Auto News For Friday, May 29, 2015 – Massive Recalls Underway
Here are the five must-read, must-watch auto news stories, reviews, and videos for Friday, May 29, 2015.
INSIDE THE AUTO BUSINESS
May auto sales may be the strongest they’ve been in a year, but they might not look that way because the auto selling month was a day shorter this year than last.
TTAC
U.S. sales of midsize cars are down 4% through the first four months of 2015. The overall new vehicle market is moving in the opposite direction.
REVIEW
Although we take offense at Automobile magazine’s opening to their second paragraph, “Boring sales stats aside,” this review of the new 2016 Hyundai Sonata Hybrid and Plug-In Hybrid is worth reading.
WATCH Jalopnik boss Travis Okulski isn’t yet supposed to tell us what it’s like to drive the 2016 Mazda MX-5 Miata. But he’s allowed to drive it and show us what it’s like to drive. So former Jalopnik EIC Matt Hardigree suggested this morning that you watch this video of Okulski driving the Mazda with the auto-captioning system on. Just press the little cc in the bottom right. “Did you get that mail I was a brilliant song perennial.”
RECALL
Ford is recalling 361,523 Ranger pickup trucks (model year 2004-2006) because, “the affected vehicles are equipped with a passenger side frontal air bag that may be susceptible to moisture intrustion which, over time, could cause the inflator to rupture.”
Mitsubishi is recalling 82,784 Lancers and Lancer Evolutions (2004-2006) and Lancer Sportbacks (2004) because, likewise, “the affected vehicles are equipped with a passenger side frontal air bag that may be susceptible to moisture intrustion which, over time, could cause the inflator to rupture.”
Moving on, Ford is recalling 1,019,081 Mustangs (2005-2014) and GTs (2005-2006) because, you guessed it, “the affected vehicles are equipped with a dual-stage driver frontal air bag that may be susceptible to moisture intrusion which, over time, could cause the inflator to rupture.”
BMW is recalling 420,661 copies of the 325i, 325xi, 330i, 330xi, 325xi Sportswagons, 325i Sportswagons (2002-2005); 330Ci, 325Ci, M3 convertibles, 325i coupes, 330i coupes, and M3 coupes (2002-2006); M5, 540i, 525i, 530i, and 540i/525i Sportswagons (2002-2003), and X5s (3.0i and 4.4i) from model years 2003-2004 because, “the affected vehicles are equipped with a dual-stage driver frontal air bag that may be susceptible to moisture intrusion which, over time, could cause the inflator to rupture.”
You get the idea. The same problem is causing a recall of 4,066,732 Dodge Ram 2500s (2005-2009), Dodge Ram 1500s and Durangos (2004-2008), Dodge Ram 3500s (2006-2009), Dodge Ram 4500s and 5500s (2008-2010), Chrysler Aspens (2007-2008), Chrysler 300s (2005-2010), Dodge Chargers and Magnums (2005-2010), Dodge Dakotas (2005-2011), and Mitsubishi Raiders (2006-2010). Another FCA US LLC recall affected 438,156 Ram 1500s, 2500s, and 3500s from model year 2003 in order to, “address a safety defect in the passenger side frontal air bag inflator which may produce excessive internal pressure causing the inflator to rupture upon deployment of the air bag.”
