April 30th, 2009 by Byron Thurman

Filed under: Chrysler, LLC., UAW/Unions

The reworked contract between Chrysler and the United Auto Workers cedes 55% of Pentastar stock to the worker’s retiree health care fund. That has lead to speculation that the UAW would have majority representation on the Chrysler board, but labor experts believe that won’t be the case. University of California Berkeley labor professor Harley Shaiken insists that “equity stake doesn’t translate into voting control.” The 55% was given to the VEBA fund in lieu of the previously agreed upon cash payment. Since the only job of the VEBA is to ensure that the retiree health-care fund is properly funded, by rule, it cannot take ownership of the automaker. Though the UAW won’t have majority representation, most expect the workers to receive at least one seat at the board.

Assuming that everything falls into place, the remaining owners of the new, leaner Chrysler will be Fiat at 35% and the government and lenders at a combined 10%. The changes made by the Pentastar over the past few months should equate to a healthier, more competitive Chrysler. But if things don’t work out as planned (they rarely do) and Chrysler ultimately fails, retiree health car could end up being a thing of the past.

[Source: Detroit News Image Source: Bill Pugliano/Getty]

REPORT: UAW’s majority stake in Chrysler doesn’t necessarily translate to control originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 30 Apr 2009 09:25:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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April 23rd, 2009 by Byron Thurman

Filed under: Ask Autoblog, Etc.

The process of constructing roadways in a Michigan is a long and arduous one that takes many millions of dollars, countless workers standing around and at least five seasons to finish. Roadways here on the home turf of the American auto industry are a unique breed. Even though Windsor, Ontario is just across the river from Detroit and has exactly the same climatic conditions, its roads are completely different from those in Michigan. That becomes immediately apparent as your roll off the Ambassador Bridge. We here at Autoblog strive to keep you, our loyal readers, informed about all things even vaguely related to cars. Therefore, we present our step-by-step guide to the creation of a Michigan road.

The process typically starts in the spring as soon as the salt has been rinsed away. Before the first crocuses pop out of the dirt, the crews start setting out signs and orange barrels along the edges of the most heavily traveled thoroughfares. There they typically sit for anywhere from one to four weeks before the crews return to start closing off lanes of traffic. After another interval of random length, the heavy equipment begins to arrive and the process of tearing apart the existing pavement begins. Just to make sure that no one accidentally misses out on the fun, the same scenario is usually repeated along several parallel paths that might serve as alternate routes between any two major points that people commute.

Learn about the rest of the process after the jump.

Continue reading Ask Autoblog: How are Michigan roads made?

Ask Autoblog: How are Michigan roads made? originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 10 Mar 2008 10:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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April 23rd, 2009 by Byron Thurman

Filed under: Ask Autoblog, Frankfurt Auto Show, Euro, Hatchbacks, Kia

Click image for photo gallery

Kia will officially whip the cover off its jaunty Euro-only (why, God… WHY?) pro-cee’d 3-door hatchback on September 11 at the Frankfurt Motor Show. We’ll be there to bring you on-scene coverage, but in the interim, Kia has provided a new set of photos showing the car in its entirety. Based on the same architecture that underpins the 5-door cee’d, the pro-cee’d is longer, lower, lighter and sportier-looking thanks to styling elements unique to the 3-door.

Despite the differences in appearance, the pro-ceed boasts interior passenger room on par with its five-door brother, thanks to its identical wheelbase length. And while on the subject of the interior, it’s very appealing to the eye — a requirement if it’s to be a viable player against the likes of the VW Golf. Longer doors with 70-degree openings help make backseat ingress and egress less cumbersome (thus minimizing Britney-style exhibitions), and cargo capacity behind the rear seat is said to equal that of the more reserved and outwardly practical cee’d. The pro-cee’d will be available in a wide array of trim, engine, and color combinations when it hits the Continent next year. We’ll take one of the 143-horsepower cars equipped with the Sport Pack (shown). Oh wait. That’s right, we can’t. Bummer.

Press release after the jump.

[Source: Kia]

Continue reading Kia pro_cee’d fully unveiled ahead of Frankfurt

Kia pro_cee’d fully unveiled ahead of Frankfurt originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 21 Aug 2007 11:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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April 23rd, 2009 by Byron Thurman

Filed under: Ask Autoblog, Trends, Earnings/Financials

With all the discussion about the domestic automakers’ future lately, a few of our readers have left comments requesting some additional background on the situation; primarily, the history of the oft-touted “legacy costs” and how they affect the Big 3’s survival.

The legacy costs have their roots in the concept of “cradle-to-grave” care provided to industrial workers by their lifelong employers. Such a system utilized employer-funded pensions to provide retirement income and catastrophic injury coverage for employees, and also ensured workers that they would receive a high level of health care coverage upon retirement. This arrangement minimized the burden on government-funded social security programs and provided significant incentive for loyalty on behalf of the employee, but also depended on steady growth within the manufacturing sector - an assumption that, as we now see all too clearly, turned out to be wrong.

Follow the jump for a breakdown on what automakers could do to address the burden of legacy costs and what they actually are doing.

Continue reading Explaining the burden of “legacy costs”

Explaining the burden of “legacy costs” originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 20 Sep 2006 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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April 23rd, 2009 by Byron Thurman

Filed under: Ask Autoblog, Maintenance, Tech

In the first half of this particular write-up, we showed the basic process of replacing the front rotors and pads on a VW Jetta. Now we’ll go ahead and hit the rear brakes, since the car is already up in the air and we’re already covered up to our elbows in grease and brake fluid. We’ll also go through the process of flushing out the old fluid and bleeding the brakes, since this car was far overdue for that task.

Continue reading Autoblog Maintenance 201: Brake pad replacement, Part II

Autoblog Maintenance 201: Brake pad replacement, Part II originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 06 Jul 2006 15:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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April 23rd, 2009 by Byron Thurman

Filed under: Ask Autoblog, Maintenance, Tech

While many aspects of maintenance can be put off until the odometer rolls past 100K, odds are that you’ll be doing some work on your vehicle’s brakes long before then. Vehicles continue to get heavier and our highway speeds are ever-increasing, both of which put an incredible amount of strain on even a modern braking system. Pads and rotors will wear, and the brake fluid will become contaminated with moisture. If you’re lucky enough to live in the Midwest, you can also look forward to the effects of corrosion on braking components. The braking system should be inspected every time the tires are rotated, and one can expect to go through the front brakes every 20-40,000 miles, depending on the vehicle and its usage (rear brakes often go much longer, due to their lesser role).

We’ll walk through the process of servicing the disk brakes on a friend’s 2000-ish VW Jetta. This vehicle was in need of new pads, and the owner decided that he also wanted to install new rotors rather than deal with the hassle of turning the ones currently on the vehicle, as the vehicle had been sitting for over a year.

Continue reading Autoblog Maintenance 201: Brake pad replacement, Part I

Autoblog Maintenance 201: Brake pad replacement, Part I originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 05 Jul 2006 13:06:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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April 23rd, 2009 by Byron Thurman

Filed under: Ask Autoblog, Gadgets, Green, Tech

In Part 1 of this
series, we took at look at the engine control module (ECM), the “brains” of a modern vehicle’s engine
management and emission control systems. Next, we’re going to dig a bit deeper and investigate the various sensors that
feed information about the vehicle’s operating conditions to the ECM.

Continue reading Engine management and emission controls (Part 2)

Engine management and emission controls (Part 2) originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 25 Apr 2006 11:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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April 23rd, 2009 by Byron Thurman

Filed under: Ask Autoblog, Gadgets, Green, Tech

A modern
engine makes use of a wide variety of technology, but it’s not necessarily well-understood by the majority of the
motoring public. Considering that this stuff isn’t rocket science (for the most part), we figured that it’s time
to lift the hood on one of the cars in our garage and walk through its engine management system. Getting through
it all will take a while, but your patience will be rewarded with a significantly improved understanding of what makes
your car’s powertrain tick.

Continue reading Engine management and emission controls (Part 1)

Engine management and emission controls (Part 1) originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 24 Apr 2006 13:26:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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April 23rd, 2009 by Byron Thurman

Filed under: Ask Autoblog, Maintenance, Green, Tech

With
fresh fluids in the rest of the drivetrain, it is now time to turn our attention to the axle lubrication. Where as we
stated that the transfer case fluid leads a relatively easy life, the same is not true of the rear axle. The reason for
this is heat; due to the relatively high frictional losses of the hypoid ring-and-pinion gears, axle lube temperatures
can exceed 300F during high-speed cruising. While certain ultra-high-performance vehicles such as the Corvette Z06 have
provisions for axle cooling, most of us aren’t so lucky. Throw in the fact that this lube isn’t filtered and is prone to
contamination by water and other environmental matter, and it’s essential that it be changed on a regular basis (two
years or 25,000 miles isn’t a bad starting point for a recommended service interval). We’ll show you how it’s done on
the 9.5″ 14-bolt axle under the rear of our ‘96 GMC K2500.

Continue reading Autoblog Maintenance 101: Differential/axle lube

Autoblog Maintenance 101: Differential/axle lube originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 02 Apr 2006 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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April 23rd, 2009 by Byron Thurman

Filed under: Ask Autoblog, Maintenance, Green, Tech

Automatic transmissions are among the most complex mechanical devices ever assembled into a mass-market consumer
product. As a result, automatic transmission fluid (ATF) has a tremendously difficult task. It has to lubricate the
myriad of moving parts, providing sufficient protection to components that will rotate literally billions of times over
the life of the transmission. It also has to provide enough friction to the various clutches within the transmission.
ATF also provides the vast majority of the transmission’s heat dissipation, and serves as a means of transmitting
hydraulic signals and power.

Yes, the demand on ATF is significant, but yet it’s often neglected when performing routine maintenance.
Transmission service is certainly not as easy or straightforward as oil changes, but considering the frustration and
inefficiency of a transmission that isn’t operating properly and the jaw-dropping cost of a rebuilt unit,
we’ll happily roll up our sleeves and crawl underneath our ‘96 GMC K2500 to show how it’s done.

Continue reading Autoblog Maintenance 101: Transmission fluid and filter

Autoblog Maintenance 101: Transmission fluid and filter originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 31 Mar 2006 11:26:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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