VW Said to Reach U.S. Deal to Fix Most Tainted Audi Diesels

Volkswagen AG has reached an agreement with U.S. environmental regulators to fix or buy back around 80,000 Audi, VW and Porsche vehicles with tainted 3-liter diesel engines, nearing a resolution on a key aspect of the emissions-cheating scandal, people familiar with the discussions said.

Under an accord with the Environmental Protection Agency and California’s Air Resources Board, Volkswagen would get the go-ahead to fix some 60,000 vehicles and offer to repurchase about 19,000 older models that would be too complex to repair, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the talks are confidential. The recall plans involve a simple software update, and avoiding a full buyback of all the cars would save the company about $4 billion, the people said.

While Volkswagen has agreed to pay an industry-record $16.5 billion to resolve issues involving about half a million 2-liter diesel cars, it has struggled to reach an agreement over the larger engines. A deal would be a significant step toward emerging from a crisis that erupted last year when the company admitted that about 11 million diesel cars worldwide were outfitted with a “defeat device” to game U.S. environmental tests. read more »

Mazda recalls 70,000 cars in the U.S.

Mazda Motor Corp will recall about 70,000 of its RX-8 sports cars from model years 2004 to 2008 in the United States because of an issue with fuel pump sealing rings that may leak and catch fire, U.S. safety regulators said on Tuesday. read more »

Fatal Seattle 'duck boat' crash blamed on mechanical failure –NTSB

A failed front axle on an amphibious "duck boat" led to a deadly Seattle collision between the vehicle and a charter bus that killed five international students, the National Transportation Safety Board found on Tuesday.

The September 2015 incident on the city's busy Aurora Bridge increased scrutiny of the boat-buses, which have been involved in several deadly crashes in recent years.

The NTSB said the front axle failure resulted from a manufacturing error by the company that built the vehicle, Ride the Ducks International Inc. The board also faulted the tour company, Ride the Ducks of Seattle, for not ensuring proper maintenance.

"The chain of events leading to this crash began years before the crash," NTSB Chairman Christopher Hart said at a board meeting. "Our investigation found missing layers of safety oversight in the way that (amphibious passenger vehicles) are manufactured and maintained." read more »