Tag: electronics

GM recalls over 230,000 more Trailblazer-family SUVs over door electronics

Filed under: SUV, Government/Legal, Recalls, Safety, Buick, Chevrolet, GM, GMC, Saab

Back in August, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration announced a recall on the General Motors GMT360 SUVs (Buick Rainier, Chevrolet Trailblazer, GMC Envoy, Isuzu Ascender and Saab 9-7X) ranging from the 2005 to 2007 model years and the 2006 GMT370 SUVs (Chevrolet Trailblazer EXT and GMC Envoy XL) due to potential fires associated with the driver’s door module. Initially limited to 250,000 units sold or registered in 20 Snow Belt states (and the District of Columbia), the recall has now been expanded to include an additional 193,000 of these SUVs in the US and, according to The Detroit News, 40,000 more sold outside the US, including Canada and Mexico.

Like the original recall, the issue is still a faulty driver’s door module that can short out, which could lead to a fire. The Detroit News is reporting that, out of the 443,000 units being recalled, GM says that there were 58 fires that caused 11 minor injuries, and the expanded recall accounted for six fires and one injury. Despite the lower number of fires, the recall notice recommends that owners park their vehicles until the recall repairs has been performed.

On recalled units with functional modules, the repair consists of a protective coating being applied to the module, while vehicles with modules that are not working properly will have the driver’s door module replaced. The official recall notice is posted below, and it includes contact information for customers of all five brands.

Continue reading GM recalls over 230,000 more Trailblazer-family SUVs over door electronics

GM recalls over 230,000 more Trailblazer-family SUVs over door electronics originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 16 Jun 2013 11:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Continue reading “GM recalls over 230,000 more Trailblazer-family SUVs over door electronics”

Report: Renesas Electronics to restart automotive microchip production early

Filed under: Japan, Plants/Manufacturing, Honda, Nissan, Toyota

RenesasJapan’s Renesas Electronics Corp. is moving up the restart date for automotive microchip production at its last inactive plant. The company says it should have operations back up and running at its Naka plant the week of June 15, a couple weeks earlier than its original estimate.

Renesas is the world’s largest supplier of chips for cars, and is a major kink in the parts supply line for Japanese automakers. The Naka plant was damaged in the March earthquake, and will be Renesas’ last facility to resume production.

The plant will operate on a limited schedule at first, building around 3,000 200-millimeter wafers a month, down from a pre-earthquake total of almost 34,000. To compensate, the company has shifted some production burden from Naka to its other manufacturing plants. For now, Renesas is focused on getting any production restarted, but should know by mid-May when it can resume at full capacity. Read the press release after the jump.

[Source: Renesas via Automotive News | Image: Renesas Electronics Corporation]

Continue reading Report: Renesas Electronics to restart automotive microchip production early

Report: Renesas Electronics to restart automotive microchip production early originally appeared on Autoblog on Sat, 23 Apr 2011 14:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Continue reading “Report: Renesas Electronics to restart automotive microchip production early”

Feds find no evidence of faulty electronics in Toyota models

Filed under: Government/Legal, Safety, Toyota

Toyota car emblem with dealer sign

The ongoing saga of unintended acceleration in Toyota vehicles has taken another turn today as Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood released a statement indicating that no evidence of electronic problems in runaway Toyotas has been found.

“The jury is back. The verdict is in. There is no electronic-based cause for unintended high-speed acceleration in Toyotas. Period.” said LaHood in a prepared statement. This finding comes at the end of a 10-month investigation carried out jointly by The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and NASA that was requested by Congress.

Over 280,000 separate lines of code embedded in the electronics of potentially affected Toyota vehicles were examined by NASA, none of which contained any flaws capable of causing runaway acceleration, says the report.

This isn’t to say that the government has found that Toyota is not at fault in any way. LaHood added, “Our conclusion – that Toyota’s problems were mechanical, not electrical – come after one of the most exhaustive, thorough and intensive research efforts ever undertaken.”

Those mechanical problems, namely sticky accelerator pedals and pedals that got trapped under faulty floor mats, “remain the only known causes for these kind of unsafe unintended acceleration incidents,” says NHTSA. It should prove interesting to see how the courts – both of public opinion and of law – react to these findings.

[Source: The Detroit News | Image: Ramin Talaie/Getty]

Feds find no evidence of faulty electronics in Toyota models originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 08 Feb 2011 14:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Continue reading “Feds find no evidence of faulty electronics in Toyota models”