Hundreds of people are claiming that they have been falsely accused by Hertz of car theft and I have to ask: what’s going on with renting a car right now? All this and more in The morning shift for February 10, 2022.

1st gear: what’s going on with Hertz?

I can’t wrap my head around this stuff Bloomberg:

Hertz Corp.battling hundreds of customers who say they were falsely arrested for car theft after renting cars, has been ordered by a federal judge to disclose the number of renters it charges each year.

US bankruptcy judge Mary Walrath sided with 220-person attorneys suing Hertz who argued that more details about Hertz’s internal anti-theft program should be made public.

Hundreds of people? Well, we don’t know exactly how many arrests were made:

Court documents show that some of the customers who rented cars were jailed and, in at least one case, held at gunpoint just hours after paying for a rental.

The fake arrests often involve long-term rentals, some set up directly by the customer, others through an auto insurance company, according to court documents. If something goes wrong with a renewal payment, or if there’s another problem, Hertz can report the renter to the police saying the car was stolen, according to documents. Thereafter, Hertz charges the tenant’s credit or debit card and collects whatever was owed, attorneys for the suing tenants said in court filings.

In order to prove that the bogus arrests are not isolated incidents, the attorneys suing Hertz collected data on how often the rental company files police reports against customers.

I feel like Hertz could really cut a lot of people’s breaks these days given the cost of renting a car, but no.

2nd Gear: Tesla somehow up to four recalls in two weeks

Hot on the heels of yesterday’s Tesla recall is a new Tesla recall. This one is above the Boombox function of the car, according to the Associated press:

Tesla is recalling nearly 579,000 vehicles in the United States because a “Boombox” feature can play sounds over an external speaker and dim audible warnings for pedestrians.

The recall is the fourth made public in the past two weeks as U.S. safety regulators step up scrutiny of the nation’s largest electric vehicle maker. In two of the recalls, Tesla made decisions that violate federal motor vehicle safety standards, while the others are software errors.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said on its website Thursday that cars and SUVs have what Tesla calls a “Boombox” feature that lets drivers play sounds while the vehicles are moving. This violates federal safety standards that require pedestrian warning noises for electric cars, which make low noise when traveling, according to the agency.

I’m thrilled that NHTSA is treating Tesla like a real car company now, but I’m also amazed at how struggling Tesla is to…be a real car company.

3rd gear: oil companies are doing too well, I’m sorry to say

At the start of the pandemic, supply far exceeded demand as the world entered a series of somewhat random lockdowns. The current situation, which has been going on for years, is that demand exceeds supply. This leads to two types of stories. Please enjoy these two headlines from Bloomberg:

US fuel makers rise lean and lucrative from the ashes of the pandemic

is opposed to

Oil’s relentless climb towards $100 wreaks havoc on corporate earnings

Let’s take a look at this second piece:

Isaac Larian, founder of MGA Entertainment Inc.thought it had withstood the worst of last year’s cost tsunami supply chain issues and labor shortages. But now the creator of Bratz and LOL Surprise! Little Tikes dolls and toys are preparing for a second wave of profit destruction: oil at $100 a barrel. “It’s just a disaster,” says Larian, who, like many toymakers, has material costs closely tied to the price of oil and natural gas. “There’s not much you can do.”

Analysts See Crude Soon cross the century markand prices might even increase to $150 if Russian-Ukrainian tensions escalate to create a supply shock, JPMorgan Chase & Co. said economists Joseph Lupton and Bruce Kasman in a report. The name of the inflation game for businesses is to pass on these cost increases as much and as quickly as possible. But since the pandemic hit, it hasn’t been easy. A labor shortage has pushed up wages and a deluge of imported goods has clogged the supply chain, driving up transportation costs and creating a shortage of goods that is fueling prices. Today, businesses and consumers are seeing increased cost pressure as oil and natural gas hit their highest levels since 2014, and all indicators point to even higher energy prices ahead. .

High oil prices look good for oil companies, so I’d be surprised if that happened anywhere.

4th gear: pad The manufacturer says it’s sold out until 2026

I was also taken by this Bloomberg article”Japanese automakers have endured a tough 2021. Now it’s flea.It’s this second part – the idea that the chip shortage may soon end and automakers will be freed up in terms of production – that contrasts with another news from Bloomberg with a less rosy view of the semiconductor chip crisis:

Sumco Corp., a key supplier of silicon wafers to the semiconductor industry, said it had already exhausted its production capacity through 2026, a sign that shortages in the industry may not be s lessen for years.

The Japanese company, one of the few to supply the specialized silicon slabs that chipmakers use to create their designs, has orders to cover all production of its 300mm wafers for the next five years, it said. she said after releasing her results on Wednesday.

It’s not taking long-term orders for 150mm and 200mm wafers, but demand is expected to continue to outstrip supply in coming years, the company said.

Good luck with that, everyone.

5th Gear: Geely says it will make auto-grade chips

I don’t think there’s anything Geely won’t accept. China’s largest non-state-run automaker and buyer of Volvo said it would try to make automotive-grade chips, a first for China, as CarNewsChina reports:

On February 7, 2022, Gan Jiayue, CEO of Geely Automobile Group, claimed that Geely will produce the first automotive-grade 7nm system-on-chip in China in the third quarter of this year.

Geely has already started a partnership with Foxconn, so this might not be the most shocking development.

Setback: No automotive journalist has ever done as much as Nader

Ask yourself: why has there never been a meaningful, impactful, or thought-provoking expose written by an automotive journalist?

Neutral: Remember that bike with the stuck seat post?

Well, I found a guy with a vise…and the bike broke the vise. A $500 cast iron vise. The guy tried to cut the pole, to no avail. If you know anything about old bikes, you know what’s next. This involves rubber gloves, face and eye protection, and I’m not particularly thrilled about it.