In a reversal of its earlier position, Chrysler Group LLC has announced it will accept product liability claims for vehicles manufactured before Italian automaker Fiat took a controlling interest in the new company June 10. (See " Chrysler out of bankruptcy .")   The move has the potential to affect owners of millions of vehicles built before Chrysler filed for bankruptcy on April 30, 2009 and idled its factories.   As part of the bankruptcy agreement that led to formation of the new company, Chrysler Group LLC was absolved of liability for defects in vehicles built by the “old” Chrysler that might have led to accidents or injuries.   Company officials say the reason for the change is they now feel the business is more viable than originally thought, and that they want the public to feel more confident about buying their vehicles. (Read: " Chrysler bankruptcy leaves injured consumers without recourse " and " Chrysler bankruptcy affecting lemon-law payments .") The company also says the new arrangement is more consistent with policy of General Motors following their bankruptcy. (Read: " What post-bankruptcy GM means to you .")  Learn more about the auto crisis in our special guide .   — Jim Travers Excerpt from:  Chrysler changes stance, it will accept product liability claims

The BBC reports that the original rolling stone Bob Dylan is thinking about joining the ranks of celebrities, near celebrities, persons with vaguely familiar names, and even cartoon characters like Homer Simpson who have all lent their voices to portable GPS navigation devices (PNDs). While perhaps not as soothing as the voices packaged with most PNDs, having Bob mumble, rasp, and squawk about the next left would probably be no worse than, say, having Mr. T command you to “turn left, fool.” And yes, that option already exists for TomTom users through the Navtones Web site . So do the directional instructions of Burt Reynolds, Kim Cattrall from Sex and the City, and even former Boston Red Sox ace pitcher Curt Schilling. Sadly, however John Cleese no longer appears to be available.   We’re not sure we’ll be revisiting highway 61 with Bob on board, and appealing as his voice providing guidance might be to fans, a quick look through the extensive Dylan catalog got us thinking: Why stop there? The prolific songwriter has written some titles whose names might make for interesting routing options, right along with avoiding toll roads or one-way streets.   How about “ Beyond here lies nothin' ”? That could certainly simplify travel plans. “ Beyond the horizon ” is a little more open-ended, probably best for idealists without a lot of pressing appointments.   “ Down the highway ,” however, is probably an option best left out. Even the most directionally challenged motorists ought to be able to figure out how to simply stay on an interstate without a nav system.   Take a wrong turn and you might end up at “ Maggie's Farm .”   On the other hand, I’ve owned a vehicle or two that I might still be driving if only I could have opted for “ Don’t fall apart on me tonight .”   “ Goin’ to Acapulco ” might be a perfect cure for those midwinter blues, but “Dirt road blues” would probably best be avoided.   If your GPS offered “ I was young when I left home ,” however, you might want to ask for your money back. Ditto for “ You go your way and I’ll go mine .”   “Ninety miles an hour down a dead end street” would just be a bad choice, but arguably not as bad as “...

How have you dealt with your hybrid problems? Most hybrid owners are pretty happy with their hybrid vehicles . 90-some percent of Toyota Prius owners, for instance, would buy another Prius. Still, there are consumers that are unhappy with the performance, usually fuel economy, of their hybrids. Sometimes these hybrid problems are bugs. Sometimes these hybrid problems are based on a misunderstanding of hybrid technology. For instance, many hybrid drivers will start a cold hybrid and baby it a on a few mile trip and wonder why the fuel economy isn’t better. In such conditions, I use more aggressive acceleration followed by coasting until the engine warms. While such a tactic seems counter-intuitive, it does lead to better short trip fuel economy. Yet, many dealers – from the complaints I’ve read – never seem to discuss such tactics. Does your dealership and service department fully understand hybrid technology? Read the original: Does your dealership / service department understand hybrids?

Stylish with an aggressive stance, the 2009 Pontiac Solstice Coupe GXP gets it right in the exterior design category. Making a basic sports car seems like it should be easy. Start with a two-passenger car then add a manual transmission that takes power from an engine with some pep and feeds it to the rear wheels. This is sports car 101. Sure you can expand on this idea and start playing with AWD or semi-automatic paddle-shifted transmissions, but that causes costs to rise and begins to take the driver further away from total control of the sports car. The 2009 Pontiac Solstice Coupe GXP gets a lot of this recipe correct on paper, in reality however it is a different story. First impressions of a car are typically of a visual nature. This was true with my first impression of the Solstice Coupe and it is a great place to start. The coupe body style works great with the Solstice (it was previously only available as a convertible). When I viewed the Solstice Coupe in photos I thought the fenders might come off as too round, but in person they look great and actually play off nicely with the aggressive roofline and eager stance. The car looks like a real sports car especially when wearing this Wicked Ruby Red Metallic paint. Moving inside is where things first start to take a downturn. I was almost always comfortable in the very nicely cushioned driver’s seat, but at times I had to crane my neck to see out the small side windows and small windshield. The radio was a very basic GM unit which is fine in a sports car, but this car was equipped with the optional 7-speaker Monsoon system which rattled a little on the low end. There is one cup holder hidden away on the passenger side of the transmission tunnel which I couldn’t really see from the driver’s side and there are two more cup holders… behind the driver and passenger headrests. I don’t know if that is for Feng Shui purposes but I did not see the point in placing these here. The overall effect of the interior felt a little cheap for a car in this price range, even if it is supposed to be a true sports car. Now, I can live with interior quibbles and a sub-par sound system if the driving experience is top notch. The driving experience… is not top notch. The car is fun, it handles...

General Motors may have emerged from bankruptcy relatively shiny and new, with industry favorite Bob Lutz leading its PR endeavors, but we have to admit that we’re a little confused by its latest marketing move: a video touting the company’s lineup and its new “Tell Fritz” feedback program. Don’t misunderstand — we think transparency and .. See the original post:  GM Decides That Listening To Customers Is A Good Thing

There’s been much discussion about Indian manufacturer Mahindra and its plans to launch vehicles in the U.S. next year. Of particular interest to those in the industry: how and where Mahindra trucks (and later, SUVs) will be built. Pravin Shah, the company’s executive vice president of international operations, has now indicated that Mahindra .. Original post: Mahindra Mulling Purchase Of U.S. Assembly Facility

If only the F150 were a hybrid Provide a lot of incentives for consumers to buy small and efficient cars and some will take advantage. Interest also rises with gas prices. No duh, right? Nonetheless, Americans don’t really want these vehicles according to BusinessWeek . Instead, they want vehicles like the Ford F150, a vehicle that saw its first year on year increase in sales since 2006 according to recent data. In fact, Ford is lifting production on these vehicles, despite the horrific 15 – 17 mpg fuel economy of these pickup trucks. Sure the Toyota Prius has been a hit and the plethora of plug-in vehicles on the horizon sound compelling, but what about solutions for the majority of Americans that want vehicles like the F150? Read the original here:  Most Americans just don’t want small cars

Generally speaking, bankruptcy has been a good thing for Chrysler. It’s allowed the company to unload massive debt and streamline operations. But for others — especially the owners of 31 million Chrysler vehicles manufactured before June 10, 2009 (the end of Chrysler’s bankruptcy proceedings) — the reorganization has proven significantly .. Read the rest here: Chrysler Accepts Reponsibility For Pre-Bankruptcy Vehicles

  A just-released study from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) finds that antilock brakes (ABS) significantly reduce crashes where people get injured but have no net effect on crashes where people die. ( Download pdf .) That’s a big step forward from earlier government studies, which found that fatalities actually increased in cars with antilock brakes. The new study looked at 11 years worth of data, making the sample sizes much larger than in previous efforts.   The key finding: “ABS by itself has close to zero overall effect on fatal crashes, but significantly reduces nonfatal crash involvements by an estimated 6 percent in cars and 8 percent in LTVs [light-truck vehicles such as SUVs and pickups].  Fatal run-off-road crashes do increase significantly with ABS, but now by only 9 percent, rather than the initial 28 percent [reported in an earlier study], as the public has learned how to use ABS correctly. That 9 percent increase is offset by reductions with ABS of other types of fatal crashes – and more importantly, it will be far outweighed by the great anticipated benefits of ESC [electronic stability control].”   The fact that ABS-equipped cars reduce the number of crashes resulting in serious injury is good news. While it remains something of a mystery why ABS is over-involved in run-off—the-road fatal accidents, the incidence of that type of crash is expected to plummet as electronic stability control becomes more universal. Already widespread, ESC will be on every car by the 2012 model year . It happens that antilock brakes are a necessary component of a stability control system, so we wouldn’t have ESC unless we already had ABS. ( Learn more about ESC .)     Nobody has satisfactorily explained why, in the subset of fatal crashes that involves a car running off the road, those with antilock brakes fare worse overall than those without them. Pretty much everybody agrees, and we have demonstrated countless times in our brake tests, that ABS makes for shorter, straighter, more controllable stops, on both wet and dry pavement. One possible explanation is that since ABS lets you steer a car in a panic stop rather than just sliding into whatever you’re braking for, that it’s then possible...

Mercedes-Benz is joining the fuel cell crowd: the company has announced plans for its first series-produced fuel cell vehicle, called the B-Class F-CELL. (MB alluded to the vehicle back in January at the Detroit Auto Show, but this makes it official.) The F-CELL will be available in the U.S. and Europe, with a small initial production run of .. Go here to read the rest:  Mercedes-Benz Introduces First Series Fuel Cell Vehicle

IAABlog is back with another teaser photo of the upcoming BMW Vision EfficientDynamics Concept. While we’re just two days away from the official revealing, the teasing game continues and at least this time we get a better  idea of the design….or at least some tiny bits of it. The Concept will make its debut at the Frankfurt Motorshow and the BMW marketing machine says that this Concept will look like no other BMW Concept before. The Vision Concept takes advantage of all the groundbreaking EfficientDynamics technology and will showcase these features available for any car tomorrow. That’s all we have for now, but keep an eye on the blog tomorrow, we’re pretty sure more information will be leaked released Original post: New Teaser Image: BMW Vision Efficient Dynamics

Please join Susan Docherty, General Manager, Buick GMC, at 12:30 p.m. Eastern Time on Monday, August 31, 2009 for a one-hour live chat to discuss GM’s plans for Buick and GMC as two of its core brands. Susan will take your questions regarding the renaissance of Buick, the launch of the 2010 Buick LaCrosse, and the new GMC Terrain, arriving this fall. Looking forward to hearing from you. – Dayna Hart, Group Manager, Buick GMC Communications Buick and GMC with Susan Docherty See the original post here:  Webchat: Buick and GMC with Susan Docherty.

Among the BMW community and true addicts, the 135i Coupe model needs no further introduction. Every since its launch in 2007, the BMW 135i Coupe has earned the title of one of most exciting to drive cars in the BMW line-up. Many BMW owners, tuning and modding shops had and still have fun modifying the standard features and convert the Coupe into an iconic racecar. The white painted 135i Coupe featured in our article belongs to David S., a long time reader of our blog and an even bigger BMW fan. The tuned up 135i made its debut this year at the 24 hour race at Nurburgring and was praised by the press and the community present at the event. Together with his friends, David S. created a 135i Motorsport kit that turns the 135i Coupe into a real race car. With that being said, let’s take a look at some of the changes implemented by them: Engine The standard 326 horsepower has been increased to 360 ponies coming out of  the award-winning N54, but all of this with a hefty price: 2,400 euros. Bodywork As with any respectable racing car, the exterior design elements revolve around the use of fiber carbon, starting with the M3 E92 style hood, trunk, front-bumper and doors. Suspension/Wheels The 135i Motorsport runs on 18″ wheels and uses the Intrax Suspension 4-way(around 5,500 euros). Interior Again, plenty of carbon fiber parts, a performance steering wheel, sifter and of course, the beautiful Recaro Pole Position seats.(1,550 euros each) For complete pricing, details or more photos, feel free to visit Motorsport24.de ( English Translation ) Thanks for the tip David! Here is the original post: 135i Tuning – The Ultimate Racing Car

Talk about an unusual comparison, BMW M3 Coupe versus the new Audi TT RS, but we don’t mind it. We’ve always been fans of these unusual tests since it makes all of us step out of the reasonable boundaries and compare cars that no one would ever dream of putting them in the same class. The German magazine AutoZeitung decided to bring up-front two interesting cars, but with different characteristics. BMW M3, in our opinion, is the leader in its sport luxury coupe market. The M3’s V8 powerplant has two more cylinders than its predecessor, delivering 420 horsepower from 4.0 litters and maximum torque of 295 pound-feet at 3,900 rpm. In keeping with BMW’s high-revving “M” tradition, maximum engine speed is 8,300 rpm. The engine is the lightest V8 in the world, weighing less than the previous M3’s inline-six. It is also a rear-wheel drive vehicle with a 7-Gear DSG transmission. The M3 reaches a top speed of 155 mph(250 km/h). The car tested by AutoZeitung ran from 0 to 62 mph in 5.1 seconds. At the other end, we have the new Audi TT RS, also competes in a tough market amongst “players” like the new Lotus Evora, the Nissan 370Z and the revised Porsche Cayman. The 2.5-liter turbocharged five-cylinder puts out 340 horsepower and 332 lb-ft torque running through a six-speed manual transmission and Audi’s quattro all-wheel drive system. AutoZeitung managed to take the TT RS from still to 62 mph in 4.5 seconds. While the BMW M3 is available in the U.S. as well, the new TT RS has been on the “Christmas wishlist” of the all the Audi addicts in the U.S. The test performed was quite comprehensive, based on a points system that rated the car from bodywork and comfort, to engine, dynamics and emissions. Some of us might disagree with the final results, especially since some of the areas, like the engine and dynamics, have been known to be BMW’s turf. But we cover all things BMW, so we thought we should share it with you. [ Google English Translation of this article ] Original post:  Autozeitung test: BMW M3 vs. Audi TT RS

The good news first: official MINI Speedster sketches made their way into the hands of the folks at InsideLine. The Speedster will indeed head over to Frankfurt along with the MINI Coupe Concept. A source close to InsideLine also confirms that both these concepts will move into production form sometimes in 2011. Now the bad news: despite the fact that we and many other publications were led to believe that the MINI Crossover will also be unveiled at Frankfurt, well, that’s the bad news part. According to MINI, the first crossover coming out of the Oxford gates will debut in early 2010. Sources indicate that the Crossover model will play a big role in MINI’s future strategy and will serve as basis for many other models to come. As some of you might remember, the MINI Crossover Concept made its debut last October at the Paris Auto Show and if we were to guess on a future venue for its launch, we would go with Detroit. [Source: InsideLine ] Original post:  Official MINI Speedster sketches revealed, no Crossover at Frankfurt