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Filed under: Government/Legal, Ford

The dirty secrets of the multibillion-dollar wiring harness industry are being uncovered bit by bit, as more suppliers are found to be connected to a global price-fixing scandal. Automotive News reports that Ford is now suing a Japanese supplier that admitted to fixing prices of wiring harness components in a previous criminal investigation.

The civil lawsuit was filed in US District Court in Detroit against Fujikura Ltd. and its Detroit subsidiary, Fujikura Automotive America, on Tuesday. The lawsuit claims that the aforementioned companies coordinated with other suppliers to fix the prices of wiring harnesses sold to Ford from January 2000 through at least February 2010. Fujikura agreed to pay a $20 million fine in the criminal investigation, and Ford is suing for triple the damages – as allowed by US law – on the $10 billion it spent on harnesses during the 10-year period, though it’s not known how much money Ford lost on them.

The wiring harness industry, in 2010, was a $26.9 billion business, and the size of the investigation into price fixing reflects this. In February, Scott Hammond, US deputy assistant attorney general, said the investigation into price fixing “has grown over time and is broader than what we’ve announced so far,” reports Automotive News.

Ford sues Japanese wiring harness supplier over price fixing originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 19 Jul 2013 18:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Government/Legal, Videos

Potholes, also known as the bane of every motorist’s existence, are a huge problem in many cities. One resident in Jackson, Mississippi got fed up with the constant bumps and craters in his city’s roads, and took matters into his own hands.

The self-proclaimed Pothole Patchman, the secret identity of one Ron Chane, appropriated city asphalt to repair 100 of the city’s potholes over the course of five evenings.

Naturally, the government isn’t pleased with this, but only because Chane took the city’s asphalt without “going through the proper legal channels,” Mayor Chokwe Lumumba said in a press release. As Chane sees it, he’s putting the asphalt “back where it belongs.”

Asked by The Clarion-Ledger about the Pothole Patchman, many residents saluted an average citizen taking municipal matters into his own hands. After each repair, Chane tagged the potholes as “Citizen Fixed.” But because he’s taking city resources without permission, the Patchman recognizes the trouble he could be in saying, “Some people say I could be arrested.” Here’s hoping cooler heads prevail… Scroll down to see the news report.

Continue reading Mississippi man under fire for fixing potholes using city’s supplies [w/video]

Mississippi man under fire for fixing potholes using city’s supplies [w/video] originally appeared on Autoblog on Sat, 13 Jul 2013 15:11:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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