TTAC News Round-up: Volkswagen Sees a Savior, Goodyear Dreams of Spheres, and Toyota Shakes It Up

An American man will soon enjoy the task of making people love his controversial company again.

That, Goodyear’s been watching I, Robot, Toyota shatters its corporate structure, sentiment grows for better braking, and the feds say the airbag recall has gone far enough … after the break!

Volkswagen hires (they hope) Mr. Fix-It

It’s a promotion, but the job description is a tall order.

Volkswagen of America has selected a new U.S. sales chief, Automotive News reports, and his task will be to reverse both a sales decline and negotiate the company’s ongoing diesel emissions scandal.

Ronald Stach was plucked from Volkswagen’s South Central Region, where he served as director, and has been with the company for a decade.

It’s safe to say Stach will be attending some very long strategy meetings in the near future. Volkswagen sales in the U.S. fell a further 13 percent in February.

Goodyear gazes into the future

Your future car tire might be a round ball that isn’t attached to your car, Goodyear envisions.

The tire maker unveiled its spherical Eagle-360 concept tire this week, designed to cushion future autonomous vehicles while suspending the body of the car via magnetic levitation technology.

Each tire would propel itself via an electric motor, while the 3D printed rubber would contain all the needed tread variations to get your future ride through snow, rain, or apocalyptic battle between man and machines. Sensors would analyze the road surface ahead of the vehicle and pivot the wheel until the right tread design meets the road.

Judging by the attached video, parking might become so blissfully easy that we’ll all forget there still aren’t flying cars.

Toyota plays musical chairs

Toyota is busting up its corporate structure in a bid to stay on top, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Starting this April, the global sales leader will reorganize around different product classes to ensure an efficient, speedy development process.

Toyota sales have topped 10 million for the past two years. Given the size of its operation, a change was needed to keep things humming along.

The move comes just three years after Toyota’s last big shakeup, when it adopted a regional-based structure in 2013.

Putting the brakes on

Automakers are being cagey with promises to install automatic braking systems in their new vehicles, Newsday opines, and it might mean the time has come for the feds to intervene.

The call for government intervention comes after an Associated Press story detailed the many concessions being sought by automakers in talks with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

The concessions include exempting five percent of the vehicle fleet from having to install the technology, and allowing the technology to reduce the vehicle’s forward speed by just five miles per hour in the event of an incident that triggers it.

Most automakers already have the technology, and studies show that it works well in reducing injuries and deaths. Should automatic braking become the new seat belts?

Bigger airbag recall won’t help

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is pouring cold water on a U.S. senator’s call for a wider Takata airbag recall, says Automotive News.

Democrat Bill Nelson of Florida wants every suspect airbag recalled, even if they haven’t yet been deemed unsafe. The NHTSA said that doing so would only complicate the recall of airbags already known to be unsafe, and wouldn’t help public safety.

A total of 29 million Takata airbags have already been recalled due to the risk of explosion, with a further 70 to 90 million units suspected of being unsafe.

[Image: 2016 Volkswagen Passat, © 2015 Mark Stevenson/The Truth About Cars]