Happy Friday! It’s August 18, 2023 and this is The Morning Shift, your daily roundup of the top automotive headlines from around the world, in one place. Here are the important stories you need to know.
1st Gear: Ford, GM And Stellantis Aren’t Taking The UAW Seriously
The United Auto Workers union is currently locked in talks with America’s big three automakers over its next contract. So far, negotiations have stuck on points like pay rises for staff, vacation time, and working conditions, with both sides accusing each other of coming to the table with unrealistic demands. But now, the UAW has accused GM, Ford, and Stellantis of not taking the talks very seriously, with less than a month to go before contracts expire.
According to a new report from Reuters, UAW president Shawn Fain believes the American automakers are “still not serious” in their responses to the union’s economic proposals. These proposals included a 40 percent rise in pay over the life of a four-year deal, as well as a switch to a four-day work week. Reuters reports:
“Things have been moving slow,” Fain said in an interview. He did not rule out strikes at General Motors, Ford and Stellantis North America if the deadline is missed.
“Everyone’s deadline is the same,” Fain said. “It’s imperative all three companies come to the table.”
Fain has outlined an ambitious set of goals, including ending the current tiered wage system that pays new hires less than veterans, reinstating cost-of-living adjustments, or COLA, and restoring defined-benefit pension plans that the automakers ended years ago for new hires.
There’s now less than a month left of talks in which the union and automakers can get on the same page. Tension between the parties remains high, and the union is moving forward with a strike authorization vote. It’s almost certain to go down to the wire.
2nd Gear: Tesla Never Addressed Autopilot Safety Concerns After Deadly Crash
While a report this week might have found that advanced driver assist features can save thousands of lives every year, that can’t happen if companies keep dismissing safety concerns around the tech. And that’s exactly what a group of Tesla insiders allege the company did following a deadly crash that involved its Autopilot driver assist feature.
According to Automotive News, Tesla is accused of failing to “fix limitations in its Autopilot system” in the aftermath of a deadly crash in Florida in 2016 that killed a driver. Company engineers made the claims in a lawsuit over a similar collision that occurred in 2019. The site reports:
The EV maker didn’t make any changes to its driver-assistance technology to account for crossing traffic in the nearly three years between two high-profile accidents that killed Tesla drivers whose cars slammed into the side of trucks, according to newly revealed testimony from multiple engineers.
Despite the company’s knowledge “that there’s cross traffic or potential for cross traffic, the Autopilot at the time was not designed to detect that,” according to testimony given in 2021 by company engineer Chris Payne that was excerpted in a recent court filing. Engineer Nicklas Gustafsson provided a similar account in a 2021 deposition.
Now, the EV maker is heading to trial over the 2019 collision, which resulted in the death of Jeremy Banner, a 50-year-old father who had just turned on Autopilot in his Tesla Model 3. The case will be heard in October and marks the first time the EV maker has headed to court over a deadly crash involving its Autopilot driver assist system.
The company previously fought in court and won its case in a trial over a non-fatal Autopilot crash. Earlier this year, an LA jury cleared the company of wrongdoing over a driver’s claim that “the driver-assistance feature in her Model S caused her to veer into the center median of a city street,” reports Automotive News.
3rd Gear: Ford Plans $890 Million Canadian Battery Plant
As automakers across America focus their efforts on electric vehicles, they are plowing big bucks into new facilities and upgrading their production lines. Hyundai and BMW have announced investment in their U.S. EV operations, Porsche is eyeing a North American plant and now Ford has announced an $890 million investment in a new Canadian plant.
Automotive News reports that the facility, Ford’s first site in Quebec, will be operated in partnership with battery experts EcoPro BM and SK On. When it opens, the site will be used by the Blue Oval to produce cathode active material for the batteries it uses in future electric vehicles. According to the site:
Ford’s first-ever investment in Quebec will produce material destined for use in Ford EVs, while helping to shape North America’s EV ecosystem, according to Ford Canada President Bev Goodman.
“We’re excited to build this new facility to create a vertically integrated, closed-loop battery manufacturing supply chain in North America designed to help make electric vehicles more accessible for millions of people over time,” she said in a release.
While the new facility will cost around $890 million to build, Ford won’t foot the entire bill itself. According to Automotive News, national governments in Ottawa and local legislators in Quebec have pledged support, which will employ around 350 people. The outlet reports that Ottawa has announced a loan of CA$322 million ($238 million USD) and Quebec will provide “a partially forgivable loan” of CA$322 million.
The plant, which will go online in 2026, will be capable of producing 45,000 tons of cathode active materials, which are vital to EV batteries as they can dictate a battery’s performance, efficiency, and reliability.
4th Gear: There Isn’t A Legionnaires Outbreak At Stellantis’ Truck Plant
After two autoworkers at Stellantis’ Warren Truck Assembly Plant came down with Legionnaires’ disease, an investigation has found that there isn’t an outbreak at the site, and no legionella bacteria was found in the plant’s water systems.
The disease, which is a serious form of pneumonia, was identified in two workers at the facility last week. Now, the Detroit Free Press reports that the two employees are back at work at the Stellantis site, and an investigation is ongoing to find the source of their illness. The site reports:
It’s unclear where the workers came in contact with the bacteria. The Macomb County Health Department learned of the cases from the workers’ health care providers, according to an update sent last week by Tom Lehrer, a spokesman for the Macomb County Executive’s Office. The notice also noted that the illness is a mandatory reportable communicable disease in Michigan.
As of Aug. 10, there had been 33 cases reported in Macomb County this year, and the annual average for the last five years in the county has been 56, Lehrer said.
Following the discovery of the disease at the Stellantis site, the company sent water samples for lab testing as the most common way the bacteria spreads is through infected waterways. The test results from the third-party lab came back negative, and Stellantis has since cleaned and disinfected the water systems at the factory “as a precautionary measure,” Ann Marie Fortunate, a spokeswoman for Stellantis, told the DFP.
Neutral: Ready For The Weekend?
It’s Friday, and that means the weekend is right around the corner, have you got any nice plans? I’ve got a pretty quiet one, meeting up with my band for one last practice ahead of a gig next week and I’d quite like to take a long ride up the Hudson if the storms can stay away. What about you?