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Hyundai and Kia find in themselves in a bit of legal trouble. Last week, the law firm Hagens Berman filed a class-action lawsuit against the Korean automakers over an alleged defect on two engines; the 2.4L four-cylinder and turbocharged 2.0L four-cylinder from the Theta II family. The defect in question is a flaw in the engine design that “restricts or blocks oil flow to the engine’s moving parts, such as connecting rod bearings, prematurely wearing out those parts to the point that the engine parts seize, which stops engine operation while running. Engine seizure often causes internal parts, such as the connecting rods, to break and knock a hole in the engine, permitting fluids to leak and ignite a fire,” according to the lawsuit. More than 350 complaints have been filed on National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's (NHTSA) on models equipped with these engines, 2011-2019 Hyundai Sonata 2011-2019 Kia Optima 2011-2019 Kia Sportage 2012-2019 Kia Sorento and Soul 2012-2019 Kia Soul 2013-2019 Hyundai Santa Fe 2013-2019 Hyundai Santa Fe Sport Bloomberg reports that NHTSA has opened an investigation into the "timeliness and scope of the carmakers’ recalls related to manufacturing errors in “Theta II” engines." Hyundai has issued two recalls in 2015 and 2017 for certain Sonata and Santa Fe models. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York meanwhile has opened a criminal investigation into this issue. When reached for comment, Hyundai Motor declined to say anything about the lawsuit. In a statement, the company said that “nothing is more important than the safety and security of Hyundai customers,” noting that it is cooperating with the U.S. Department of Transportation and the NHTSA. “Over the past three years, we have held numerous meetings with DOT and NHTSA representatives, and proactively discussed and identified possible safety items for NHTSA’s evaluation, including the engine recalls. NHTSA has been fully briefed and kept apprised of these recalls and low rates of associated non-collision fires,” said Hyundai Motor. Source: Bloomberg View full article

Toyota has announced that it will be recalling 1.03 million vehicles worldwide to fix an issue that could start a fire. According to Reuters, the problem deals with a wiring harness that connects to the hybrid system's power control unit. Vibrations and accumulating dirt can wear down the wire insulation at the connection point. This will expose the bare wires and possibly cause an electric short - increasing the chances of a fire. Toyota has told the news service they have one report of a vehicle in Japan that went up in smoke. The majority of vehicles involved in the recall are located in Japan. In the U.S., around 192,000 examples of the 2016-2018 Toyota Prius are involved. Owners of the affected models will be notified later this month by Toyota. Dealers will inspect the harness in question and, if any wires are exposed, replace it with an updated harness with a protective sleeve, If none of the wires are exposed, dealer technicians will apply a protective coating to the harness. Source: Reuters View full article

A fire at a supplier's plant last week is causing some headaches for Ford. The company has halted production of the F-150 at Kansas City Assembly Plant, and F-Series Super Duty at Kentucky Truck and Ohio Assembly due to a parts shortage. F-150 production at Ford's Dearborn plant is expected to be idled either today or tomorrow. The supplier, Meridian Lightweight Technologies makes instrument panel components for the F-Series trucks. Last Wednesday, the company's factory in Eaton Rapids, Michigan caught fire. The cause is still being investigated, but the Lansing State Journal reports the fire started in an area known as the "tunnel," a place where workers put magnesium scraps on a conveyor belt to be melted down. The fire caused a number of explosions to take place in the factory. Two people were injured and 150 workers were evacuated. The situation at the moment is ok according to Ford and analysts if the shutdown only lasts a week. There is an 84-day supply of trucks and Ford is working with Meridan to figure out the “next steps.” But as AutoPacific analyst Dave Sullivan points out, this could cause some serious problems for Ford if it lasts more than a week. "They should be able to weather a short-term shutdown. But if this goes longer than a week, it could really hurt second-quarter performance," Sullivan tells the Free Press. Ford isn't the only automaker that is being affected by this. General Motors has halted production of the Chevrolet Express and GMC Savana at their Wentizville assembly plant in Missouri. FCA told Automotive News that the fire has affected the output of the Chrysler Pacifica, built at their Windsor, Ontario plant. They are "adjusting production schedules as needed to minimize plant downtime (and) will make up any lost production." Mercedes-Benz in a statement said, "we have cancelled production shifts in certain areas and adjusted production hours for our team members this week," at their Vance, Alabama plant - home to C-Class, GLE-Class, GLE-Coupe, and GLS-Class production. BMW told Automotive News that production of the X5 at their South Carolina plant will be affected somewhat, but their current supply of parts should keep them running for the time being. Source: Automotive News (Subscription Required), Detroit Free Press, Lansing State Journal View full article

Spontaneous BMW Combustion and BMW is ignoring it kinda! Came across this story and wow, is this weird. Yup we have heard stories of Humans who spontaneously combust, but BMW? Owners are saying it and some are even being paid to keep quiet according to this ABC story I came across. http://abcnews.go.com/Business/bmw-mystery-fires-abc-news-investigation/story?id=47335778 Seems these fires have happened from sitting for days or just being turned off, but something is causing these German Driving Machines to spontaneously combust. Makes you wonder if this could be BMW's version of GM's Ignition scandal, VW diesel gate or Takata airbags?

November 19th, 2013 Drew Dowdell Managing Editor - CheersandGears.com Following three high profile fires, two in the United States and one in Mexico, the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration announced today that the agency has opened a formal probe into the safety or the Tesla Model-S electric car. The investigation centers around "undercarriage strikes" where metal road debris run over by the car pierced the battery compartment and caused a catastrophic runaway reaction resulting in the total loss of the vehicle. In the NHTSA announcement, they point out that in all cases, the vehicle provided ample audio and visual warnings to the driver well before the battery Tesla's vocal CEO and founder, Elon Musk, maintains that the Model-S is still safer than any gasoline powered vehicle available for sale and points out that thousands of gasoline powered vehicles have been destroyed by fires caused by ruptured fuel tanks. Tesla announced today, before the NHTSA release, that it would be asking the agency to conduct an investigation into the fires. Additionally, Tesla would be amending warranty coverage to include damage due to a battery fire. Telsa will send a software update to all Model-S to use the air suspension to raise the ride height. View full article

There are times when a spy photographer gets more than they bargained for. Most of the time, it involves an engineer chasing them away from their test mule. But sometimes, they catch something spectacular. Case in point are new shots of the next-generation F-Series Super Duty catching on fire while undergoing hot-weather testing in Death Valley. Before we go any further, it needs to be stated that no one was injured in this fire. The two engineers who were driving the truck were able to get out and find their way to safety. Judging from the pictures, it appears the fire started in the driver-side front wheel well and then spread. The spy photographer who caught the pictures said it took 21 minutes for the fire to burn completely to the ground. We can tell that the next version will utilize aluminum and magnesium. This is evident by the aluminum droppings around the road and the huge spark when the fire lit the magnesium on fire. In a statement to Autoblog, Ford says they are investigating into the cause of the fire. Source: Autoblog William Maley is a staff writer for Cheers & Gears. He can be reached at william.maley@cheersandgears.com or you can follow him on twitter at @realmudmonster. View full article

Shares of Tesla stock dropped today due to a video showing a tesla on highway 167 in south seattle catching on fire after hitting some steel in the road. Leaving one to wonder just how easy is it for these electric auto's to catch on fire and possibly kill someone. The incident happened at approximately 8am and was posted on WSDOT Cam web site and local news. It soon became the talk of the office in regards to how safe are these auto's and should they be allowed to be on the road? Seattle Times had the following story. http://seattletimes.com/html/businesstechnology/2021951388_teslastockxml.html?syndication=rss http://www.youtube.com/embed/q0kjI08n4fg http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0kjI08n4fg&feature=player_embedded