[Cougar man]

You might be asking yourself why GM and the NHTSA are getting so worked up over a few Corvettes that might lose their roofs at speed due to faulty adhesive, but you obviously aren't the guy behind the Corvette at 80 mph. Over 22,000 of the cars will face the fix, which GM will apply at no cost to the owners.

The problem is an obvious one: roof panels flying off at highway speeds can cause a safety issue. The symptoms indicating imminent failure, however, might not be so obvious, and include a snapping noise when driving over bumps, wind noise or a water leak in the headliner.

The latest roof recall is actually a fix of a previous recall for the same issue. In 2006, GM recalled almost 31,000 Corvettes for faulty roof adhesive, but it turns out the foam adhesive used in that recall and also briefly on the assembly line in Bowling Green, Kentucky, wasn't quite up to snuff.

Instead, the new fix is to replace the panel and adhesive with new materials. The fix will begin in January, 2010. Concerned owners of 2005-2007 Corvettes and 2006-2007 Corvette Z06s can contact Chevrolet at 1-800-630-2438 or at  GM's Owner Center to see if they need to get their roof fixed.

Source: The Car Connection

[Cougar man]

Video: Ed Whitacre And His Drawl Want To Restore Your Faith In GM
22 April 2010, 12:40 pm

Yesterday, General Motors finished paying back nearly $7 billion in loans from the U.S. government -- with interest, ahead of schedule. On the off chance you didn't hear about that, CEO Ed Whitacre is here to fill you in. Whitacre and his folksy, Texas drawl star in a new, 60-second spot that launched yesterday at noon. By sheer coincidence, that...

Source: The Car Connection

[Cougar man]

2011 Chevrolet Cruze Makes The Global Safety Honor Roll
23 April 2010, 10:49 am

Small-car safety especially has come a long way. And while, by driving a smaller, lighter vehicle you'll still be at a disadvantage in certain situations, some of today's small cars with top marks—like the upcoming 2011 Chevrolet Cruze—can assure the security of a much larger vehicle. As we outlined nearly a week ago, in a special Preview Drive of...

Source: The Car Connection

[Cougar man]

GM To Invest $890 Million In Making Its V-8 Engines Save Gas
27 April 2010, 9:40 am

Going green on the road may involve smaller engines, electric cars, and clean diesels, but it also requires making all engines far more fuel efficient. To that end, General Motors will announce this morning that it will invest almost one billion dollars in five separate plants to build a new, far more economical line of direct-injected aluminum...

Source: The Car Connection

[Cougar man]

Chrysler 1, Dealers 0 In The Arbitration Game
3 May 2010, 11:49 am

The results of Chrysler's first arbitration hearing are in, and the news for dealers isn't good. The arbitrator has determined that Joe Kidd Dodge of Cincinnati, Ohio met Chrysler's criteria for elimination and that Chrysler broke its contract with the dealer in an impartial manner. As Chrysler entered bankruptcy last year, the automaker...

Source: The Car Connection

[Cougar man]

Ford Doubles Down on Flex-Fuel Vehicles; Do Carbuyers Care?
4 May 2010, 2:31 pm

It must be something in the water. Yesterday, we learned that every 2011 Buick Regal will offer flex-fuel capability as standard. Now it's Ford's turn; the company announced today that it will have doubled the number of flex-fuel models it builds by the end of the year, fulfilling a 2006 pledge. That year, the company said, it built about 185,000...

Source: The Car Connection

[Cougar man]

Today In Lawsuits: General Motors Is No Einstein. No, Really.
27 May 2010, 12:17 pm

General Motors has a problem. Not its recent bailout. Or its endless personnel shakeups. Or even the public's lingering doubts about GM production quality. No, GM has a problem with its marketing, and it's very, very serious. When GM entered bankruptcy court last summer for its quickie death/resurrection, Fritz Henderson brought marketing man Bob...

Source: The Car Connection

[Cougar man]

Report: Ford To Shut Down Mercury Brand?
27 May 2010, 4:04 pm

Ford's Mercury brand might be heading for the chopping block. Bloomberg, citing unnamed sources within the company, says that Ford Motor Co. is planning to shut down its Mercury brand. It's clearly no done deal yet; the plan, which hasn't been set into motion yet, is going to be presented in proposal form to company directors in July. But Mercury...

Source: The Car Connection

[Cougar man]

Carbon E7 Turbodiesel Police Cruiser: More Than 14,000 Orders
28 May 2010, 12:13 pm

With the imminent death of the Ford Crown Victoria, automakers have readied a new set of contenders for the cop-car business, including Ford's Police Interceptor based on the Taurus SHO, the Chevrolet Caprice Cruiser, and the Dodge Charger. But only one company offers a car designed from the ground up to be a police cruiser. That's Carbon Motors...

Source: The Car Connection