Tesla touchscreen failures, MPG fines, EV fires and first responders: Today’s Car News

Perhaps spurred by the final week of an administration, it’s a morning of green-car news from regulators Washington, D.C. The Trump administration has attempted to delay steeper mpg fines. A large-scale recall of Tesla vehicles for touchscreen issues has been requested by the NHTSA. And the NTSB says that automakers aren’t doing enough about EV risk to emergency responders. This and more, here at Green Car Reports.

 

The federal government has requested a recall from Tesla for failing touchscreen systems

on approximately 158,000 Model S and Model X vehicles. The issue, which affects models starting with the 2012 Model S and ranges through 2018 versions of these vehicles, could lead to a 100% estimated failure rate in 10 years for these screens, which control some safety-critical functions. 

The Trump administration in its final days has reportedly agreed to an auto-industry request to again delay steeper fines for failing to meet federal fuel economy standards

. This follows multiple attempts to overturn a hike in fines that goes back to 2015. 

Although fires occur at a lower rate in electric cars than in gasoline ones, EV fires from high-speed crashes create special risks that aren’t adequately being addressed in automakers’ emergency response guides, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) cautioned Wednesday. 

Over at Motor Authority: VW is gaining on Tesla in global EV sales

. Across all of the brands of the Volkswagen Group, 2020 sales of battery electric vehicles added up to less than half that of Tesla, globally. Although Tesla is up about a third over 2019, VW’s results were triple those of 2019.

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