Toyota has a fix for the bZ4X electric crossover, Porsche is now Europe’s most valuable automaker, Ford raises F-150 Lightning’s starting price again. 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.
Toyota Figured Out A Fix For The bZ4X
It’s taken months, but Toyota is finally able to resume sales of its bZ4X electric crossover. If you need a refresher on this alphanumeric soup of a vehicle, don’t worry. We’ve got you covered. Just as Toyota released its first in-house, high-volume electric vehicle for the U.S. market, the wheels literally fell off. According to Toyota’s official defect information report, the Japanese manufacturer found that “After low-mileage use, all of the hub bolts on a wheel can loosen to the point where the wheel can detach from the vehicle.” Toyota ended up offering buyback packages and other compensation like loaner vehicles with free fuel due to this issue of wheels coming loose. It was a disaster, but Automotive News reports that it should finally be over.
Production of the remedied bZ4X was to set resume on Thursday, Toyota Chief Technology Officer Masahiko Maeda said while announcing the fix. Sales in Japan will restart Oct. 26.
U.S. sales will reopen shortly, Maeda said, without offering a concrete timeline. In overseas markets including the U.S, we will resume the sale in a sequential manner,” he said.
It appears that Toyota just didn’t consider vehicle weight and drivetrain torque strongly enough, which seems really odd. From Automotive News:
The fix is rather simple. Here’s word of a remedy, directly from Toyota’s mouth.
For all subject vehicles in the U.S., the hub bolts will be replaced with newly designed hub bolts with washers and the wheels will be replaced with improved ones. The remedy will be provided by Toyota dealers at no cost to the customer.
Hub bolts with washers require a complete wheel bolt redesign to retain thread turns. New wheels are supposed to feature increased friction of the wheel mating service so it grips the hub nicely. It’s definitely strange and confidence-shaking that Toyota overlooked the wheel bolts and mating surfaces on the bZ4X, but a return to showrooms is exactly what Toyota needs given the company’s slow-moving EV plans.
Porsche Is Now Europe’s Most Valuable Carmaker
While an initial price dip is expected with any IPO, Porsche’s back on the upswing quite quickly. Reuters reports that the sports car brand is now the most valuable car manufacturer in Europe.
Although Porsche shares had fallen below its listing price on Monday to 81 euros, in line with a wider fall in markets, they had risen to 93 euros ($91.95) at 1023 GMT, giving the sportscar brand a market valuation of 85 billion euros.
Porsche’s share price regained momentum after investment banks involved in its flotation had purchased almost 3.8 million shares for 312.8 million euros as part of the so-called greenshoe option, designed to support a listing.
The rise pushes Porsche’s valuation beyond Volkswagen’s 77.7 billion euros. Mercedes-Benz DE> comes in third among European carmakers with a 57.2 billion euro valuation, followed by with 47.5 billion euros and Stellantis with 39.7 billion.
Overall, it’s a neat flex for Porsche, although valuation isn’t exactly the most meaningful metric in the world. All it really shows is strong investor confidence, unsurprising given Porsche’s prominence.
The Ford F-150 Lightning Gets Another Price Hike
Ford is once again raising the price of its F-150 Lightning electric pickup truck, although this time it’s only on the base model. Pricing for the fleet-spec Pro trim is up to $53,769 including a hefty $1,795 freight charge. That’s $5,000 more than the price announced in August, which in turn is up $7,100 from the original starting price from when the Lightning first launched. Automotive News was first to break this story, and it reached out to Ford for comment, receiving a fairly standard response.
The spokesman said the Pro trim was the only model to see an additional increase for now, citing “ongoing supply chain constraints and rising material costs.” He said Ford would continue to monitor pricing.
The automaker said that inflation-related supplier costs during the third quarter will run about $1 billion higher than it had expected. Separately, it expected to finish the period with 40,000 to 45,000 unfinished vehicles waiting on parts, most of which will be high-margin pickups and utility vehicles.
Ford likely wants to keep its balance sheet on as even a keel as possible, and increasing base prices is just one tactic the company can use. However, increasing base prices can come at a cost. While the F-150 Lightning definitely features a more traditional form than the upcoming Chevrolet Silverado EV, if Chevrolet sticks close to the projected $40,000 base price, the bowtie electric truck should really put a squeeze on Ford.
GM Settles Allegations Of Violating U.S. Law
The car business is often a predatory one, so it’s not exactly surprising to hear Reuters report that GM Financial has allegedly broken the law in a big way.
GM Financial was accused of violating the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act by illegally repossessing 71 servicemembers’ vehicles and by improperly denying or mishandling over 1,000 vehicle lease termination requests, the Justice Department said in a statement on Wednesday.
GM Financial has agreed to pay $3.5 million to the affected servicemembers and a $65,480 civil penalty to the government, the Justice Department said, adding that the company will pay at least $10,000 to each of the 71 servicemembers who had their vehicles unlawfully repossessed.
Allegedly mishandling more than 1,000 lease termination requests seems absolutely insane, and an effective fine of around $3.5 million dollars feels like a slap on the wrist considering how much of a nightmare this may have been for customers. What’s more, this settlement only covers servicemembers. What about members of the general public? Did they also allegedly get shafted by GM Financial?
The Flush
Whelp, time to drop the lid on today’s edition of The Morning Dump. It’s Thursday, which means that the weekend is just around the corner. Today, let’s talk tools. Beyond the normal sockets, spanners, impact wrenches, and grinders, what specialty tool has saved you the most time and headache in the garage? I might have to go with trim removal tools on this one, for properly removing panels without breaking interior clips has saved me a ton of time running around for replacement clips. What’s your lifesaving specialty tool?
Lead photo credit: Toyota
Is the spam ramping up again? Asking b/c I’ve got a msg on the comment I just posted saying it’s awaiting moderation. Anyone else—or are the Autopian gods just getting tired of my wordiness?
My impact screwdriver is probably my favorite tool not mentioned so far. I bought it (on forum recommendation) for my 126’s door striker plates, but it really paid its’ keep removing those screws some manufacturers use to hold brake drums or rotors on. Surprisingly, I’ve also found it useful for the little bolts holding stuff like TPSs or IACVs.
While that valuation isn’t important, Porsche is still the most profitable because of their famous options like $6000 for color-matched shit
My favorite Tool? I really love Fear Inoculum, but 10,000 Days and Lateralus are great too. Kind of hard to pick.
I’m particularly fond of Ænima and Undertow as well. All of Tool’s work is fantastic! Seen them live half a dozen times since 1996.
I was really hoping Toyota’s ‘stop the wheels falling off’ fix was going to be “install wheel studs, replace wheel bolts with lug nuts” because *they always fucking work*. I know Ze Germans use wheel bolts, but they do everything else the most complicated and stupidest way possible, too. I expected better from Toyota.
Given the amount of reengineering needed, they might as well have.
What specialty tool? Probably my slide hammer – makes removing wheel hubs out of the knuckle absolutely simple compared to any other method.
While perhaps considered “standard”, my 1/2″ air impact gun. BY FAR the leader in timesaving for me, hands down.
Lots of good specialty tools on here. Just to be different, I’ll say my chain wrench. It’s come in handy several times to loosen things that you can’t get ahold of, like over-tightened oil filters, or small-engine pulleys and flywheels.
I don’t know how many times my “magnet on a stick” tool has saved my bacon. Especially when I’ve dropped that damn 10mm socket deep into the bowels of the engine for the umpteenth time.
Supply and demand walk into a bar, where they are joined by shareholder value…
Hilarity ensues
The Flush – The tool I wish I had bought much sooner is a set of flex-head ratcheting wrenches. They are great for getting into tight areas and then finding an angle that things will turn. The ratchet action keeps you from having to reposition the wrench. They have saved me many times.
I finally bought a rolling tool box last year too. I can’t believe how much time it saves me to just have my tools more organized. They have a designated place now, so they end up getting put away, and they are where they are supposed to be when I need them now. It’s helped so much with my tendency to just set stuff down wherever is the nearest flat surface.
My 1/4″ Wera Zyclops wrench, you wouldn’t think it would be like that but it do.
The torque multiplier, which most air-cooled VW folks are familiar with. The rear castle nuts for each wheel get over 200 ft-lbs of torque, but thanks to the power of gears it’s a breeze to take off and re-torque those nuts. It was also instrumental in getting the flywheel nut off. Definitely worth the money, although it appears to cost twice what I paid for it over 11 years ago.
https://www.jbugs.com/product/16-9602.html?utm_content=shopping&gclid=Cj0KCQjw-fmZBhDtARIsAH6H8qgGKNnf4vFKZLNKgh6UmKGKStZPiErP7opcU5HtGcCk1e1AmRMb1V8aAqNfEALw_wcB
Too poor at the time to afford a torque multiplier, the axle nut beater I bought from Gene Berg was about my most important tool for years. Just a 1/2” slab of steel with a hexagonal 36mm cutout on one end and a hole for a 1/2” breaker bar at the other. And large flats flanking the breaker bar end for whaling on with a BFH
My first assignment out of college was at an axle supplier, one of the vehicles had several wheel/suspension changes which increased the moment forces on the axle bearings without thought to the consequences. Despite multiple warnings from our engineers the bearings started shearing the end of the axle which caused the wheels to fall off. The event was described in engineering reports as “loss of wheel retention” which is one of my favorite engineering terms for a catastrophic event.
One tool that has always saved my butt is those extendable magnet wands. Sometimes bolts or tools fall where your hands can’t reach, and its the only way to get them out.
A pass-through socket set has saved my bacon more than once. Although my air powered brake bleeder deserves a shout out too. That tool makes bleeding brakes and clutch lines so much faster and easier it’s ridiculous.
My favorite tool is a reciprocating hand powered valve lapping tool. I use it about twice a year on my 1932 Chevrolet Confederate.
link to an image:
A lot of good options in the comments already and no doubt plenty more to come, but one of the first I can think of is my 18″ breaker bar. A lot of times a fastener that would be difficult, dangerous, or straight up impossible to remove with a normal ratchet can be trivially broken loose with a breaker bar. It’s one of those tools that I went without for many years and now I wonder why.
I am realizing now that maybe this falls under the sockets and wrenches category, but for far too long it wasn’t a standard tool for me so I think it counts.
The Lightning is such a good example of how stupid the “reservation” process is with these cars. You’re basically putting some money down for something you have no idea how it’ll be spec’d, when it will be available, or how much it cost.
Think you’re getting a Pro for $40k (maybe even $33k after the tax rebate?) with 300 miles of range and the ability to back up your house? Eh, actually it’s gonna be 240 miles for about $55k, and if you’re lucky you might actually be able to buy one in ~3 years.
Need that full range & the home backup? Yeah, that’s gonna be more like $95k (including the electrical + backup).
They’ll sell every one that they make, so whatever.
As a Bronco Reservation holder for 2+ years, Ford has given price protection (through ’23, at least). A quick Google shows that Ford is doing the same on the Lightning.
The Reservation process can be a benefit for customers, if it weren’t for the traditional Dealer allocation system. Ford has tried to have their cake and eat it too, leaving a lot of people, like me, stuck in purgatory. Meanwhile, people with more money than brains can go to the bigger dealers and get one for just %20 over the factory-increased MSRP.
My number still hasn’t been called on the lightning – I’m curious to see what my options will be when it is. Highly doubt I’ll go with it, but we’ll see.
My understanding is they’ve done some price protection, but I’d be very surprised if I was able to order at the original pricing.
Best tool in my toolbox that isn’t a wrench or socket set is my OBD II reader. Saved me countless dollars taking the car to a specialist. Now I know what’s wrong and can diagnose and usually fix the problem myself.
I’ve never had to pay to get a code read, Autozone or O’Riley’s do it for free.
I am considering getting a code reader though for the day when I can’t even get something to start up.
Saves a trip to the auto parts store though, and it can give you insight as to what you did wrong when you think you put everything back together just right, and now the car’s running like shit. Also useful for stuff like knowing exactly what rpm you’re idling at, or exactly what your coolant temperature is—dashboard gauges are often extremely imprecise in that area.
My mobile, by a country mile. Being able to look up stuff, study at the University of YouTube or just call someone and yell for help (or stuff I need and don’t have) puts it far above any actual physical tool.
Yes. Brilliant answer. You have all the world’s knowledge at your fingertips. There is an old forum post for damn near everything that can go wrong with a car.
We should all be thankful for those who came before us and populated forums with a vast wealth of DIY knowledge. It’s a bummer that a lot of forums are dying out, or losing members and participation. Apparently there’s been a shift to social media, but that does me exactly no good when I’m in my garage trying to Google an obscure problem.
Pretty much this. For me it’s a dusty old desktop machine in the garage corner closest to the house so I can grab a WiFi signal, but the link to YouTubeU makes it by far the most time-saving device out there.
Plus the capability to mate the mobile with a cheap OBDII dongle and a cheap endoscope.
1). This car has been an absolute disaster for Toyota at a time when it seemed they could do no wrong due to the universal, other-worldly levels of praise heaped on the new GR86, the LC500, the addition of the GR Corolla, etc. Whether or not their hang ups on EVs are valid (it’s up to interpretation) for a lot of buyers their intentional lag in this arena is a really bad look, and this isn’t helping.
2). I wish Porsches would stop being so damn expensive. I got bored and started spec’ing Macans on their site today and Jesus Tap Dancing Christ….the Porsche Tax is very real. Even a moderately equipped Macan with sporty doo dads is pretty much 70k+. As much as I love the brand I don’t think I’ll ever have the privilege of buying one new. Then again talk about a first world problem….
3). As always, the bill winds up in the hands of us regular folks rather than corporations. Ford could sell the Lightning for way cheaper but why would they when people are lining up to buy them and piles of normal folks will be more than happy to take out 8 year loans at 9% APR to get them? Unless you’re willing to take on massive debt, new cars just aren’t going to be an option for the bottom 80% or so of earners in the next 10 years and it’s a damn shame.
Manufacturers are also preying on the emotional reasons that people buy EVs. If someone thinks they’re doing good they’re almost certainly more likely to make a reckless financial decision, and all kinds of “help we make 220k a year and are living paycheck to paycheck because of the payments on our Teslas” articles keep landing in my recommendations. It’s a shame…society’s shift to blaming individuals for the climate crisis has been entirely too effective. But again…why hold corporations accountable when we can guilt trip average Joes into not looking at the big picture?
4). Unfortunately exploiting servicemen and women is a very common stealership tactic. Lots of dealerships near bases have “special” financing that they give to newly commissioned and young folks in the military. They’re a very vulnerable population and car dealerships will never turn down an opportunity to absolutely bend over a customer regardless of laws and ethics. I’ve read horror stories of Dodge dealerships near bases offering young folks in the military Chargers and Challengers at 20% APR or more.
It’s sad and I’m not at all surprised that a purveyor of brodozers like GMC would want in on the action.
The Servicemember’s Civil Relief Act give special consideration to military members who have trouble paying leases, rents, etc. while deployed. It’s not a free ticket to not pay, but rather extra grace if you fall behind while doing what service members often have to do: drop everything and run off to the ends of the earth when duty calls.
The literally life-saving tool I value the most is a good set of ramps. I’d love a lift, but can’t afford one. Ramps allow me to get under my Fiat 500e, Volvo C30 and other low-slung cars I’ve owned and do maintenance/repairs with plenty of clearance and no fear of the car falling off the jack/jack stands. I had a friend in high school who was killed by a car falling off of jack stands, and I’ve always been extra careful ever since.
Yup
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/earthquake-likely-blame-death-man-found-pinned-under-car-nevada-n1028071
“if Chevrolet sticks close to the projected $40,000 base price, the bowtie electric truck should really put a squeeze on Ford.”
Who was projecting this price, and when was it projected? Either Ford is honestly passing on material costs to consumers, in which case Chevy will do the same, or they are blantently gouging their customers, in which case Chevy will also do the same. Either way I’d be highly skeptical of any $40,000 Silverado EV ever hitting the market.
You can buy the $40k Silverado EV at the same place you get a $30k Tesla model 3
That’s the same dealer that has the $39,900 Cybertruck, right?
I think it’s a bit of both. I don’t doubt that material costs are higher due to the ongoing global supply chain mess but the manufacturers are absolutely gouging customers for every nickel and dime they can…and as I said in my comment above, EVs are a really easy place to do this because they’re a hot commodity and an inherently emotional purchase. Plus with the federal tax credits manufacturers are just adding $7500 to the cost of the car anyway.
It is what it is, unfortunately. I hate that so many people of average wealth are getting tricked into deep frying their extra money but at the same time, free market gonna free market. As long as people are willing to overpay there’s no incentive for manufacturers to charge less. I also think it’s going to get even worse when first gen EVs inevitably depreciate like lead balloons and the hundreds of thousands of people who’ve made stretch purchases to afford them are underwater with no way out.
I’m glad that EV technology is improving and I think EVs are a good thing overall, but I don’t think trying to get one of the most desirable ones right now is a wise financial choice unless you’re very wealthy.
Just to add to that, even though I have next to no interest in an EV at the moment, and I’m skeptical of all the claims of massive progress so far or in the near future, I do recognize that all the research is going into them right now. If there is a breakthrough, I wouldn’t want to be stuck holding an inferior model that I paid well over sticker for.
Basically, the extreme downside risk is higher than with an in-demand gas model, IMO. This is separate from other lead balloon pressures on used EVs like battery degradation or replacement costs.
I work for a major supplier, Ford’s inflation adjustment to us was 3%. Ford’s prices are up about 12% (at least on the Mach E my plant manager is waiting on)
Toyota is doing much better in the parallel universe where hydrogen beat batteries in the next-gen fuel race.
Trim removal tools are a good choice. I’ll go with a headlamp. Sure beats trying to hold a flashlight with your teeth.
Hell yes. Putting my headlamp on is practically Step 1 in any kind of automotive work for me. Even when it’s not actually dark where I’m working, shining some extra light on what I’m doing often makes things a great deal easier.