2005 Chrysler Pacifica Touring Sport Utility 4-door 3.5l on 2040-cars

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Jeep to stop using bad Takata airbag inflators next week

FCA is gradually ceasing to produce vehicles equipped with Takata airbag inflaters found to be inherently faulty. These airbags, which lack a certain drying agent, have been linked with dangerous premature ruptures. According to FCA, the only vehicle still in production with the named airbag is the 2016 Jeep Wrangler, and in this case they are passenger-side airbags. Fiat Chrysler says it isn't aware of any incidents involving these air bag inflaters in Jeeps, but amidst concerns that vehicles with failure-prone airbags are still being marketed to customers, North American-market 2016 Wranglers will cease to be equipped with them starting next week. As per FCA's statement, global production is expected to end by mid-September. In addition to Toledo, Ohio, the Wrangler is produced in Egypt. FCA isn't going to sell the cars with the deemed-faulty airbags without disclosing the fact to the customers: anyone buying a 2016 Wrangler will be notified that the vehicle will most likely be subject to a recall in the future, even if there is not currently a recall announced for them. NHTSA has specified a "Coordinated Remedy Program" recall schedule for the coming years, and the airbag inflaters will degrade over a time frame of several years, when subjected to a humid environment. Related Video: News Source: Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, The Wall Street JournalImage Credit: Julien Amado / Autoblog Quebec Plants/Manufacturing Recalls Chrysler Jeep Ownership Safety Takata airbag recall

Court ruling to delay Fiat's Chrysler buyout?

We've already reported on the attempts of Fiat to purchase the remaining 41.5-percent stake in Chrysler, currently owned by the United Auto Workers' VEBA healthcare trust. And while the issues still aren't resolved, Fiat has received both a bit of good news and a bit of bad news from a Delaware judge.
The good news is that the court ruled in favor on two key arguments of Fiat's, relating to what is a fair price for the Chrysler shares. The rulings essentially slash half a billion dollars off the price of the 54,000 shares owned by VEBA, according to a report from Reuters.
The bad news is that this makes the UAW an even more difficult opponent in negotiations. Its VEBA fund is meant to cover ever escalating retiree healthcare costs, so naturally, the UAW wants to get as much money as possible. Losing a big chunk of cash isn't likely to make the union more cooperative.

Stellantis launching at least 25 EVs for America by 2030

Stellantis has announced a wide-ranging plan for the company through 2030 covering everything from product to financials. The product plans are what really caught our attention, particularly for the surprise reveal of the first electric Jeep, as well as new teasers of the electric Ram 1500. But the company also provided more broad details on what we'll be seeing in the future including both electric cars and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. All of the plans are in service of the Stellantis goal of reaching net zero carbon emissions by 2038. On that way, it plans for all European vehicle sales and half of all American sales to be electric by 2030. It will launch 75 new electric vehicles by that year, and at least 25 of them will be coming to the U.S. The first of those electric cars will be the aforementioned Jeep in 2023, but many Stellantis models will follow close behind. The electric Ram ProMaster will launch in 2023 as well. In 2024, we'll see the electric Ram (and its plug-in hybrid counterpart), two more Jeeps (an off-road model and a family-oriented model) and the Dodge electric muscle car. We'll get a preview of the Dodge with a concept this year. Then in 2025, Chrysler will launch its electric car, likely based on the Airflow concept. Stellantis has previously announced Chrysler will be fully electric by 2028, and it further announced that Alfa Romeo and Maserati will be fully electric by 2030. Stellantis is also working on hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, mainly for commercial use. For the U.S., it plans on offering a large, ProMaster-size hydrogen van in 2025. That year or a little later, it also has plans for a hydrogen heavy-duty pickup truck, presumably Ram 2500 and 3500. Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares noted that among the benefits of hydrogen for large and commercial vehicles is being able to avoid compromising payload capacity, since hydrogen powertrains are lighter than giant batteries. Hydrogen filling times are quick relative to charging, too. The company will continue working on and offering advanced driver aids. This year it will offer hands-free cruise control like GM's Super Cruise and Ford's BlueCruise. In 2024, the company intends to introduce a system that is hands-free and won't require the driver to be watching it the entire time. The technology is being developed alongside BMW. These are, of course, broad plans, and they could change as time goes on. Expect more details as we get closer to individual product releases.