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Kia has announced the recall of more than 410,000 Forte, Sedona, and Soul vehicles to fix airbags that may not deploy in a crash.The recall includes the 2017–2018 Forte, the 2017 Forte Koup, and the 2017–2019 Sedona, Soul, and Soul EV.Kia said there have been no accidents or injuries as a result of the issue, and owners will be notified in March to bring in their vehicles for airbag replacement. Kia will recall more than 410,000 of its vehicles in the U.S. to replace airbags that may not deploy in case of a crash. The problem, first spotted late last year by Kia service team members in South Korea and detailed in the NHTSA recall report, involves a faulty airbag control unit (ACU). The ACU’s cover could come into contact with other components on the circuit board and damage soldering joints, potentially leading to non-deployment of airbags in a crash. A warning sign is that the airbag warning light may come on and trigger a diagnostic code.

2018 Kia Soul EV.
Kia

The vehicles recalled are 253,281 2017–2019 Kia Soul and 953 Soul EV models, with 47,690 Kia Sedona minivans from 2017–2019 and 108,693 2017–2018 Kia Forte cars also included. Kia will send out notifications to owners starting in March.

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Swedish hypercar maker Koenigsegg has long been a home for novel engineering, and that’s evident in its new electric motor. Developed for the Gemera four-seater, this electric motor, dubbed the Quark, is a tiny powerhouse. In a package that weighs just 63 pounds, the Quark develops 335 horsepower and 443 pound-feet of torque. For scale, that’s a 330-mL (11 ounce) energy drink in the pictures seen throughout.

Koenigsegg

The Quark, announced Monday, combines both radial- and axial-flux constructions to offer a good balance between power and torque. Rather than explain the difference between the two, I’ll turn you toward this article from EV trade publication Charged. All you really need to know is that this is a best-of-both-worlds solution—Koenigsegg claims the Quark has an industry-leading torque-power-weight ratio. Those peak power and torque figures are only available for 20 seconds, which is common among EV motors. After 20 seconds, the figures drop to 134 hp and 184 pound-feet of torque. That’s fine for the Gemera, which has three electric motors and a 592-hp three-cylinder.

“The Quark is designed to bolster the low-speed range of the Gemera, where you need it, for brutal acceleration,” said Koengisegg electric-motor design lead Dragos-Mihai Postariu in a statement. “The ICE then focuses on the high-speed range. What this means in terms of performance for the Gemera is a big power surge followed by a continuous record-speed push to 400 km/h [248.5 mph] without any torque or power losses.”

Koenigsegg

Naturally, Koenigsegg uses all sorts of interesting materials for the construction of the Quark, including aerospace/motorsport-grade steel and hollow carbon fiber—Koenigsegg’s Aircore technology—for the rotor. The company hopes the Quark will find a home in more than just the Gemera, as it was also designed for aerospace and marine applications.”The Quark is unique in its high efficiency in combination with its class-leading torque-to-power-to-rpm-to-weight matrix,” said CEO Christian von Koenigsegg in a statement. “This means, when using the Quark in applications such as marine, aircraft or VTOL, there is no need for a step-down transmission, instead direct drive can be achieved, as the rpm of the motor is right from the get-go. Small high-revving motors can have higher peak power-to-weight ratio, but they need transmissions in most applications in order to get to the desired output rpm and torque, causing energy loss and adding weight and complexity to do the same job. So any benefit in size is lost.”

Koenigsegg

Koenigsegg is also marketing an EV drive unit made up of two Quark motors, plus its small but powerful inverter, and small low-ratio planetary gearsets at each output shaft. The unit is called the Terrier, and it serves up 670 hp and 811 pound-feet in a package that weighs just 187 pounds, and which offers torque vectoring across an axle. A Terrier can be bolted directly to a car’s monocoque as well.More information on the Terrier unit is forthcoming, and presumably, it will be featured on future Koenigsegg products. As ever, the numbers are deeply impressive and entirely unsurprising from the innovative Swedish firm.

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Tesla will issue an over-the-air software update to disable the “rolling stop” feature in the Full Self-Driving Beta as part of a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) recall.The feature allows Teslas equipped with the FSD Beta to travel through a four-way-stop intersection at up to 5.6 mph without coming to a complete stop.Tesla says it is not aware of any incidents caused by the feature, and the update will be released in early February.Tesla will recall 53,822 vehicles by issuing an over-the-air software update disabling a feature called “rolling stop” found in the Full Self-Driving Beta software, documents on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) recalls site said today. The recall affects nearly every Model S, X, 3, and Y with the Full Self-Driving Beta running firmware release 2020.40.4.10 or newer.The feature in question, “rolling stop,” permits the vehicle, when operating in the Full Self-Driving Beta, to drive through a four-way-stop intersection at up to 5.6 mph if a list of criteria are met. NHTSA points out that “entering an all-way-stop intersection without coming to a complete stop may increase the risk of collision.”

Tesla

The conditions that must be met for the “rolling stop” feature to activate include it being enabled in the FSD Beta Profile settings and that the vehicle is approaching a four-way stop at under 5.6 mph. Other criteria include that “no relevant moving cars are detected near the intersection” as well as “no relevant pedestrians or bicyclists” and that there is “sufficient visibility for the vehicle while approaching the intersection.” Lastly, all of the intersecting roads need to have a speed limit of 30 mph or less. If these conditions are met, the vehicle will drive through the intersection at a speed between 0.1 and 5.6 mph without coming to a complete stop first; if not, the vehicle will come to a full stop. The firmware including the “rolling stop” feature was released via an over-the-air update to vehicles with the FSD Beta on October 20, 2020. Tesla and the NHSTA met this year on January 10 and January 19, with a recall determination made on January 20 to shut down the feature starting with firmware release 2021.44.30.15, which is expected to be released over the air to affected vehicles in early February. Tesla said it “is not aware of any collisions, injuries or fatalities related to this condition.” The update will be free for owners, who can check NHTSA’s recalls website for updates.

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The DBX 707 is a performance version of Aston Martin’s SUV.The revised V-8 engine has 697 horsepower and works with a new nine-speed gearbox. It will go on sale this year, priced from $235,086.Aston Martin has been promising a faster version of the DBX since the regular one launched, and this is most definitely it. Based on manufacturer claims, the new 2023 DBX 707 is set to be the quickest performance SUV on the market, with Aston CEO Tobias Moers saying the company hopes to prove that by setting the corresponding record on the Nürburgring.

Positioned above the standard DBX, which will continue to be sold alongside it, the DBX 707 has been given a substantial power upgrade thanks to an upgraded version of the 4.0-liter AMG V-8 that Aston says it has substantially engineered in-house. The engine uses new ball-bearing turbochargers and a revised calibration to boost output to 697 horsepower (the “707” name refers to metric horsepower). That’s 155 hp more than the regular DBX and means the DBX 707 outguns such luminaries as the 626-hp Bentley Bentayga W12 Speed, the 641-hp Lamborghini Urus and even the 670-hp Porsche Cayenne Turbo S E-Hybrid. Moers admitted that the Porsche was Aston’s benchmark target when he introduced journalists to the new car. The DBX 707’s torque output has risen too, with a new peak of 663 pound-feet. And the 707 swaps out the conventional nine-speed automatic transmission in the regular DBX to AMG’s snappier nine-speed gearbox with a wet-clutch pack instead of a torque converter. This will allow for quicker gear changes and launch-control starts, with a shorter final drive ratio meaning the 707 is claimed to be capable of a 3.1-second sprint to 60 mph. This would tie our result for the Lamborghini Urus, which is the quickest SUV we’ve ever tested.Given that improbable level of performance, and Moers’ desire for Nürburgring glory, it’s no surprise that the DBX 707 will have standard carbon-ceramic brakes with huge 16.5 inch rotors at the front and 15.4 inch discs at the rear. 22-inch wheels will be standard, and 23-inchers an option. These will wear Pirelli tires, but Moers says that any attempt to break the Cayenne Turbo S’s 7:38.9 Nürburgring time will be on more aggressive track-biased rubber: “at the end of the day it’s a tire test.”

Aston Martin

Beyond the new wheels, visual distinctions for the DBX 707 include a bigger front bumper with an even larger front grille, dark window surrounds in place of chrome trim, and a massive diffuser element at the back with quad exhaust tips. The interior gets new sport seats, although the DBX’s regular comfort seats will remain a no-cost option, plus a revised center console with a rotary gear selector. There are also new shortcut buttons for various drive modes on the lower console, meaning drivers won’t have to use the infotainment system to tweak settings for the adaptive suspension, stability control, active exhaust system, and gearbox.Although the DBX 707 still uses Aston’s existing infotainment system, the one based on Mercedes’ last-generation STAR architecture, Moers also promises that development of a bespoke Aston User Interface is underway. “We cannot change the nav system, that takes a while, but we are creating a bespoke nav system and HMI for Aston without any more usage of Mercedes,” he promises.

Aston Martin

Moers is also bullish on the DBX 707’s sales prospects, surmising that the 707 could make up around 60 percent of all DBX sales. This is despite a $235,086 pricetag which makes it more than $50,000 more expensive than the standard car. Production will start before the end of the first quarter of 2022.
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