2009 Aston Martin Vantage on 2040-cars

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Aston Martin recalls 7,000+ vehicles over seat heaters

We've seen vehicles being recalled for all sorts of reasons: ignitions switching off, airbags inflating prematurely, brake lines leaking fluid... but this latest one from Aston Martin is for the seat heater. So what, rich folks won't be able to drive their Volantes with the roof down when it gets cold, you say? Tragic though that would surely be, we're afraid this problem lies at the opposite end of the spectrum: seat heaters that won't turn off. The danger that poses, according to the statement below from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, is that the seats could start to smolder. And that doesn't sound like fun. The issue affects just about the entire Aston range, including the DB9, DBS, Virage, V8 Vantage and V12 Vantage, covering the 2006-2014 model years and manufactured between July 3, 2006 and November 5, 2014. That's pretty much everything Aston makes, save for the four-door Rapide, the newer Vanquish, the rare One-77 and the overseas-only Cygnet. So you'd figure that would add up to a lot of vehicles, and we suppose it does, considering the niche market in which Aston competes. All told, the recall affects an estimated 7,256 units across the United States, the owners of which will need to bring their luxury GTs into their local dealer to have an additional circuit module installed that will cut the power to the seat heaters in case the control module fails. Featured Gallery 2013 Aston Martin DB9: Review View 28 Photos News Source: National Highway Traffic Safety AdministrationImage Credit: Copyright 2014 Drew Phillips / AOL Recalls Aston Martin Convertible Coupe Luxury Performance aston martin v8 vantage aston martin db9 aston martin v12 vantage seat heaters

Aston Martin testing modified Vantage at the 'Ring

Aston Martin is on the verge of a renaissance that stands to be the biggest shift for the British automaker since it went independent in 2007 – if not since Ford took it over in the early 1990s. It's got a new chief executive, a new engine deal in place with Mercedes-AMG, a new platform under development and – if the new Lagonda sedan is anything to go by – maybe a new design direction in the works. And what do we have here? A test mule that could foreshadow one of the first new models of this new era. Spied undergoing testing at the Nurburgring (where else), this prototype looks for the most part like the existing V12 Vantage S, but with what look to be even wider wheel arches. The question, then, is what those widened wells are there to accommodate, and the most likely conclusion would be that new Mercedes engine. Aside from the lack of grille slats inside that trademark opening in the nose and the competition-spec alloys inset in those arches, there's not much else to go on. But that Aston is testing such a prototype at all is evidence enough that work is under way on something exciting, so watch this space.

Mercedes to offer SL, GL platforms to Aston Martin?

The agonizingly slow courtship between Aston Martin and Mercedes-Benz has been a regular topic of conversation ever since the 2009 Lagonda Concept debuted, riding on a Mercedes GL chassis. Beyond that one polarizing concept, though, nearly every other attempt to pair the two brands up in a major way has fallen through. Only the technical partnership between Mercedes and Aston for certain components from AMG, which was negotiated back in July, has held up so far.
That may finally be set to change, according to an excellent profile of the two brands' relationship from Automobile, which claims that two platforms will unite the Germans and Brits. The first tie up is, not surprisingly, a sports car.
As Aston Martin's VH platform - which underpins every car that comes out of Gaydon - continues to age, the pressure will well and truly be on Aston to find a next-gen replacement to underpin the successors to the Vantage, Vanquish, DB9 and Rapide. Automobile claims Mercedes has just such an architecture, in the form its new modular sports car platform. This new platform is slated for the next-generation SLK and SL and is still in its design infancy.