Ford puts Volvo up for sale

Having spent most of the last twenty years carefully building up a portfolio of Prestige European car makers, including Jaguar, Land Rover, Aston Martin and Volvo, the last of these, Volvo, has now been put up for sale by Ford. This hardly comes as a surprise when you see the precarious state of Ford. It’s busy going cap-in-hand to the US government looking for a bail out, and selling off Volvo could add several hundred million pounds to its decimated balance sheet.

Chrysler issues recall for steering-column fix

Buyers of 11,351 Chrysler products will be getting a recall notice to fix a problem in the steering column. The recall covers 2011 models of the Chrysler 200 sedan and convertible and the Town & Country minivan; the Dodge Avenger sedan, the Caliber, Nitro and Journey SUVs, and the Grand Caravan minivan; and the Jeep Compass, Liberty, Patriot and Wrangler SUVs. The steering column in some of those vehicles might be missing a pivot rivet, or the rivet may have been installed incorrectly.

Ford offers Sync download for voice control of smartphone apps

Ford Fiesta owners can download Sync Applink for hands-free voice control of smartphone applications while driving. Sync extends app functionality to the car using voice and steering-wheel controls. It offers a better alternative to manually controlling apps while driving.