NHTSA Questioning Autoliv About Side Airbag Parts

Automotive safety system manufacturer Autoliv has come under scrutiny from the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration for faulty side airbag parts. Toyota, Honda, Nissan, and Subaru all employee airbags parts sourced from Autoliv, and all four automakers recently issued recalls pertaining to problems with the side airbag. In total, 2,750 vehicles were called back to deal with faulty airbag parts according to the NHTSA.

In 2011, Toyota recalled around 430 new RAV4 SUVs claiming the curtain shield airbag may not deploy as planned courtesy of a malfunctioning airbag inflator. Last week, Honda expanded a recall it had issued to cover 974 vehicles, including select 2012 Civics and Acura’s full-size MDX SUV. Honda had already issued a recall for 347 Accord sedans and Crosstour SUVs that were ready to enter service for the 2012 model year. Nissan also recalled 976 Altima and Versa sedans last year while Subaru called back 381 Legacy sedans and Outback wagons.

The main concern of the NHTSA is the airbag propellant mixture that was supplied by Autoliv to the aforementioned automakers. While Autoliv doesn’t contest the findings from Honda and Toyota the automotive safety systems manufacturer claims innocence when it comes to Nissan and Subaru.  Autoliv doesn’t believe the parts it provided to Nissan and Subaru were defective. The safety systems maker stands by its claim after it had conducted more than 2200 tests to find the root of the issue for the faulty airbag parts.

Nevertheless the NHTSA continues to question Autoliv and has asked for a list of customers that have bought parts with the mottled propellant. The Detroit Big Three may also see some trouble with this too as Chrysler, Ford, and General Motors have all purchased parts from Autoliv. Suzuki, Daimler, and Kia also purchased parts from Autoliv with the majority being shipped in late 2011. All parts bought from Autoliv from all of the auto makers listed above were slated to go into 2012 model vehicles.

Source: Chicago Tribune

 

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GM and PSA Peugeot-Citroen in Talks About a Possible Alliance

In an interview with radio station Europe1 on Tuesday, French Labor Minister Xavier Bertrand revealed that PSA Peugeot-Citroen CEO Philippe Varin informed the government that the automaker is talking to General Motors about forming an alliance.

Reuters reported that GM, which is the world’s number one automaker, and the PSA Group, which is the second largest carmaker in Europe, are not discussing a merger, but sharing vehicles and parts. Furthermore, any capital exchange between them would be minimal and purely symbolic.

This alliance may be the solution GM is looking for its troubled European division. If the tie-up goes ahead, then Opel, Vauxhall, Peugeot and Citroen will jointly develop new platforms, powertrains and complete vehicles, significantly reducing costs for all involved parties.

In return, GM would offer the French group better access to countries where it already has a strong presence, like China, helping reduce its dependence on the faltering European market. French newspaper La Tribune has also said that GM could facilitate PSA’s return to the U.S., from which it has been absent since 1992.

Frankfurt-based Commerzbank analyst Sascha Gommel said that such an alliance would prove beneficial for both parties: “A partnership with GM would make sense, because Peugeot and Opel both lack scale. Peugeot is in a difficult situation because companies like VW and Renault-Nissan can produce much higher volumes and so have a scale advantage.”

Mind you, PSA is already cooperating with Mitsubishi on the Outlander/4007/C-Aircross and ASX/4008/C4 Aircross crossovers and with Toyota on the Aygo/107/C1 city cars.

Both GM and PSA would neither confirm nor deny the report.

PSA’s statement reads as follows: "In the context of its globalization strategy and improving its operational performance, PSA Peugeot Citroen looks at potential cooperations and alliances. There can be no certainty at this stage that these discussions will result in any agreement."

On GM’s behalf, spokesman Johan Willems was even more brief: “We routinely talk with others in the industry, but have no comment beyond that.”

Story References: Autonews

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How GM Europe Lost Money and What the Company is Doing About It

The big headline from the 2011 earnings statement released today by General Motors is the number: $7.6 billion in pure profit, the most the automaker has ever made. Debt consolidation and increased per-product profitability have once again lifted the General to its long-held position as the world’s largest automaker. And with new products planned to launch over the next year

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