FleetWeek

The United Auto Workers union (UAW) reached a tentative agreement Wednesday with Chrysler on a new four-year national labor contract.  Chrysler workers and local union leaders are expected to review the deal and complete a ratification vote over the next two weeks.

The tentative accord with Chrysler comes amidst news that local unions in Chicago and two Michigan towns rejected the tentative contract UAW established with Ford last week.  As of Thursday, the national tally showed that more Ford workers had voted against the proposed deal than for it, but many of the largest union locals have yet to cast their votes. 

UAW president Bob King said that despite the initial dissent from some of the locals, he remains confident that the deal will be ratified.  If it isn’t, Ford and the UAW will have to reopen negotiations. 

Vehicle production continues at all manufacturers as UAW members have agreed to keep working as contracts are finalized.  Wheels remains in constant contact with the manufacturers, and we are following the progress of the negotiations very closely.  We will continue to keep clients apprised of any major developments.

Subaru has announced that it is recalling nearly 200,000 2010-2011 model year Legacy and Outback vehicles due to wiper blade concerns. 

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said that on affected models, the bottom cover of the windshield wiper can overheat, potentially causing the wiper to malfunction and impair driver visibility.  In addition, the overheated wiper cover can cause a fire.

NHTSA said affected Legacy and Outback models were manufactured from January 7, 2010 and May 20, 2011.

Each driver affected by the recall will receive an official recall notice, and can have his or her vehicle inspected/repaired at a certified dealership free of charge.  Subaru said it will likely begin sending recall notifications in early November.

Additional information on recalls is available at the NHTSA website at http://www.nhtsa.gov/. Please keep in mind that NHTSA now offers an e-mail notification service through which users can receive automatic recall updates for their vehicles.  Those who wish to register for the notification service can do so here. 

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) recently announced that dozens of 2012 model year vehicle models will be tested as part of the agency's enhanced 5-star safety ratings program.

Among the 74 vehicles that NHTSA will rate for the 2012 model year are passenger cars, sport utility vehicles, vans, and pickup trucks from a variety of manufacturers.

A list of the vehicles selected for crash and rollover testing in model year 2012 is available here.  NHTSA said that many 2012 model year vehicles have already been tested, including vehicles that had carry-over designs from 2011.

Last year NHTSA revamped its five-star rating program to include tougher crash tests and provide a single “overall safety score” for each vehicle based on frontal crash, side crash and rollover resistance tests. The testing program also now provides details on "crash avoidance" technologies like lane departure warning (LDW) and forward collision warning (FCW).

Wheels clients should keep in mind that safety rating information is provided as part of FleetView’s new Selection Modeler tool, which allows you to balance total cost, safety, and fuel economy when deciding on vehicles that best meet your “must have” selector needs.  Please contact a member of your account team for more details on how this exciting new tool can help you drive your vehicle selector decisions. 

Please keep in mind that odometer disclosure statements are available to review and submit online. You will find the statements in the FleetView section Reporting & Analysis: Dashboard: Approvals where you can review and edit or approve odometer disclosure statements for sold vehicles.

The report entitled Odometer Disclosure in the Reporting & Analysis: Reports: Expenses section allows you to view any online disclosures which you have edited, approved, or not yet reviewed within any date range you wish. The approval tool lets you drill down to the detail behind each record as desired.

Please note that these statements are required by law to accompany sold vehicles. If you have any questions, please contact a member of your account team.