Audi Recalls 62,000 Older Models for Dangerous Takata Airbag Problems

by Gabrielle DeSantis

Audi has recalled 62,000 of its older models to replace defective Takata airbags on the driver’s side, which can kill occupants. The cars, ranging from 2000 to 2002 model years, are the latest round after an earlier massive campaign urging automakers to replace faulty Takata airbags. If you own an older TT convertible, TT coupe, A4, or A4 sedan, your car could be among those recalled. 

Which Audi vehicles are affected by the recall? 

Audi recalled 106,000 of its older models to fix faulty Takata airbags last year, which have now become all too famous for the wrong reasons. The airbags in the recalled cars contained non-azide driver frontal airbag inflators (NADI) and were last manufactured on Aug. 21, 1999. 

BMW, Honda, Acura, Toyota, Mitsubishi, and Isuzu are some of the other automakers who have already issued recalls for vehicles with this type of airbag. According to sued recalls for vehicles with this type of airbag. Audi has recalled more vehicles with similar airbags. According to Consumer Reports, Audi has recalled more vehicles with similar airbags. However, while the earlier recall involved 1998 to 2001 model years, this time it involves models made between 2000 and 2002. 

The following are the specific vehicles that Audi has recalled: 

  • 2000 to 2001 Audi TT coupe models with manufacture dates spanning from January 10, 2000, to Sepember 1, 2000
  • 2000 to 2001 Audi TT roadster models with manufacture dates spanning from February 8, 2000, to September 12, 2000
  • 2000 to 2002 Audi A4 and S4 sedan and wagon models with manufacture dates spanning from Januarge 10, 2000, to August 13, 2001

NADI airbags are on the driver’s side and pose a serious risk to occupants. Their problem is attributed to excessive moisture in the airbags’ inflators, which causes the airbags to deploy improperly or with excessive force during a crash.  

What you should do if your Audi is affected

When Audi issued the first recall for models with the NADI airbags, it was yet to offer replacement inflators. However, this time the automaker has availed replacement airbags of a different design at its authorized dealerships. All you need to do is drive in and get a new airbag, free of charge. 

You can contact the car manufacturer’s customer service at 800-253-2834 if you need further clarifications. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has announced the number for this recall is 21V470 on their website. Volkswagen is also conducting a similar recall with a different number: 69CJ. 

The earlier massive recall was more serious 

While the current recall should be taken seriously, it certainly cannot be compared to the massive recall that proceeded it, involving up to 19 car brands. The earlier recall also has huge notoriety, which arose from a series of fatal accidents caused by exploded airbags. Automotive News reported that it started in November 2008 with 4,000 2001 Honda Civic and Accord models.

However, it was not until after 2009 that it started hitting the headlines after a Takata airbag in a 2001 Honda Accord exploded and killed a teenager after sending metal fragments into their neck. Since then, the faulty airbags have been linked to 250 injuries and 17 more deaths in the U.S. alone. 

NHTSA attributes the problem to faulty foil seals for the earlier recall. The malfunctions allow moisture in the ammonium nitrate Takata used as the propellant to inflate their airbags. The agency also said the ammonium nitrate in Takata’s inflators is not phase-stabilized. The explosive force in the faulty airbags could have been lesser if the company had used Phase-stabilized ammonium nitrate (PSAN). Experts believe that vehicles driven in hot and humid areas could be more at risk.  

As many as 63 million vehicles could have gotten the defective airbags at manufacture. Up to 43 million of those cars are under recall, and a majority have been fixed. However, NBC reports that about 11 million others could still be on the road with the faulty airbags. To check if your vehicle is affected, you can enter your vehicle identification number (VIN) on NHTSA‘s Recalls Lookup Tool. 

RELATED: Jeep Grand Cherokee Recall: Engine Failure Could Result From Sensor Fault

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Nissan Might Be the Most Vegan-Friendly Car Brand Around

by Gabrielle DeSantis

Dedicated vegans avoid eating meat and dairy products, and they don’t visit zoos. People who embrace an all-plant philosophy also don’t wear fur, wool, silk, and leather. However, it’s impossible to purchase a car not made with any animal products. But so far, Nissan seems to make the most vegan-friendly cars around.

The zero-emissions Nissan Leaf and Leaf e+

Nissan logo | Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Touted by LiveKindly as a relatively vegan-friendly ride, the sleek and sporty Nissan Leaf leads the way in all-electric car options. With a range of up to 168 miles of city commuting and close to 240 miles on the open road per charge, the Leaf also boasts B and Eco modes that provide regenerative braking to help charge the battery while you’re traveling.

In 2019, the eco-friendly Nissan Leaf was named Car of the Year by reviewers at Stuff magazine, Nissan announced. Lauding the Leaf’s pioneering vision for an emissions-free, all-electric future, Stuff’s editor-in-chief, James Day, exclaimed:

“Nissan’s Leaf has been a trailblazer for electric vehicles ever since its inception, and the latest model comes packed with a number of smart driver aids that guarantee massive grins when getting from A to B.”

Stuff’s previous Car of the Year winners include the Tesla Model X and the Jaguar I-Pace.

Charging, simplified

Nissan hasn’t made a totally vegan vehicle yet, but the company has made it easy to charge the no-emissions Leaf electric car. Compatible with Android and iPhone, the NissanConnect in-dash infotainment screen included in every Leaf provides a real-time estimated driving range map and up-to-the-minute info about energy consumption and where to find nearby charging stations. Once hooked up to a charger or plugged into a wall, the Nissan Leaf refills its battery in practically record time.

The NissanConnect web portal and phone apps provide much of the same information as the dashboard, along with a detailed rundown of CO2 savings, miles traveled, and battery status. There is a vehicle-locator function, too. NissanConnect is especially valuable to first-time EV owners, PC Magazine reports.

Nissan is poised to roll out an even more vegan-friendly car

Vegan futurists will be pleased to know that Nissan pledges to outfit its entire lineup with cruelty-free vegan leather seats by 2022, said company design director, Giovanny Arroba who revealed the 2022 Nissan IMs concept car at the North American International Auto Show in 2019. Arroba told Rubber & Plastic News that vegan leather won’t compromise the brand’s luxury feel:

“We wanted to get a premium feeling, and that’s usually always leather. We captured that, I think, with a synthetic version.”

Eco-conscious driving and vegan-friendlier cars

Every car on the road today contains a portion of animal byproducts, some of which are more conspicuous than others. Luxurious leather interiors are an obvious use of animals, but they’re not the only car components that may exploit animals. Tires, for instance, are typically made with stearic acid from cows to aid vulcanization and build stronger tires.

Floor mats are often made of mohair, and the steel used to form auto chassis is moved through factories with beef tallow as a lubricant. Nissan is doing its best to ease away from animal exploitation in its manufacturing processes, but LED screens, such as those found in the Nissan Leaf and other eco-conscious cars, are made with animal cholesterol.

So what are vegans to do? They can practice eco-friendly driving. Here are a few suggestions from Mother Earth Living:

  • Carpool as often as you can
  • Drive an electric car
  • Drive with a light foot, and don’t make “jackrabbit” starts
  • Keep your tires properly inflated
  • Make a habit of regular maintenance
  • Plan a circuit of errands before you go

Small changes in your driving habits today can go a long way toward conserving natural resources and keeping the skies above Planet Earth clean for generations to come.

RELATED: Does the Nissan Leaf Qualify for the EV Tax Credit?

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MotoAmerica Superbike Racer Jake Gagne Is “Always Open to Anything”

by Gabrielle DeSantis

Some high-end sportbikes have enough speed, power, and tech to transcend their segment for ‘superbike’ territory. But that word means something different in the world of motorcycle racing. There’s an entire ‘Superbike’ class, that, in the US, is organized by the same organization that runs King of the Baggers: MotoAmerica. And recently, MotorBiscuit sat down over Zoom to talk with the Superbike racer that’s leading the 2021 season, Jake Gagne.

What makes MotoAmerica Superbike different from World Superbike and MotoGP?

Racers in a MotoAmerica HONOS Superbike race | MotoAmerica

While MotoAmerica Superbike isn’t King of the Baggers, superficially, it arguably resembles MotoGP. Also, it’s not the only ‘Superbike’ racing series. Outside of the US, there’s also the World Superbike series, often shortened to ‘WSBK.’ Given that all three series involve leather-clad competitors scything around racetracks on what appear to be sportbikes, some confusion is understandable.

However, while MotoAmerica Superbike and World Superbike are fairly similar, they’re different from MotoGP. MotoGP bikes “are essentially prototypes,” CarThrottle says. Jake Gagne concurred with that sentiment in our recent call, saying, “The whole bike is basically a prototype.” True, a handful of manufacturers have made road-legal versions of their MotoGP motorcycles. But they’re essentially the F1 cars of the motorcycle racing world.

In contrast, MotoAmerica and World Superbike motorcycles “are based on production bikes,” Jake Gagne explained. They use stock frames and “a lot of the stock motor parts,” he says. That doesn’t mean Superbike teams can’t use some one-off racing parts. But it means the average MotoAmerica Superbike is more like the Triumph Daytona 765 Moto2 than a Ducati Desmosedici RR. In other words, Superbikes are closer to what the average rider can buy at a dealer than MotoGP bikes.

That being said, World Superbike isn’t identical to MotoAmerica Superbike, though the two series have similar regulations. For one, not every manufacturer that competes in WSBK competes in MotoAmerica, and vice versa. And the ones that do often have different electronics for their bikes, RevZilla says. Plus, the two series use completely different tires, Cycle World explains.

Jake Gagne has raced on dirt, track, and the road—on both sides of the pond

Jake Gagne taking his blue MotoAmerica Superbike Yamaha R1 around the corner of a racetrack
Jake Gagne on his MotoAmerica Superbike Yamaha R1 | Brian J. Nelson/MotoAmerica

If you’re looking for someone to directly compare World and MotoAmerica Superbikes, Jake Gagne is an excellent choice. That’s because he’s competed in both. Plus, he briefly appeared in Moto2.

Naturally, though, Jake Gagne didn’t start out as a Superbike racer. But he did start riding early, right around the age of 5. He started out on dirt bikes and quickly started competing in motocross events. Then, when he was 14, Gagne joined the Red Bull Rookies, an introductory road racing program for MX and flat-track riders.

Jake Gagne with his Yamaha R1 MotoAmerica Superbike in the gravel run-off area of a racetrack
Jake Gagne with his Yamaha R1 MotoAmerica Superbike | Yamaha Racing

He did “a year in the US, a couple [sic] years in Europe” with the program, winning the Rookies Cup in 2010 and racing in Moto2 as a wild card. After that, he competed in the AMA Sportbike and MotoAmerica SuperStock 1000 series. And after a brief stint in WSBK in 2018, Jake Gagne rejoined MotoAmerica Superbike.

The 2021 season sees Gagne competing on a Yamaha R1 with the Fresh N’ Lean Attack Performance team. And as of July 11th, 2021, he’s won nine straight races. However, he’s “always open to anything.” And that includes seeing more WSBK racers coming to the States, and MotoAmerica Superbike riders getting a chance to compete in Europe.

What does a racer like Jake Gagne ride?

As noted earlier, MotoAmerica Superbikes are relatively close to their showroom counterparts. For the R1, that’s the Yamaha YZF-R1 and YZF-R1M, the latter of which offers multiple carbon parts and semi-active Ohlins suspension, Cycle World notes. And the sportbikes are indeed comparable to the race bike.

Jake Gagne has ridden “a couple of stock [YZF-R1s] on different tracks.” And “every time,” he says, he’s amazed by “what those bikes can do completely stock.” He’s especially impressed with their electronic features, such as traction control, wheelie control, “and all that type of stuff to tame the bike a little, ‘cause they do have so much power.” To be sure, the stock suspension “is a lot softer,” for added on-road comfort. Overall, though, he’s “really surprised at how well stock bikes can really roll.”

But while he rides race and street-stock R1s on various tracks, Jake Gagne doesn’t ride them on the street. He also doesn’t own a stock YZF-R1, nor does he ride his Yamaha race bike as often as you’d think. However, he says that this isn’t unusual. Apart from some testing, training, and race weekends, the racers don’t ride their race bikes. That being said, they don’t lose the necessary skills in the interim period.

In the meantime, Jake Gagne, like other MotoAmerica Superbike, WSBK, and MotoGP riders, regularly trains to have enough energy to stay on the bike. His regimen includes weight training and mountain biking. And while he doesn’t ride on the street, he does ride dirt bikes from time to time.

Where can you watch the races?

Besides earning a ninth win, the July 11th race also had Jake Gagne compete on one of his favorite tracks, Laguna Seca. The next MotoAmerica Superbike race takes place over the July 30th-August 1st weekend at Brainerd International Raceway in Minnesota.

If you want to cheer Gagne or another racer on, but can’t get to the track, there are online alternatives. One is MotoAmerica’s streaming service, Live+. Weekend races also go live on Fox Sports, FS1, and FS2. Who knows, maybe seeing showroom-style bikes racing around corners could inspire someone else to pick up a track bike.

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RELATED: The Yamaha YZF-R7 Sportbike Returns With an MT-07 Heart

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Morgan Stanley Is Pretty Sure Tesla Will End Up Getting Into Electric Aircraft

by Gabrielle DeSantis

Tesla does everything, or at least it seems that way sometimes. Between their electric cars, SpaceX and solar panels, it isn’t hard to let your imagination run with the possibilities of what could come next. According to Morgan Stanley, it isn’t just possible, it’s likely that Tesla electric aircraft will be a thing at some point. 

Tesla CEO Elon Musk | Britta Pedersen-Pool/Getty Images

What is Morgan Stanley suggesting?

According to Yahoo News, Morgan Stanley released a report that states it believes it’s unlikely that Tesla won’t go into electric aircraft. Yes, that’s a little confusing, because it isn’t saying that Tesla is going into electric aircraft, just that they’re probably not not going to. This may not be surprising to anyone who pays attention to all of the ways that Tesla has expanded. Or read Elon Musk’s tweets. He’s known for tweeting his thoughts and ideas and speculations, and at least a few of those are about aircraft. 

Morgan Stanley is fully aware of the fact that Tesla is not suggesting that they go into aircraft. In fact, their own report states, “We must acknowledge that Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) management has, to date, openly discouraged speculation around their involvement in eVTOL/UAM. So, that’s it then. … We’ll have Teslas on our roads, underground in tunnels … on Mars. But not in Earth’s skies? Well … we’re not convinced.”

It’s not an illogical conclusion. Tesla will go to Mars, but skip the space in between? It would be so tempting to get an electric aircraft into the sky, and to cut down on the hugely detrimental effects of aviation fuel. 

Morgan Stanley isn’t telling people to rush out and buy Tesla or anything

In its report, Morgan Stanley wrote, “In our view, the chance that Tesla does not ultimately offer products and services to the eVTOL/UAM market is remote.” The eVTOL/UAM market stands for Electric Vertical Take-Off and Landing, and Urban Air Mobility.

Rather, Morgan Stanley is just saying that they believe that Tesla won’t be able to stay out of the sky, and that might be something that investors want to consider. 

Tesla isn’t the only potential company in the electric aviation industry

Yahoo also notes that Tesla isn’t the only company considering electric aviation (though at this point, Tesla isn’t really considering it). Hyundai and General Motors are both working on electric aviation. There are multiple examples of flying cars being designed and showcased these days. 

Still, it’s important to remember that Tesla itself hasn’t said anything about entering electric aviation. With all of the things they have going on, it would be impressive if they could also launch an electric aviation company. It also wouldn’t be surprising, considering all that Tesla seems to be working on at any given moment. 
Until we hear official confirmation that Tesla is getting involved in electric aviation, it’s just speculation. And although it can be tempting to think, why wouldn’t they, that isn’t quite the same as saying, they are.

RELATED: Here’s What Tesla’s Newly Released Full Self-Driving Beta V9 Is Like

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