Track-focused Cayman now comes with almost 500 horsepower. For the past several months, we've seen countless spy shots of the rumored Porsche 718 GT4 testing. Unlike the original GT4, which was powered by a 3.8-liter flat-six from a 911 Carrera S, this new car is expected to use a detuned 4.0-liter flat-six from the current GT3 that produces 500 horsepower. If you just can't wait for Porsche to reveal the new 718 GT4, a tuner called DeMan Motorsports has you covered with a flat-six engine upgrade. The stock engine delivers 385 hp, though Deman says its new upgrade will produce 488 hp and 360 lb-ft of torque at the wheels. Factoring in a 15% drivetrain loss, this monster now produces 561 hp and 414 lb-ft at the crank - an increase of 176 hp and 105 lb-ft of torque over stock. This 4.25-liter GT4 is even more powerful than the current 911 GT3 RS. DeMan has even posted a dyno video showing the car hitting its increased 8,000 rpm redline. According to Road & Track, optional titanium internals can further increase the redline to an eye-watering 8,500 rpm. So what's the cost for this incredible upgrade? 28,500, plus the cost of a Cobb access port. DeMan says most of the customers interested in this sort of power increase have already performed other upgrades to their car, allowing the base price to remain fairly reasonable. Even when Porsche does reveal the 718 GT4, we know it won't be as impressive as this.
These cars were initially recalled for the defect between 2008 and 2011, and while 鈥渕ore than 70 percent鈥?now have new inflators, there are still 313,000 vehicles with the original inflators. Eight of the 10 U.S. Takata airbag inflators have involved this group of Honda and Acura models. UPDATE 7/8/2016, 10:00 a.m.: Roughly 1.4 million vehicles have been recalled in Japan for their Takata airbags. Mitsubishi recalled 520,000 vehicles, Mazda 490,000, Subaru 290,000, and Mercedes-Benz 93,000. Of particular note for U.S. UPDATE 7/19/2016, 5:00 p.m.: An internal audit conducted by Takata and Honda found the airbag supplier manipulated airbag test data that stripped out poorer results, according to Bloomberg. Examples of 鈥渟elective editing,鈥?according to former IIHS president Brian O鈥橬eill, who conducted the audit, resulted in a report that was a 鈥減rettier shortened version鈥?of what actually occurred. Depositions of several Takata engineers from an ongoing lawsuit found that reports to Nissan, Toyota, and General Motors were similarly doctored. UPDATE 7/20/2016, 3:30 p.m.: The U.S.
Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation has identified additional new cars that still use non-desiccated Takata inflators. They are: 2016 Mercedes-Benz Sprinter, 2016-2017 Mercedes-Benz E-class coupe/convertible, 2016 Ferrari FF, 2016-2017 Ferrari California T, 2016-2017 Ferrari 488GTB/488 Spider, 2016-2017 Ferrari F12/F12tdf, and 2017 Ferrari GTC4Lusso. These vehicles remain legal for sale, but, per NHTSA, they must be recalled by the end of 2018. Audi, Lexus, Mitsubishi, Toyota, and Volkswagen had previously been found to still be building new cars with the suspect airbags. UPDATE 7/21/2016, 2:00 p.m.: General Motors has stated that it may have to recall an additional 4.3 million vehicles in the U.S. 550 million, according to Automotive News. Also, Mazda has added 3743 B-series pickups from the 2007-2009 model years to its list of vehicles recalled due to potentially defective Takata airbag inflators; these trucks are being recalled for the passenger-side airbags. UPDATE 8/5/2016, 11:00 a.m.: NHTSA is expanding its investigation of airbag supplier ARC Automotive to 8 million potentially defective airbags after the driver of a 2009 Hyundai Elantra was killed in Canada last month.
Automotive News reports that the car鈥檚 airbag inflator was manufactured in China, unlike inflators in U.S.-market Elantras from the same time period. General Motors, Fiat Chrysler, and Kia also used ARC airbags that are part of this probe. In July 2015, NHTSA began investigating ARC for airbags produced in Tennessee after airbag-related injuries were reported in crashes of a 2002 Chrysler Town & Country and a 2004 Kia Optima. UPDATE 8/5/2016, 9:00 p.m.: Jaguar Land Rover has expanded its recall by another 54,000 vehicles in the United States. The recalls affects 2007-2011 Land Rover Range Rover and 2009-2011 Jaguar XF models for potentially defective passenger-side airbag inflators. Vehicles from these models and model years were first recalled in May 2016; this action essentially doubles the recalled population. Jaguar Land Rover says that 鈥渁ffected vehicles are being prioritized for repair鈥攕plit into four separate phases鈥攂ased on geographic zone and vehicle age鈥?and that customers will be notified by mail later this year when parts become available. UPDATE 8/29/2016, 4:00 p.m.: General Motors pressured a Swedish airbag supplier in the 1990s to match cheaper prices from its rival Takata, despite warnings that Takata鈥檚 inflators were unsafe, according to the New York Times.
When Takata introduced ammonium-nitrate-based airbag inflators in the late 1990s, Autoliv scientists studying Takata鈥檚 design determined the chemical compound was too dangerous. It lost GM鈥檚 airbag contract at the time. 鈥淲e tore the Takata airbags apart, analyzed all the fuel, identified all the ingredients,鈥?former Autoliv chief chemist Robert Taylor told the Times. 鈥?The Times also revealed that employees at a former Takata plant in Georgia let defective airbag inflators pass inspections by manipulating leakage tests and creating new bar codes so the tests couldn鈥檛 be tracked. UPDATE 9/8/2016, 10:30 a.m.: Honda will recall another 668,000 vehicles in Japan to replace potentially defective Takata-supplied passenger-side airbag inflators. Affected cars include Accord, Civic, and Fit models built between 2009 and 2011. According to Reuters, that brings Honda鈥檚 recall total to 51 million Takata airbags. UPDATE 9/9/2016, 9:00 a.m.:BMW announced it will recall some 110,000 cars in Japan to replace potentially defective Takata-supplied airbag inflators. UPDATE 9/19/2016, 11:00 a.m.: General Motors will submit a petition to NHTSA for a one-year deferral of a pending recall of some 980,000 trucks and SUVs equipped with Takata-supplied passenger-side airbag inflators, Automotive News reports.
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