Union vote at Volkswagen plant in Tennessee could be historic

Volkswagen workers may be in the process of unionizing, chatting on the seatbelt in the back seat and resorting to the class action lawsuit. All this and more in The Morning Shift of Friday, June 14, 2019.

1st speed: union or not?

The United Auto Workers union has a notable influence in Detroit, representing the workers of General Motors, Fiat Chrysler and Ford. But with foreign builders, not so much. Workers at the Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee, may soon change that.

This week, workers will vote on the opportunity to unionize. If the vote in favor of unionization is adopted, it will be the first plant to do so with the UAW in the South, reports Reuters, and the first in the United States outside the Big Three. Mercedes, Toyota, BMW and Nissan have all resisted attempts to unionize their factories in the South, aided by anti-union laws on the right to work. (Jalopnik is proudly a union store, and we and our sister sites are represented by the Writers Guild of America East.)

The Volkswagen plant – which currently produces the Passat and Atlas – will see 1,700 workers vote. In 2014, workers voted against unionization, albeit marginally, reports Reuters. any success this time would be the UAW's biggest win in years.

Proponents of unionization say there are "lax health and safety procedures, quality of life issues such as constant last-minute changes in schedules, insufficient and small vacation periods premiums ".

Opponents say it's because of the UAW's federal corruption investigation. What is a fair concern!

"Corruption is a problem for the UAW," said Menendez, a team leader on the $ 23.50 winning line at the hour. "They are more interested in their own company than in the concern of the people."

The vote began Wednesday and will end tonight.

2nd gear: avoid the rear seat if you can

For a very long time, the backseat of a car was considered safer than the front seat. We put our children there. Old people. Babies. But now, a new study reveals that the back seat might no longer be the safest place.

This difference comes down to seat belts. Advances in seat belt technology are well advanced, but have not yet reached the seatbelt level at the rear, reports the New York Times. From the story:

If belts with this best technology are not available in the back seat, people aged 55 and over should sit at the front of newer vehicles equipped with more sophisticated belts, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration .

The researchers said that seat belts in most rear seats do not have these so-called load limiters, which means they can not come off. Thus, in a head-on collision, the belt itself can cause injuries to the chest, abdomen, or spine, according to a new study from the Insurance Institute for Road Safety and Health. Philadelphia Children's Hospital. The researchers investigated frontal collisions that killed or seriously injured 117 rear-seat occupants aged 6 to 92 years.

This is especially important in the case of companies such as Uber and Lyft, where people are sitting at the back. The IIHS said it hoped to have a crash test in the back in 2022, as it does not currently exist. This could encourage automakers to focus more on rear seat safety.

The Times notes that the back seat "has not become more dangerous. The front seats are constantly gaining safety. »Check out which current models have load limiters and pretensioners for the rear seats.

3rd gear: Death Wobble

You have heard of the wavering death, yes? This is a phenomenon that usually occurs in solid-axle cars like Jeeps, a "brutal and unmanageable oscillation of the front wheels, usually caused by a shock or, in some cases, by a strong pressure on the pedal. brake ', as our own David Jeepspert. Tracy wrote some time ago. It's pretty well known in the Jeep community and now the FCA has to go to a class action lawsuit. Well.

The complaint concerns Jeep Wranglers from 2015 to 2018 and was filed Wednesday in Detroit's US District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, according to the Detroit News. He alleges that:

Fiat Chrysler was aware of the problem: "Rather than treating it – or revealing its possibility and / or warning the motorists at the point of sale – the FCA simply states in a press article that the" Death Wobble "does not is not a "safety problem" and that "can happen with any vehicle that has a solid front axle (rather than an independent front suspension), like the Wrangler."

The lawsuit, which was filed on behalf of Claire Reynolds, a New Jersey resident who owns a 2018 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Sport 4×4, accuses the company of offering drivers a "Band-Aid patch" to replace the damper. steering if the vehicle is under warranty.

The lawsuit claims that the problem will ultimately come back and can only be resolved by substantial modifications and suspension relief. Reynolds says the shock was replaced three times in six months and the front of the Jeep was still shaken.

The lawsuit seeks damages from the drivers concerned in the form of a buy-back program forcing the FCA to pay drivers for faulty vehicles and compensation for the loss of vehicle value. He also wants drivers to have replacement vehicles while their repairs are on hold.

The lawsuit also seeks punitive damages "for fraud by the FCA that endangers drivers and members of the public nationally"; asks regulators to order the company to issue a reminder.

FCA stated at the point of sale that it had not been notified of the prosecution and therefore could not comment on the allegations, but noted that "a construction vehicle equipped with a solid axle may experience vibrations of the steering system and if they are experienced, they are systematically corrected. . "

4th gear: boredom

Among the few things I've been driving in the Tesla autopilot and the GM Super Cruise, boredom is one of the problems. Once the initial novelty is gone, you find yourself a little bored at the wheel, because most of what you need to do (steering, braking, gas-freeing and degassing) is not really necessary anymore. This boredom will simply become general as autonomy progresses and spreads.

So, in order to entertain drivers and other passengers of the car, Nissan, Audi and others wish to use virtual reality experiences and talking cartoon characters, according to Reuters. I do not know yet how to react on this subject, but my instinct tells me that it may not be such a good idea!

From the story:

"Once customers no longer need to drive … then the question is what kind of products can we offer to customers inside this car," Boris told Reuters Meiners, Senior Director of Digital Business and Customer Experience at Audi China CES Asia in Shanghai this week.

The Holoride start-up, co-founded by an Audi subsidiary, for example, demonstrated at the show how it wanted to transform road travel into virtual reality (VR) experiences, allowing passengers to swim with whales or through ships sunk in the depths of the sea.

As the car accelerates or moves laterally, the movements are recorded by a computer in the trunk of the car, which adjusts the view of the passenger in the VR goggles accordingly. It also prevents the passenger from suffering from motion sickness.

The Japanese automaker Nissan has introduced a set of protective eyewear for drivers and passengers that can provide real-time information and project a talking cartoon character who communicates with the wearer.

Of course, all this sounds funny, but we are nowhere To close enough to get fully autonomous cars on the road for this to be a concern. And even after that happens, how long will it take for the public to trust cars enough to immerse themselves in a world of virtual reality while moving?

Companies say they recognize this, but also "need to start investing so as to anticipate that vehicles will eventually take shape." Probably to stay ahead of the curve or something? I do not know.

If this world of embedded virtual reality ends up happening, you can rest assured that it will come with commercials and commercials. Because it's the kind of infernal and consumer-driven reality we live in.

5th gear: Volkswagen Trucks

Volvo has Volvo Trucks and Volkswagen in Traton. The latter announced today that it wanted to offer 10% of its truck unit as part of an IPO, according to Reuters, worth up to 1.9 billion euros (about 2.1 billion dollars).

From the story:

The German manufacturer said in a statement that the price of the offer would be 27 to 33 euros per share, which, according to analysts Jefferies, valued Traton at a price slightly lower than competitors in the sector, but a higher price than its Swedish competitor, Volvo.

VW plans to invest the money it draws to develop its electric car portfolio. Earlier this week, we said we could expect some autonomous cars from the VW-Ford partnership.

Volkswagen is really adamant about the problem of electric vehicles. I wonder why.

Reverse: RIP John Woolfe

Famously, the Le Mans 24 Hours races began with a permanent Le Mans start (where drivers raced past their cars after the start of the race). But that changed after the 1969 Le Mans, June 14, when the pilot John Woolfe crashed and died a few moments after the cars took off, because he did not buckle his seatbelt.

The 1970 Le Mans started with drivers already in their cars.

What is the most incredible moment of Le Mans on video?

Le Mans is an endurance test of man and machine at the pace of a 3 hour sprint for 24 hours …

Read more Lily

Neutral: We are having a party this weekend!

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