Tag: fed

Report: Fed mulling standardizing keyless ignition systems

Filed under: Government/Legal, Safety, Technology, Toyota

automotive push button start

Five years ago, if you owned a vehicle with push button start, you probably owned a luxury vehicle or high-end sports car. For 2011, there are 189 vehicles with push start technology, including many vehicles that retail for less than $20,000. But while the technology has proliferated to nearly every vehicle segment, each automaker has its own keyless ignition mechanism.

Automotive News reports that the Society of Automobile Engineers (SAE) International isn’t crazy about this, and it’s looking to standardize keyless ignition systems. The move can be at least partially viewed as a reaction to unintended acceleration issues faced by Toyota. Some Toyota owners who reported reported the UA phenomenon were unable to turn off the vehicle because Toyota’s programmers necessitate that the star/stop button must be pressed for three or more seconds to cut off power to the engine.

According to Automotive News, the SAE proposes that drivers should be able to stop the vehicle by pressing the button for .5 to two seconds, or by briefly pressing the button two or three times.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has also reportedly added that it may propose a rule this year to standardize the systems, leading at least one automaker to consider waiting to redesign their systems until uniform standards can be agreed upon. Interestingly, a poll by AN revealed that while General Motors, Ford, Volkswagen, Honda, Nissan, Chrysler and Hyundai planned to comply with the SAE standard – only Toyota says that it won’t follow the guidelines until it learns if NHTSA will chime in with its own regulations, as well.

[Source: Automotive News – sub. req. via Automobile]
Image by Chris Shunk / Copyright (C)2010 Weblogs, Inc.

Report: Fed mulling standardizing keyless ignition systems originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 18 Apr 2011 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Report: NADA president urges Fed to reconsider fuel rules

Filed under: Car Buying, Government/Legal

Ed Tonkin, NADAThe National Automobile Dealers Association has joined the ranks of those opposed to upping Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards to 60 mpg by 2025. The dealer group says that with fuel prices still low, consumers are more interested in horsepower and style than they are super-efficient vehicles. That means that if the federal government starts mandating ever more efficient vehicles that are significantly costlier to manufacture, dealers are likely to see sales falter as automakers have to elevate MSRPs to keep from losing their shirts. That’s the fear of NADA chairman Ed Tonkin and his constituents. Tonkin should know – he himself owns a mutli-brand dealership in Portland.

Of course, Tonkin’s argument hinges against further upping CAFE numbers hinges upon fuel prices staying at their current levels — something that even the most optimistic minds are hesitant to believe. The federal government is expected to unveil its plan for increasing fuel economy standards early next year. So far, word has it that the Obama Administration is looking to impose an average of 35 mpg by 2016 and as much as 60 mpg by 2025.

[Source: The Detroit News | Image: NADA]

Report: NADA president urges Fed to reconsider fuel rules originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 22 Oct 2010 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Report: Fed reduces auto bailout loss forecast to $17B

Filed under: Government/Legal, Chrysler, GM, Earnings/Financials

stock listing monitors

The federal government spent roughly $86 billion in taxpayer money to bail out the auto industry. That’s a lot of Monopoly money, folks, and when the industry we know and love was at its weakest point, early projections suggested that that the U.S. government and American taxpayers would never see $30 billion of that money. But as the economy slowly crawls back to life and cars and trucks are beginning to move with greater regularity, those forecasts are being adjusted downward.

A few months ago the Treasury Department proclaimed that the industry could, if everything fell just so, lose only $8 billion by the time the dust settles. We’re now in October, and according to The Detroit News, the DoT is settling on a loss that looks a lot like $17 billion. That figure was revised downward from $24.3 billion due to increased optimism that the bailout of Ally Bank, the Cerberus-owned finance arm for both General Motors and Chrysler, wasn’t going to be as big of a cash drain as was originally expected.

The revised auto industry loss comes out of a 200-page report that details the overall plight of the $700 billion ($475 billion has been spent to date) Troubled Asset Relief Program. The report states that the U.S. government stands to lose a grand total of $29 billion of the $475 billion spent. That $29 billion number is definitely tentative, though, because a lot of the numbers are heavily dependent on the price of stocks at the time the federal government decides to sell.

For example, at the current price of AIG shares, the government would actually book a profit of $21.9 billion. The bank bailouts are said to have produced another $16 billion in profits, while the mortgage securities buys are currently underwater to the tune of $46 billion. The $29 billion figure could go further up or down based upon the price of the initial public offerings at General Motors and Chrysler. The government put $43 billion into The General in exchange for 60.8 percent of the company’s stock, and another $12 billion for a 10 percent stake in Chrysler. GM’s IPO is expected to open next month, though the feds aren’t expected to sell off all of its shares in the first offering. Industry watchers suggest that Chrysler’s IPO could happen in 2011.

[Source: The Detroit News | Image: Mario Tama/Getty]

Report: Fed reduces auto bailout loss forecast to $17B originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 06 Oct 2010 14:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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