24313-921-003 Rod Grommet on 2040-parts.com

General Motors fires back at Volkswagen

General Motors issued a terse response this week to published comments by Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn, who suggested to the German press that Opel could be sold to a Chinese competitor. Detroit-based GM called Winterkorn's comments “regrettable” and accused him of “fanning speculation.” Opel was nearly sold to Magna and Russian investors in the wake of GM's 2009 bankruptcy. But then-CEO Ed Whitacre and the corporate board reversed that decision, igniting controversy from German political and labor leaders who have long chafed under American oversight.

Webinars: Visualization & Digital Effect Creation with Autodesk

Car Design News hosted Visualization & Digital Effect Creation with Autodesk on February 9, 2011. This webinar explored how effective communication is key to 'selling' a particular design internally, and provided information on how to get your vision across using Autodesk Showcase, with an emphasis on materials, cross-sections and environments. We all know that a beautifully-rendered image captures the emotion of a design idea; convincing animations and digital effects place the product in a realistic environment and depict consumer interaction, making the design credible and relevant to the target consumer.

Toyota says data show drivers stepped on the wrong pedal

Toyota Motor Corp. says data from black boxes it has inspected show that many drivers were pressing on the throttle, not the brake pedal, during unintended-acceleration events. Over the past four month, Toyota has investigated about 2,000 reports of unintended acceleration.