Acdelco Oe Service 15-30419 A/c Valves Misc-a/c Service Valve on 2040-parts.com

July 15: Bars and potholes

Last night I wound up leaving the office around midnight. With traffic finally cleared off the Santa Monica Freeway I flew down the road at between 105 and 115 km/hr. That's 65 to 71 mph.

Toyota, Honda, Nissan and Mazda recall 3.4 million cars over Airbag fault

As recalls go, 3.4 million cars around the globe is a big number, but it’s that big because a parts supplier - Takata Corp – supplied the same airbag part to Toyota, Honda, Nissan and Mazda, so the recall involves all four Japanese car makers. The part at fault could cause the airbag inflator to rupture and deploy the airbag abnormally, although there have been no reports of injuries due to the potentially faulty part and just five reports of the fault existing – three in the US and two in Japan. In the UK the number of cars affected – and do note the recall only affects cars sold between 2000 and 2004 – appears to be about 75,000 for Toyota, 60,000 for Nissan, 15,000 for Honda and 2.000 for Mazda, and all four car makers will be getting in touch with owners during the next month to book their cars in for free replacement of the part.

Farewell Jim Marshall, 1936-2010: Legendary photographer and a true car guy

Jim Marshall--friend, rock photography legend and occasional AutoWeek contributor--died on March 24 in his sleep at the W Hotel in Manhattan. Marshall, 74, was scheduled to speak that night at the John Varvatos store in SoHo in New York, and work from his new book, Match Prints, was to be shown beginning on March 26 at Staley-Wise Gallery, also in SoHo. Marshall began his career in 1960, a time he used to say was "the beginning of something special." Boy, was he right.