Earlier reports have indicated that GM’s own engineers spotted trouble with the defective ignition switch as early as 2001, before the production cars even began rolling off assembly lines. Journalists and customers later reported similar issues in 2004 as sales began and accident numbers continued to climb.

Engineers subsequently initiated several investigations over the next few years without taking action, however on May 15, 2009 the company is known to have verified data from “black box” modules recovered from wrecked cars. They found that the ignition switch was in the accessory position in half of the cases, disabling the airbags at the time of impact, according to New York Times research.

Despite the apparently clear link in 2009 between the ignition switch and disabled airbags, potentially on a wide scale, the company still did not move to recall the affected vehicles.

Potentially confusing GM’s own internal investigations at the time, the company’s engineers quietly changed the switch design in 2006. The revision was put into production without changing the part number, against standard industry practice, and unbeknownst to other divisions within the company, according to an Automotive News report. It is unclear if any higher-level executives were involved in this decision, though documentary evidence of such oversight has yet to be submitted to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Despite the internal change to fix the faulty switch, GM’s lawyers are said to have aggressively dealt with several families of occupants killed in accidents that were blamed on a defect.

Driving in South Carolina in 2009, Allen Ray Floyd lost control of his 2006 Cobalt and was killed in the accident. The accident occurred on July 9, just one week before the ‘old GM’ became the ‘new GM’ and automatically became protected from previous liabilities.

“They sent us a letter in September telling us to drop our case or else they’d come after us,” said the family’s attorney in the case, William Jordan. “We looked at the prospect of going into bankruptcy court and duking it out with them and looking at the language of the bankruptcy legislation, and it just seemed to be such a big undertaking.”

Later the same year another driver, Benjamin Hair, died when he lost control of a Pontiac G5 and struck a tree and the airbags failed to deploy. Despite the changed part and internal investigations, his family was allegedly told there was no defect to blame for the accident.

The company is currently facing several lawsuits over its actions. Legislators have called on the federal government to step in and quash the liability shield that was established in 2009, though this will likely require formal litigation in court.

With Jaguar’s XK coupe and convertible range slated to drive off into the sunset this summer, rumors are beginning to emerge concerning what form a successor could take.

According to an Auto Express report, Jaguar will replace the XK with a coupe variant of its next-generation XJ full-size sedan. Stylistically, the car is expected to blend cues from its four-door sibling and the smaller F-Type to create a muscular, yet elegant design.

While unconfirmed by Jaguar, the rumored XJ Coupe would be consistent with comments from the automaker’s design director, Ian Callum, who has suggested that a larger, more luxurious grand touring coupe could take the place of the current XK. Such a strategy could help differentiate the model from the sporty F-Type, which has severely cannibalized XK sales.

If Jaguar ends up green-lighting the XJ Coupe, it likely won’t arrive before 2017 at the earliest, or two-and-a-half years after the XK is discontinued. Besides the need to wait for the next XJ sedan, that gap would also be necessitated by Jaguar’s need to focus on developing other, higher-volume models, namely the XE compact sedan and C-X17-inspired crossover.

Photo by Mark Elias.

Redesigned for 2015, it is said to be Audi’s first model to earn a Top Safety Pick title and the first ever to pass the small-overlap front crash test with a good or acceptable rating.

The small-overlap evaluation, introduced in 2012, is considered the agency’s toughest trial. Vehicles are driven into the edge of a solid barrier at 40 mph, highlighting limitations to certain crumple-zone designs that may otherwise perform well during head-on collisions or moderate-overlap impacts.

“In the small overlap test of the A3, the structure held up well, with a minimal amount of intrusion into the driver’s space,” the agency said in a statement. “The dummy’s movement was well-controlled, and injury measures taken from the dummy indicated a low risk of injury.”

The ‘+’ designation requires a vehicle to demonstrate some form of crash-prevention technology. The A3 features an optional automatic-braking system that successfully avoided a crash in the IIHS 12-mph test.

The all-new A3 is scheduled to arrive in showrooms next month.

The move has been announced just one week after the company confirmed plans to temporarily shut down its Viper production facility in Detroit amid poor sales entering 2014.

“We regretfully and respectfully decline to participate in this year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans,” SRT chief Ralph Gilles said in a statement published by Automobile.

The timing of the Le Mans announcement has naturally fueled speculation that the company is attempting to tighten all expenditures associated with its flagship sports car, which is believed to have sold less than 100 units in the first two months of the year.

The decisions mark ongoing uncertainty in Chrysler’s Viper strategy. The sports coupe was discontinued in 2010 in its fourth generation, then revived last year with an annual sales target of 1,600 units. The push coincided with two Viper GTS-R race cars re-entering Le Mans the same year.

In a follow-up statement, an SRT spokesperson denied that there was a link between the production halt and the racing program. Gilles also noted that the company will still be involved in factory-supported racing in North America.

The YouTube segment simply wraps around the SUV in a dimly-lit room, adding color to what has already been revealed in spy shots of the camouflaged test builds.

The company notes that the redesigned Murano will represent the halo model in its crossover and SUV family, featuring a design language that will be carried forward with future production vehicles.

Separate reports suggest the SUV will be built upon the same platform as the latest Pathfinder and Altima, though the general size is not expected to change significantly from the outgoing model.

A revised version of Nissan’s 3.5-liter V6 and CVT are suspected as the likely powertrain, though a supercharged four-cylinder mill or hybrid system are also viewed as potential options.

The company has scheduled a press conference on April 16 to fully reveal the new Murano.

The company reportedly sold more than 14,000 of the police-edition SUVs last year, marking a 140-percent jump over the previous year. Adding sales numbers for the Taurus-based Interceptor, which rose 31 percent to reach nearly 11,000, data from research firm Polk suggest Ford is landing nearly half of all police vehicle sales in the US.

The SUV is claimed to address a growing need for cargo space to hold equipment, while standard all-wheel-drive and new turbocharged engine options further sweeten the proposition, Ford’s police marketing manager, Jonathan Honeycutt, told the Detroit Free Press.

Originally only available with a naturally-aspirated 3.7-liter V6, producing 304 horsepower and 279 lb-ft of torque, the Explorer Police Interceptor last year added an optional twin-turbo “EcoBoost” V6 that brings the power ratings up to 365 horsepower and 350 lb-ft of torque.

The Explorer PI will soon face renewed competition as General Motors’ 2015 Tahoe police-patrol vehicle (PPV) arrives on the market with a torquier V8.

A new report finds that Mercedes-Benz’ next-generation GL-Class and SL-Class platforms could form the basis of Aston Martin’s future lineup.

With Aston Martin’s VH architecture – which underpins each and every one of its models – now more than a decade old, new platforms are needed for the automaker to remain relevant.

Mercedes Benz, which last July signed an agreement to replenish Aston’s stale parts bin with AMG engines and modern transmissions, is now reportedly considering lending another helping hand by becoming the British brand’s platform supplier.

A volume-boosting SUV, long one of the top items on Aston’s wish list, could become a reality through utilizing the platform of the next GL-Class, an anonymous Mercedes board member revealed to Automobile. Unlike the sleek Lagonda concept of 2009, the luxury utility would have more of a traditional, upright design in the Range Rover mold.

Similarly, the ultra-flexible MSA (Modular Sports Car Architecture) underpinnings earmarked for the next SLK-Class roadster and SL-Class grand tourer could potentially be used for all future non-SUV Aston Martin models, including coupes, convertibles and sedans.

In return for access to its platforms, Mercedes-Benz would likely ask for an increased share of Aston Martin’s stock, the board member suggested. Mercedes currently holds a five percent share that came as part of the powertrain agreement.

Toyota Motorsports has released a slew of official photos and an accompanying video of the 2014 Lexus RC F GT500 race car undergoing testing at Okayama International Circuit in central Japan.

The high-pitched howl is that of turbocharged, direct-injection 2.0-liter inline-fours laying down 500hp, the result of a new set of rules governing the GT500 class of Japan’s Super GT series. Though the newly engineered mills have half the cylinders of last year’s Lexus SC430-bodied racers with their 3.4-liter V8s, the power generated is about the same.

However, in preliminary testing the RC F, along with its rivals the Honda NSX and Nissan GT-R, all surpassed Okayama Circuit’s previous lap record. The fastest run of 1:21.072 was achieved by Hiroaki Ishiura behind the wheel of the number 39 Denso Kobleco RC F.

In total, Lexus will field six two-driver teams for the 2014 Super GT season. Last year’s champions, Yuji Tachikawa and Kohei Hirate, were seen testing their ZENT-sponsored RC F earlier this month, but the solid red livery has been replaced with an eye-catching red-and-chrome graphic treatment.

The first race of the 2014 season kicks off this April 5. Note, however, that this car is different from the 540hp, V8-powered Lexus RC F GT3 that will compete in Europe.