Mercedes brings back the V8 across its model range, Tesla gets sued over alleged phantom braking incidents, Honda and LG plan to build a new $4.4 billion EV battery plant in America. All this and more in today’s issue of The Morning Dump.
Welcome to The Morning Dump, bite-sized stories corralled into a single article for your morning perusal. If your morning coffee’s working a little too well, pull up a throne and have a gander at the best of the rest of yesterday.
Mercedes-Benz Brings Back The V8 For 2023
When it was announced that Mercedes was largely discontinuing its four-liter biturbo V8 for 2022 models due to claimed supply chain issues, I couldn’t help but feel a bit sad. Sure, it’s not an attainable engine for most people, but it’s one amazingly potent powerplant that makes a wonderful baritone growl in AMG applications.
Fortunately, things seem to have turned around at Mercedes-Benz. I’m pleased to report that four-liter V8 availability is back in full swing for 2023. According to a Mercedes-Benz media release, almost every temporarily discontinued 2021 V8 model is back, save for the C63 AMG sedan (the C-Class sedan is now in a new generation), and the AMG GT sports car.
Considering Mercedes-Benz’s big electric push, it may seem a bit strange to celebrate the return of a V8 dinosaur. What can I say, a good engine is a good engine and the days of soulful V8s really are numbered. While the engine’s return is good news for Mercedes seeing as high-margin models are heading back to dealerships, it also means that some of our favorite dream machines are back on the menu. I mean come on, who hasn’t fancied an AMG E63 wagon at some point?
Tesla Sued Over Alleged Phantom Braking Problems
Ever since Tesla switched to vision-based advanced driver assistance systems, owners have been reporting incidents of sudden, unintended braking. After an astonishing number of complaints from owners, Reuters reports that one Tesla owner has filed suit against the company over phantom braking, with the possibility of going full class action.
Tesla has rushed its autonomous driving cars to market with unsafe technology, including its driver assistant system which the company calls Autopilot or Full Self-Driving, and its emergency braking system, according to the lawsuit by Jose Alvarez Toledo of San Francisco.
“When the sudden unintended braking defect occurs, they turn what is supposed to be a safety feature into a frightening and dangerous nightmare,” said Toledo’s lawsuit, which was filed on Friday in federal court in the northern district of California.
The lawsuit seeks class action status for all U.S. owners or leasors of a Tesla that suffers from the sudden unintended braking defect.
Needless to say, phantom braking is a pretty significant safety hazard, essentially automatically brake-checking trailing drivers. It’ll be interesting to watch this suit develop and see if it gets granted class action status. While automatic emergency braking can be worthwhile if it works properly, malfunctioning automatic emergency braking sounds rather terrifying. It’s worth noting that Tesla isn’t the only manufacturer to receive complaints of phantom braking, but it’s certainly the most prolific offender in recent history, judging by hundreds of complaints owners have made to NHTSA. It’s likely wishful thinking, but I hope something happens that causes Tesla to take its advanced driver assistance systems seriously. This suit likely won’t be the catalyst for that, but stranger things have happened.
Automatic Emergency Braking Systems Struggle With Nighttime Pedestrian Avoidance
Speaking of automatic emergency braking, new Insurance Institute for Highway Safety night testing reveals that advanced driver assistance systems aren’t great at avoiding pedestrians at night. In a recent test of 23 vehicles, only four scored top marks, while four failed to avoid collisions with dummies in every test procedure. What’s more, it turns out that even the better automatic emergency braking systems couldn’t avoid a pedestrian along the roadside if the vehicle was traveling 37 mph. Here’s what the IIHS has to say.
None of the advanced-rated vehicles were able to avoid impacts in the 37 mph parallel scenario. With their high beams, most avoided hitting the pedestrian in the 12 mph and 25 mph crossing scenario and in the 25 mph parallel test. However, most struggled in those scenarios when using their low beams.
“Eight of the 12 vehicles that earn a basic rating or no credit in the nighttime test got superior or advanced ratings in the daylight evaluation,” says David Aylor, vice president of active safety at IIHS, who designed the new program.
What’s more, nighttime performance doesn’t even appear to be consistent by manufacturer. The Honda Accord scored a mid-grade rating of Advanced, while the Honda Pilot failed the tests altogether. A more dramatic split can be seen between the top Superior rating of the Nissan Pathfinder and the failure of the Nissan Altima. Considering these results, it’s genuinely disconcerting how automakers have heavily marketed automatic emergency braking as a safety net. As with all active safety systems, automatic emergency braking is very much fallible and needs to be treated as if it can’t replace safe driving.
Honda And LG To Build American Battery Plant
Before every manufacturer can gear up to crank out a ton of EVs, manufacturers will first need to source a ton of batteries. In unsurprising but still pleasant news, Automotive News reports that Honda and LG will spend $4.4 billion on a new American EV battery plant.
The move, announced on Monday in a statement, will establish a joint venture battery plant with annual capacity for about 40 gigawatt hours of pouch-type lithium ion batteries.
The power packs will be supplied exclusively to Honda in North America, though LG Energy Solution and Honda said the location of the plant has not yet been finalized.
Construction is slated to start in early 2023 with mass production beginning by the end of 2025.
An American battery facility for Honda products makes a lot of sense considering the extent of Honda’s American assembly operations and the industry-wide trend of adhering to manufacturing stipulations in the Inflation Reduction Act. Moving battery pack production closer to assembly plants could reduce shipping costs and ensure that Honda gets the full $7,500 EV credit depending on where materials are sourced from. Honda expects to have its new electric architecture ready for 2026, so having an American battery plant online by the end of 2025 sounds about right.
I’m interested to know where Honda and LG eventually choose to build their battery plant. The automaker will likely want easy shipping to its Alabama, Ohio, and Ontario, Canada plants, so somewhere in the rust belt feels like a logical choice.
The Flush
Whelp, time to drop the lid on today’s edition of The Morning Dump. It’s a rainy Tuesday here in Toronto, so let’s do some daydreaming. Let’s say you’re given $5,000 to spend on your car. How would you spend it? Would you splurge on a full suspension refresh, have some cosmetic work done, or splash out on something else?
Lead photo credit: Mercedes-Benz
It looks like Ohio or Indiana are likely landing spots for the battery plant: https://www.insideindianabusiness.com/articles/ohio-indiana-eyed-for-ev-battery-plant#.Yw4Q2gADFUQ.linkedin.
“The Honda Accord scored a mid-grade rating of Advanced…”
Really? A mid-grade rating is called “Advanced”? Shouldn’t it be called “Average” or “Satisfactory” or something like that?
If I had an extra $5k to spend on the Triumph GT6 EV conversion, I think I’d track down a LeMans bonnet from the now defunct Jigsaw racing, and put the rest toward the purchase of a Tesla Model 3 drive system(would cost more than $5k). This thing needs some nice slippery aero and a more efficient motor for the purpose of maximizing both range and performance.
Definitely a full round of suspension refresh and some other odds and ends for the family hauler(mazda5). Rear springs would get an upgrade to cx7 lowering springs for the increased spring rate with almost no ride height change. New struts and shocks, lots of bushings (some poly, like the sway bar), new swaybar links, possibly new wheel bearings if they look original, etc. Then some engine mounts, new (matching oe) coil packs, coolant flush, some dynamat for anyplace i can sneak it in, and then a good detail. Oh and some weather tech style floor mats.
The car is in fine shape, but if I’ve got the cash to burn on it, might as well take care of everything that it could need or would make it a better ride.
$5000 to spend on my car? That’d pretty much pay it off. So I’d pay it off.
$5000, easy. I’ve already got the 2012 CTS with a 6 speed, but the 3.slow engine. My goal is to build a small block before I hit 50 (5 years away) and convert it to a CTS-V. A free $5k would simply accelerate said project, if not actually allow me to do it. Sleeper-V, my dream before the world goes electric.
5,000, hmm, which car? I think I would pay someone to install a Holley Sniper kit on the 68 camaro. Full exhaust replacement on the Scout, and probably another sniper kit for that truck.
$5k? That’s more than what my Cruze is worth. Rational me would bank it in a high interest bond or CD. Then use the next 18 months to figure out which EV to use it as a down payment on. Irrational me would detail it, track down the unobtanium Eco specific springs to have as replacements, replace all the bushings, new shocks/struts, swap in a newer engine, rebuild the (manual) transmission, refresh the interior with a new shift knob and steering wheel, and get the stone chips touched up.
My DD is a 2002 Silverado six. I wouldn’t put $5k into it, but if you *gave* me $5k, I’d swap in a nice 6.0 or 6.2. Zoom!
$5K on my 15 year-old Corolla? Nuh-uh. I’d take the five, ditch my snooze-mobile, and use the total for at least a down payment on something I might actually enjoy driving. I mean, transportation is all well and good, and the radio and A/C work, but I’ve driven too many Real Cars over the years to be totally satisfied.
Wouldn’t be a Tesla, BTW. An electric car would fit my current low-mileage lifestyle, but The various Tesli I’ve seen, and the stories I’ve heard about them, make them cars for someone else. What I want is more driver involvement, so FSD, automatic braking, and the rest of the lot leave me cold.
I’m old enough to remember the Mercedes-Benz E500/500E, and that one hit it out of the ballpark. Thomas’s five grand might buy me a minor service or two on one….
With $5K to spend, I’d do some maintenance on the Mini. The throw-out bearing is just starting to make some noise…
With $5k, I’d probably do an engine rebuild (or maybe a swap) along with a clutch replacement and put whatever’s left on upgrading suspension components. Change the wheels and tires, swap out all bushings, replace the shocks, and maybe even disc brake convert the rear. If there’s anything left by the end, I’d buy a 3d printer and start looking into badge replacements and small little pieces around the car.
First, I feel you should know I’m actually using The Morning Dump for it’s intended purpose.
Second, my answer to your question is I would go for this conversion, because I’ve already spent many dollars getting my JKU where I want it to be:
https://cdmracing.com/jk-gladiator-conversion-2007-2018/
I would use the remaining money for PDR body work here and there, and get a rooftop tent if I had enough left over.
Courtesy flush please, and some Glade wouldn’t hurt either.
Done and done.
$5k would go a long way toward addressing some of the body issues on my e46. Finally get the front bumper cover fixed and front undertray pieces (torn off by a snow bank) replaced. If there’s any left over maybe get the wheels refurbed and a fresh set of summer tires?
OK, so in case anyone is listening at the big manufacturers, you need a LOT of water to build lithium batteries. Please don’t build these things in places where there is a dearth of fresh water, or it will not turn out well.
Thanks, all the rational people of Earth.
Vegas it is! 😉
Word on the street is Ohio or Indiana. I’ve linked an article in a separate reply.
Theres no one here who is rational.
I’d probably use $5000 to replace the fuel pump on my pickup. Would it be cheating to spend a significant portion on good tools to do that? If that is cheating, the other $4500 could go toward a repaint.
I was not here for yesterday’s “what I did at the weekend” answer ‘cos my weekend was still ongoing. I got home at 8am today having spent the holiday on a farm in Tarrant Hinton. a small village in Dorset.
I’d get my Cherokee updated with WJ front brakes and high steer. That would be about half of it if I paid a shop to do the job. Maybe throw in some ACOS with air bumps as well, or frame stiffeners.
Honda makes more cars in Ohio and Indiana than the other plants, so that might be a greater influence on where they build the plant. Then again – I’m sure whoever wants to give away tax money will “win” like most plant location selections.
$5000 gets me most of the way to an LS-based truck engine swap (maybe a 5.3) for my Blazer.
Same, would use it to 383 the 350 in my 66 and put the leftover into coilovers and some dom tubing for the suspension.
$5000 grand on my cars?
Subaru – Add some DIO options like dimming mirrors, lane departure mirrors, LED interior lights, blue under dash.
DTS – Window Tint (legal), paint/pinstripe correction, new front and rear emblems, fix the torsion bar on the trunk.
With any money left over, if any, full detail and ceramic coating on each.
I wish I could afford an RS6 Avant or AMG E63. They really are the ultimate enthusiast dailies…but I think it’s a double edged sword because all the enthusiast obsession over them has kept prices sky high. You’re just not going to get into a decent used one for less than 60k or so and the new ones are purely toys for the 1% to line up in the private school pickup line.
I salute the folks that take on high mileage/5+ year old AMGs but I’m personally not willing to take on the risk of 4-5 figure repairs that come with that. It’s a shame that there’s a seemingly permanent market gap in the states for a performance wagon that normal people can get their hands on.
I guess there’s always a secondhand Tour X out there but I see wagons that Europe gets and am green with envy. A Golf R wagon would be just about the ideal car for a lot of us…but I’d also be happy to save up for a S4/M340i wagons if they existed here but alas….we can’t have nice things in the states so the compromise I had to make was a performance crossover.
I salute the folks that take on high mileage/5+ year old AMGs
The most epic of these stories. It got to the point where it was known that Mercedes Benz was following the thread.
https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/build-projects-and-project-cars/r63-amg-the-unicorn-of-my-destruction/110824/page1/
Thanks for the share, I’m definitely going to check it out! As I said, nothing but respect to the folks that keep aging German performance cars on the road. I’ll always have a soft spot for the cars since Porsche and Audi were more or less my introduction to cool cars…but I have neither the time nor mechanical wherewithal to take one on that’s past it’s prime.
Man, props to that guy for all that. I’d have dropped in an LS or 2JZ at the first sign of coolant in the oil and just called it a day. Thanks for the link, long read, but fun.
If you’re willing to wade through the bureaucracy of it all, a Canadian market C43 wagon *might* be eligible for importation (it looks like Canadian spec cars, for personal use, are acceptable so long as you can get a letter from the OEM that it meets certain legal requirements). A quick look on Auto Trader looks like you’d be spending about $50k USD for an off-lease one, and except for the wagon-specific bits, it’s otherwise normal US-market Benz parts.
I have a hybrid hatchback (Ford C-max) exclusively used for city driving. So, of course the answer is doing a safari build! Already bought a leveling kit to raise it 2″. Now, just need the time & tools to install it. If I had the extra disposable income, I’d follow it up with some meatier tires, a bull-bar, roof rack & basket.
What about turning the plastic/fabric underbody aero panels into properly sturdy skidplates?
Id like to take a sawzaww to the center of that thing… figure if I can cut the BORON STEEL in the door frames.. then stretch it a good 2′, shove in a Vette Engine.. and do a few burnouts.
AFAIK Tesla phantom braking was happening before the switch to a vision only system, but got worse with the change. It has improved, but Elon needs a good swift kick to the nuts that this lawsuit will hopefully provide to prioritize a better solution.
I got a solution to this.. phantom braking auto vision night bullshit.
Rip it the fuck out.. and go back to doing it yourself.
My truck’s appearance is kinda tired. I’d replace all the body bushings on my own, grab a door skin and maybe a front bumper, then I’d do a complete repaint. Might go a hair over $5000, but if I do enough prep on my own it should be good.