Motor News

A leaked image of the headlight and spy photos of the redesigned truck give us a better look at Toyota’s next-gen full-sizer. More

General Motors CEO Mary Barra said in a letter that GM is no longer backing the Trump administration in its fight to revoke California’s ability to set separate fuel emissions standards.
When California and the Trump administration came at odds last year following the EPA’s weakening of emissions standards, GM, along with several other automakers, took the side of the Trump administration.
President-Elect Joe Biden, Ford CEO Jim Farley, and California Gov. Gavin Newsom are among those who have applauded GM’s decision.
General Motors has reversed its decision to back the Trump administration’s fight to force California, along with 12 other states, to comply with the less stringent fuel-efficiency standards Trump’s EPA put into place in 2018 for 2022 to 2025. The move signals that GM expects President-Elect Joe Biden to take a much different stance on emissions regulations once his presidency begins in January.
“We believe the ambitious electrification goals of the president-elect, California, and General Motors are aligned to address climate change by drastically reducing automobile emissions,” GM CEO Mary Barra said in a letter to environmental groups. “We are confident that the Biden administration, California, and the U.S. auto industry, which supports 10.3 million jobs, can collaboratively find the pathway that will deliver an all-electric future.”

California Fights Trump with Emissions Rules

EPA Yanks California’s Separate Fuel-Economy Rules

Automakers Support Lower EPA Fuel-Economy Standard

Others across the industry have weighed in on GM’s decision. The EPA only said it’s interesting to see the changing stances of corporations, while Joe Biden said in a statement that it’s encouraging news to hear that GM will be working with his administration.
“Perhaps most importantly, GM’s choice to work with the Biden-Harris administration and California to advance these goals demonstrates a promising path forward for how industry, labor, government, and environmental organizations can come together to tackle big problems and make vital progress on behalf of the American people,” Biden said in a statement.
Ford, GM’s crosstown rival, had backed California from the beginning. Its new CEO, Jim Farley, commented on the decision on Twitter: “I applaud GM for reversing course on this critical issue,” Farley said. “I’m also proud that Bill Ford and Ford stood tall for environmental progress from the start. Principle over politics.”
How We Got Here
California’s emissions regulations have long been stricter than the rest of the country but had been in line with the EPA’s rules at the end of the Obama administration. The state came at odds with the federal mandates when the EPA weakened the Obama-era rules in 2018. The following year, the Trump administration began attempting to revoke California’s ability to set its own standards.
Once the two sides came at odds, automakers began to back either California and its stricter rules, or Trump and his push for a less stringent national standard. Originally, General Motors, along with Fiat Chrysler, Toyota, Nissan, Hyundai, Kia, and others, opted to openly back the Trump administration. Other automakers, including Ford, BMW, Honda, and Volkswagen, sided with California.
President Trump argued that weaker emissions rules will help boost sales because the automakers will be able “to produce far less expensive cars for the consumer.” He has yet to weigh in on General Motors’ most recent announcement that it is no longer supporting his administration.
The Obama administration mandated that new vehicles would need to achieve an average of 36 mpg by 2025, a roughly 5 percent yearly increase, while the Trump administration eventually decided to set a 1.5 percent yearly increase in fuel efficiency standards from 30 mpg in 2021.
“GM’s acknowledgement of the reality that the future is zero emissions is further confirmation that it is time to move toward clean cars,” California Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a statement. “I hope that GM will join the ranks of other forward-looking carmakers who stand against President Trump’s attack on clean air through clean cars.”
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Porsche driving instructor Dennis Retera drifted a Taycan for nearly an hour, going sideways for 26.2 miles. More

Audi has announced updates for the TT RS for the 2021 model year.
It has new 20-inch seven-spoke wheels, black exterior trim, carbon fiber inlays on the center console and doors, and standard Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.
The 2021 TT RS Coupe is available now starting at $73,545.
Audi is making the TT RS Coupe a little more attractive for the 2021 model year with new standard equipment, including black exterior trim, that gives it a sportier look—as if the RS version wasn’t sporty enough. The new sports coupes will also come standard with new technology including standard Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.

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Audi

The new look consists of a new black optic exterior, and even more black trim can be added with available black badging. Red brakes are now standard, as are a set of 20-inch seven-spoke Audi Sport wheels wrapped in all-season rubber. The sporty details flow into the interior as well with new standard carbon fiber inlays on the center console and doors. A Bang and Olufsen sound system is also standard as well as Audi’s MMI infotainment system with navigation, Audi Connect, and lane-keeping assist. For 2021, a new sport exhaust with black tips is available to add to the blacked-out look.

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The TT RS is powered by a raucous 394-hp turbocharged 2.5-liter five-cylinder that sends power to all four wheels through a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission and Audi’s Quattro all-wheel-drive system. During Car and Driver testing, a 2018 model launched to 60 mph in 3.3 seconds on its way to an 11.8-second quarter-mile at 117 mph.

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The 2021 Audi TT RS is on sale in the U.S. starting at $73,545, making it $4950 more expensive than the 2020 model.
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Volkswagen has confirmed that the Passat sedan will be discontinued in the U.S. by the end of the decade.
The German automaker will shift its focus toward SUVs, including the Atlas and the upcoming Taos subcompact SUV and ID.4 electric crossover, in the States.
The 2021 Passat starts at $24,990 and is powered by a turbocharged four-cylinder that’s EPA rated at 28 mpg combined.
Volkswagen is planning to discontinue the Passat sedan in the U.S. in favor of its SUVs, CEO Ralf Brandstätter said. The company’s new Taos compact SUV is arriving next year as well as an electric crossover, the ID.4, which will eventually be built at VW’s Chattanooga, Tennessee, plant alongside the Atlas and Atlas Cross Sport SUVs.

Volkswagen

“We’ve made a decision to cancel the Passat for the U.S. later in the decade,” Brandstätter said, not specifying a date. “The sales trend is very firmly in favor of SUV models, as indicated by the success of the Atlas.”

Tested: 2020 Passat Is Still Chasing the Lead

2021 Volkswagen ID.4 Electrifies VW’s SUV Lineup

2022 Volkswagen Taos Revealed as VW’s Smallest SUV

The ID.4 is set to arrive in the U.S. early next year. Until production begins in Chattanooga, the cars will be imported from VW’s factory in Zwickau, Germany. Some observers have speculated that the plant would need to cease production of the Passat to make room for the ID.4, but a Volkswagen spokesperson told Car and Driver that we shouldn’t assume that VW “need[s] to get rid of one vehicle to make room for the other.”
The VW Passat has been sold in the U.S. since the sedan’s third generation, starting in 1990. Prior to that, the Passat was sold here as the Dasher starting in 1974 and as the Quantum from 1982 until 1990. It was built in the U.S. starting in 2011.
It’s not the end of the Passat in other parts of the world, though. Volkswagen confirmed to Car and Driver that a new MQB-based Passat model is coming. When the current generation ends production in the U.S., it will be nearly 12 years old. VW never offered a hybrid, something the Jetta sedan and Honda Accord have both had, or an all-wheel-drive model, like the Toyota Camry.

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A security researcher has detailed a pair of unintended flaws, known as “exploits,” that would allow a person to steal a Tesla Model X in minutes.
The researcher carried off the feat with about $300 in computer hardware items, including a Tesla part found on eBay, as Wired first reported.
Researcher Lennert Wouters told Tesla of the vulnerability back in August, and Tesla has told Wouters an over-the-air update will be sent out this week to fix the issue.

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Automakers work hard to reduce the possibility that hackers can steal their cars. But, it’s an ongoing battle between the people who make the systems in vehicles and those who want to exploit them. Fortunately for Tesla, the latest pair of unintended flaws—known to computer types as “exploits”—were found by a security researcher happy to share his findings, not a group of car thieves with a taste for falcon-winged EVs.
Wired reported about the security researcher, Lennert Wouters from KU Leuven university in Belgium. He discovered a pair of vulnerabilities that allow the researcher to not only get into a Model X, but also start it and drive away. Wouters disclosed the vulnerability to Tesla back in August, and the automaker has told Wouters that an over-the-air patch may take a month to be deployed to affected vehicles. For Wouters’s part, the researcher says that he won’t publish the code or technical details needed for anyone else to pull off this hack. He did post a video demonstration of the system in action.
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To steal a Model X in minutes requires the exploitation of two vulnerabilities. Wouters started with a hardware kit costing roughly $300 that sits in a backpack and includes a Raspberry Pi low-cost computer and a Model X body control module (BCM) that he purchased off eBay. It’s the BCM that enables these exploits, even though it’s not from the target vehicle. It acts like a trusted piece of Tesla hardware that allows both exploits to be pulled off. With it, Wouters is able to hijack the Bluetooth radio connection that the key fob uses to open the vehicle using the VIN and coming within 15 feet of the target vehicle’s fob. At that point, his hardware system rewrites the target’s fob firmware and is able to access the secure enclave and get the code to unlock the Model X. He stores that code in his backpack rig and returns to the Model X, which opens up because it believes it’s connected to the original fob.
Essentially, Wouters is able to create a key for a Model X by knowing the last five digits of the VIN—which is visible in the windshield—and standing near the owner of that vehicle for about 90 seconds while his portable setup clones the key.
Once in the vehicle, Wouters has to use another exploit to get the vehicle started. By accessing the USB port hidden behind a panel under the display, Wouters is able to connect his backpack computer to the vehicle’s CAN (Controller Area Network) bus and tell the vehicle’s computer that his spoofed key fob is valid. With that done, the Model X believes a valid key is in the vehicle and willingly starts up and is ready to drive away.
The issue is that the key fob and BCM, while connecting to each other, don’t go the extra step of validating firmware updates to the key fob, giving the researcher access to the key by pretending to send over new firmware from Tesla. “The system has everything it needs to be secure,” Wouters told Wired. “And then there are a few small mistakes that allow me to circumvent all of the security measures.”
Wouters also noted that this type of exploit isn’t unique to Tesla. “They’re cool cars, so they’re interesting to work on,” Wouters told Wired. “But I think if I spent as much time looking at other brands, I would probably find similar issues.”
Tesla has a history of working with security researchers and even offers up a Model 3 every year to the Pwn2Own competition. Wouters won’t share the technical details of his exploit until January at the Real World Crypto conference.
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General Motors is recalling 5.9 million of its SUVs and pickups from 2007–2014 model years over defective airbag inflators.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) denied a GM petition to avoid the recall and gave GM 30 days to come up with a plan to notify owners and replace the inflators.
GM had said that the recall isn’t necessary because the Takata-made airbag inflators in these vehicles aren’t subject to the same deterioration as they are in other vehicles involved in a massive worldwide recall.
General Motors is recalling 5.9 million vehicles over defective Takata-built airbag inflators after the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) denied GM’s petition to avoid the recall. The vehicles include SUVs and pickups with model years between 2007 and 2014, including the the Cadillac Escalade; Chevrolet 1500, 2500, and 3500; Chevy Suburban and Tahoe; GMC Sierra 1500, 2500, and 3500; and the GMC Yukon and Yukon XL.
“NHTSA concluded that the GM inflators in question are at risk of the same type of explosion after long-term exposure to high heat and humidity as other recalled Takata inflators,” the regulatory agency said in a statement to C/D. “Such explosions have caused injuries and deaths.”

Takata Airbag Recall: Everything You Need to Know

GM contested this decision, saying that it doesn’t believe that the airbags in these vehicles with Takata inflators were subject to the same deterioration as those in the other vehicles that have been recalled. “Based on data generated through independent scientific evaluation conducted over several years, we disagree with NHTSA’s position,” GM said in a statement. “However, we will abide by NHTSA’s decision and begin taking the necessary steps.”
NHTSA’s decision document said that GM claimed that the specific inflators which went into these now-recalled vehicles had a lower risk of rupture as a result of unique design differences. The automaker also claimed that the actual environment in these vehicles, which share a platform internally referred to as GMT900, “better protects the front-passenger inflator from the extreme temperature cycling that can cause inflator rupture.”
In its securities filings, according to Reuters, GM said that it would cost $1.2 billion to address this recall if it did come to fruition. The Takata recall, by far the largest the auto industry has ever seen, affects 19 different manufacturers and includes roughly 63 million airbags in the U.S. and tens of millions of vehicles.
These Takata airbags have an ammonium-nitrate-based propellant that can deteriorate when exposed to high temperatures or moisture, or simply due to aging. Once they deteriorate, if deployed, they can send metal fragments into the cabin of a vehicle. There have been 18 deaths as a result of these airbags, although none in a GM-made vehicle.
NHTSA gave GM 30 days to provide the agency with a plan on how the automaker will notify owners and fix this recall. Owners of vehicles that may be affected should check the NHTSA recalls website for more information in the coming months.
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The new 2021 Kia Sorento starts at $30,560, a significant increase from last year’s model.
The hybrid model, a new addition to the lineup, starts at $34,760 and is rated at 37 mpg.
The 2021 Sorento is on sale now at dealerships.
Kia’s new Sorento has arrived, and we now have pricing for the redesigned mid-size SUV. The 2021 Kia Sorento starts at $30,560 for the base LX model, representing an increase of $2450 compared with the 2020 model’s base price. Because the previous Sorento’s lowest-priced L trim level is no longer part of the lineup, though, prices for equivalent models are more in line with last year’s. The new Sorento hybrid starts at $34,760 and the top SX Prestige X-Line model with AWD and a more powerful turbocharged engine is $43,760.

2021 Kia Sorento Has New X-Line, Hybrid Models

2021 Kia Sorento Engines Include 2.5T, 1.6L Hybrid

The 2021 Sorento’s lower models, the LX and the S ($33,060), come standard with front-wheel drive and a 2.5-liter inline-four with 191 horsepower. The EX ($36,160) has a turbocharged 2.5-liter inline-four with 281 horsepower, as does the top SX ($39,160). All-wheel drive is an $1800 option on all of these models, and the SX model offers a $2600 Prestige package with desirable features such as cooled front seats, a heated steering wheel, and an upgraded audio system. The SX also offers a rugged-looking X-Line appearance package on AWD models.

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A hybrid version of the Sorento is new for 2021, and it starts at $34,760 for the S trim level and $37,760 for the better equipped EX. It’s offered only with front-wheel drive and is rated to deliver 37 mpg combined by the EPA.
All 2021 Sorentos come standard with a third row of seats; the seven-passenger LX and S have a second-row bench, while the six-passenger EX and SX have second-row captain’s chairs. All Sorento hybrids have the captain’s chairs.
2021 Kia Sorentos have already begun arriving at dealerships and are on sale now.
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