruptured in a Honda car. Honda said that it has completed replacements of 211,000 Takata front-airbag inflators in Malaysia, which is 54 percent of the total number currently under recall. UPDATE 10/21/2016, 7:30 a.m.: Honda and NHTSA announced that a 50-year-old woman, Delia Robles of Corona, California, died of injuries that resulted from the deployment of a defective Takata airbag in her 2001 Honda Civic. The crash occurred on September 30 in California鈥檚 Riverside County. According to an Associated Press report, the vehicle鈥檚 driver鈥檚-side airbag inflator had been part of a recall since 2008; however, it was never repaired. Automotive News reported that more than 20 recall notices had been mailed to the vehicle鈥檚 registered owners. The deceased woman bought the car at the end of 2015, the AP report said. This is the 11th confirmed death in the United States that has been caused by a defective Takata-supplied airbag in a vehicle, all but one of which were in Honda vehicles. UPDATE 10/26/2016, 5:00 p.m.: Toyota has recalled another 5.8 million vehicles around the world because they might contain defective Takata airbag inflators.