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WABCO Showcases Industry-Leading Aerodynamics Solutions for Trailers Wabco Press Release / September 21, 2016 WABCO today announced the world premiere of OptiFlow™ AutoTail as part of its showcase of industry-leading aerodynamics technologies at IAA Commercial Vehicles 2016 from September 22 - 29, 2016, in Hanover, Germany. OptiFlow AutoTail represents the next generation of WABCO’s OptiFlow Tail, the best performing tail in Europe as validated by fleets. WABCO will also feature its OptiFlow TrailerSkirt for the first time in Europe, following WABCO’s acquisition of Canada-based aerodynamic systems company Laydon Composites Ltd. in April 2016. WABCO’s OptiFlow AutoTail now features automatic deployment and retraction of aerodynamic tail panels based on driving speed. OptiFlow AutoTail automatically deploys at 75 km/h and closes at 15 km/h, ensuring that the device is consistently used at speeds that maximize aerodynamic fuel savings. Validated by test track performance and fleets, OptiFlow AutoTail delivers fuel savings up to 1.1 liters per 100 km at European highway speeds (85 km/h) and reduces CO₂ emissions by up to 2.8 t per trailer per year. OptiFlow TrailerSkirt provides a lightweight aerodynamic system available to commercial vehicle fleets in the North American market. OptiFlow TrailerSkirt has demonstrated fuel savings of more than 1.8 liters per 100 km at U.S. highway speeds of 65 miles per hour (105 km/h). Complementing OptiFlow SideWings for the European market, OptiFlow TrailerSkirt features a unique, patented one-bolt mono clamp technology for fast installation as well as material that is lighter and more rigid than most comparable aerodynamic solutions currently available in the North American market. “By launching OptiFlow AutoTail and introducing OptiFlow TrailerSkirt in Europe, WABCO continues to demonstrate its technology leadership and commitment to improving the efficiency of trailers for manufacturers, fleet operators and transport companies worldwide,” said Christiaan Verschueren, WABCO Vice President, Trailer Systems. “We are especially pleased to showcase a Laydon Composites Ltd. product in Europe for the first time since it joined the WABCO family earlier this year, demonstrating at IAA 2016 the global reach of WABCO’s aerodynamic solutions.” Following WABCO’s acquisition of Laydon Composites Ltd., WABCO’s OptiFlow aerodynamic product portfolio now provides a full range of aerodynamic solutions for commercial vehicles worldwide. Aerodynamic products reduce air drag of heavy-duty trucks and trailers traveling long distances at highway speeds. Thereby, aerodynamic solutions lower vehicle fuel consumption and CO₂ emissions. In addition, they help to empower tomorrow’s fleets by improving their operational efficiency and environmental performance. At IAA Commercial Vehicles 2016, WABCO will also showcase its differentiation by mobilizing vehicle intelligence and empowering tomorrow’s fleets as the company offers a powerful portfolio of industry-leading technologies and services that improve the safety, efficiency and connectivity of commercial vehicles worldwide. This includes the latest technologies in braking, advanced driver assistance, fleet management solutions and aerodynamics. WABCO at IAA Commercial Vehicles 2016 WABCO in Hall 16 at Booth B10 Hanover Exhibition Center; Hanover, Germany Press Days: September 21 and 22 Public Days: September 22 through 29 For all information about WABCO at IAA Commercial Vehicles 2016, click on WABCO’s home page. WABCO’s Live Demonstrations at IAA Innovation Stage 2016 WABCO will demonstrate daily its latest aerodynamics technologies for commercial vehicles as well as its fleet management security solution at the outdoor exhibition area, north of Hall 26. .

WABCO Unveils Breakthrough Technology to Help Protect Pedestrians and Cyclists in City Traffic Wabco Press Release / September 21, 2016 WABCO today announced its OnCity™ Urban Turning Assist system, the company’s breakthrough technology to help protect pedestrians and cyclists in city traffic. OnCity, a unique and convenient single-sensor solution invented by WABCO, is the commercial vehicle industry’s first collision avoidance system that uses LiDAR technology for the purpose of object detection. Innovatively engineered for trucks, buses and tractor-trailers, WABCO’s OnCity advanced driver assistance system also delivers the industry’s widest field-of-view – up to 180 degrees – using a single sensor for safety monitoring to help protect vulnerable road users located on the vehicle’s blindside. OnCity detects and distinguishes moving and stationary objects, including pedestrians and cyclists. OnCity Urban Turning Assist visually and acoustically alerts the driver regarding a potential collision with unprotected road users both right before and during a turning maneuver. It can autonomously apply the brake to prevent collisions should the driver fail to take corrective action. OnCity performs reliably with high precision during nighttime, in blinding sunshine and even in low visibility conditions. According to a 2013 report issued by a major truck manufacturer based in Europe, more than 20,000 vulnerable road users are injured or die annually due to collisions with commercial vehicles in cities across Europe. “A major road safety opportunity is to prevent traffic injuries and fatalities in urban areas where many thousands of lives can be saved annually around the world,” said Jorge Solis, WABCO President, Truck, Bus and Car Original Equipment Manufacturers Division. “Individuals pushing baby strollers, children, cyclists, senior citizens – indeed, everyone can be vulnerable on city streets. With WABCO’s OnCity technology, trucks and buses in community traffic become safer, particularly at intersections where the risk to encounter vulnerable road users is the highest.” “Our new OnCity system is yet another example how WABCO differentiates by pioneering vehicle safety technologies, which also continue to help pave the way toward autonomous driving in partnership with the transportation industry,” said Solis. WABCO at IAA Commercial Vehicles 2016 WABCO will showcase at IAA Commercial Vehicles 2016 industry-leading technologies and services that improve the safety, efficiency and connectivity of commercial vehicles worldwide. This includes the latest technologies in braking, advanced driver assistance, fleet management solutions and aerodynamics. WABCO in Hall 16 at Booth B10 Hanover Exhibition Center; Hanover, Germany Press Days: September 21 and 22 Public Days: September 22 through 29 For all information about WABCO at IAA Commercial Vehicles 2016, click on WABCO’s home page. WABCO’s Live Demonstrations at IAA Innovation Stage 2016 WABCO will demonstrate daily its latest aerodynamics technologies for commercial vehicles as well as its fleet management security solution at the outdoor exhibition area, north of Hall 26. .

WABCO Introduces OnGuardMAX Advanced Emergency Braking System Wabco Press Release / September 21, 2016 WABCO today introduced its OnGuardMAX™ advanced emergency braking system (AEBS) for trucks and buses, which provides up to full braking when confronted with both stationary and moving vehicles ahead. WABCO is the industry’s first OEM independent system supplier to offer AEBS and OnGuardMAX marks another advanced technology that further enables automated driving for commercial vehicles. Equipped with state-of-the-art 77GHz radar and a high-resolution camera, WABCO’s OnGuardMAX detects impending rear-end collisions with vehicles ahead and alerts the driver with distinct acoustic, visual and haptic warnings. Unless the driver takes appropriate corrective action, OnGuardMAX performs up to full braking when approaching both stationary and moving vehicles to bring the host vehicle to a complete stop, for example, when nearing a traffic jam. Performing with high precision, even in low visibility conditions, OnGuardMAX meets regulatory standards globally for AEBS. In addition, the OnGuardMAX system provides lane-departure warning (LDW) functionality, which complies with government LDW mandates now in effect or expected in numerous countries around the world. OnGuardMAX’s system will also have capability for full braking from highway speed. OnGuardMAX also brings commercial vehicles closer to automated highway driving. For example, its Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) functionality will come with integrated Stop’n’Go functionality, which is intended to free up the driver from frequent acceleration and deceleration during traffic jams while maintaining a pre-set speed and a safe distance to the vehicle ahead. The system will also intelligently maintain speed control based on traffic flow. “Our OnGuardMAX technology reflects WABCO’s ability to mobilize vehicle intelligence for original equipment manufacturers and fleets on our industry’s path toward autonomous driving,” said Jorge Solis, WABCO President, Truck, Bus and Car Original Equipment Manufacturers Division. “OnGuardMAX also significantly expands WABCO’s portfolio of advanced vehicle safety solutions engineered from our original OnGuard collision mitigation system.” WABCO’s OnGuard™ collision mitigation system (CMS) was launched in 2007 in North America, the first CMS with active braking in that region. Industry-leading OnGuard systems have contributed strongly to enhancing vehicle safety with more than 45 billion highway miles clocked in the field on over 200 fleets, reporting a reduction of up to 87% in rear-end collisions. In addition, WABCO’s OnGuardACTIVE™ system reacts to both moving and decelerating vehicles ahead. It can autonomously apply the brakes and bring the vehicle to a complete stop, helping to avoid or mitigate rear-end collisions. WABCO is further differentiated as the commercial vehicle industry’s leading global supplier of solutions for collision mitigation and advanced emergency braking systems. Today, more than 250,000 OnGuard branded systems are on the road globally, resulting in vehicle and road safety improvements that help to avoid fatalities, injuries and accident-related costs. WABCO’s portfolio of OnGuard safety systems also improves driver effectiveness across all levels of experience in all regions of the world. WABCO at IAA Commercial Vehicles 2016 WABCO will showcase at IAA Commercial Vehicles 2016 industry-leading technologies and services that improve the safety, efficiency and connectivity of commercial vehicles worldwide. This includes the latest technologies in braking, advanced driver assistance, fleet management solutions and aerodynamics. WABCO in Hall 16 at Booth B10 Hanover Exhibition Center; Hanover, Germany Press Days: September 21 and 22 Public Days: September 22 through 29 For all information about WABCO at IAA Commercial Vehicles 2016, click on WABCO’s home page. WABCO’s Live Demonstrations at IAA Innovation Stage 2016 WABCO will demonstrate daily its latest aerodynamics technologies for commercial vehicles as well as its fleet management security solution at the outdoor exhibition area, north of Hall 26. .

Daimler Trucks Asia Presents World Premiere of Fuso’s eCanter at IAA 2016 Daimler Press Release / September 21, 2016 Daimler Trucks Asia (DTA) presents the world premiere of the small series of FUSO’s light-duty electric truck “eCanter” at the 2016 IAA international commercial vehicle show in Hannover, Germany. Through customer trials in real-life conditions, the zero emission FUSO eCanter proved to be technically reliable and economic, with enough mileage and payload for daily use The small series will be delivered to customers in the US, Japan and Europe from late 2017 DTA will further increase its global presence in mature markets and growth markets with the application of Daimler’s cutting-edge technologies in electric trucks and robust and powerful trucks Mr. Marc Llistosella, President and CEO of MFTBC and Head of Daimler Trucks Asia, said: "The new all-electric FUSO eCanter underlines our commitment to thinking ahead and developing sustainable and reliable transportation solutions to benefit our customers, society and even our planet. DTA has been the center of competence for hybrid and electric technologies within Daimler Trucks. Based on our successful customer trials, we will bring the latest innovations to the world.” Hannover, Germany; Kawasaki, Japan; Chennai, India – Daimler Trucks Asia (DTA) presents the world premiere of the small series of FUSO’s light-duty all-electric truck “eCanter” at the 2016 Internationale Automobil-Ausstellung (IAA) - the biggest international commercial vehicle show to be held from 22nd to 29th September in Hanover, Germany. Six years after the first generation of the all-electric truck premiered at the 2010 IAA, the third generation model will be presented with further technical developments. These developments come from customer trials of the second generation vehicle, the “FUSO Canter E-CELL”, done in 2013 in Japan, 2014 in Portugal and currently in Stuttgart, Germany. The continuous trials have enabled Daimler Trucks Asia to design the zero-emission FUSO eCanter to cater to the specific needs of customers and make it perfectly suitable for everyday use in short range delivery and inner city transportation. The eCanter can travel a range of more than 100km, exceeding the average distance that many short-radius distribution trucks usually travel per day – for example, in Japan, on an average, 80% of light-duty inner-city delivery trucks travel about 50km a day. Based on this knowledge gained from the customer trials, DTA has developed a modular concept for batteries that offers more mileage and/or more payload depending on the individual needs of customers. A package of three to five lithium-ion batteries has been lined-up with a capacity of 13.8kWh each. Five battery packs are fitted onto the vehicle with a permissible gross vehicle weight (GVW) of 7.5 tons while securing 100kms of daily mileage, giving customers a flexible option based on their usage. Charging the batteries at 200 volts takes around seven hours, while the use of a rapid DC charging system can reduce it to less than one hour (73kW, 80% of battery capacity). Key components also include an electric motor with an output of 185kW and maximum torque of 380Nm. In addition, the FUSO eCanter has reached a payload of 2-3 tons, an amount necessary for customers to operate their fleet efficiently. At the same time, DTA’s preliminary analysis has shown that the model can save about 1,000 Euro per10,000km and cut operating costs by up to 64 percent compared to conventional diesel trucks. Coupled with a reduction in maintenance costs of around 30 percent, this makes the vehicle an economical solution for customers who would be able to pay back the initial cost in two years’ time. Mr. Marc Llistosella, President and CEO of MFTBC and Head of Daimler Trucks Asia, said: "The new all-electric FUSO eCanter underlines our commitment to thinking ahead and developing sustainable and reliable transportation solutions to the benefit of our customers, society and even our planet. DTA has been the center of competence for hybrid and electric technologies within Daimler Trucks. Based on our successful customer trials, we will bring the latest innovations to the world.” The small series of eCanter will be delivered from late 2017 in the US, Japan and Europe to selected customers who are related to inter-city delivery services. Being a front runner in the fully-electric light-duty truck segment, DTA has so far invested 40mn Euro in the development of electric driving including research and development. The zero emission model will be manufactured at DTA’s state-of-the art production plant in Tramagal, Portugal and Kawasaki, Japan. Connectivity for eCanter The eCanter at the IAA will give visitors a glimpse into the future of Daimler Commercial Vehicles’ connectivity technologies. This includes not only a digital key and meter console but also a digital control panel in the center console. Other digitalized features include LED lights, air conditioning, music player and navigation. The Connectivity concept for Daimler’s booth at the event pertains to three main features: vehicle health, travel history and task allocation. Vehicle health is the ability to scan various parts of the vehicle to detect abnormalities. Travel history allows a driver to see how much distance has been covered per day as well as the status of charge over the driving period. There is also data to show the distribution and energy efficiency of drivers’ journeys. Task allocation describes the interaction between the digital control panel and the fleet manager’s personal computer. It can send tasks to a driver who can then automatically relay the pick-up and delivery time back to their fleet manager. .

Hino Trucks Press Release / September 12, 2016 The Hino Sugaware race team entered Silk Way Rally 2016 as a training race. Starting in Russia, the rally took contestants through Kazakhstan and then into China, concluding at the finish line in Beijing. .

2017 Ford F-150 Raptor's V6 will generate 450 horsepower Automotive News / September 29, 2016 The twin turbo 3.5-liter V6 engine in the second generation of Ford’s over-the-top off-road performance truck, the F-150 Raptor, generates 450 horsepower and 510 pounds-feet of torque, Ford said today at the State Fair of Texas. Those outputs make it the most powerful V6 engine available in a pickup. Ford also says the new Raptor, which has an aluminum body riding on a new and stiffer frame, is EPA-rated at 15 mpg city, 18 highway and 16 combined -- a 23 percent improvement of the 2014, V-8 powered model. There was no Raptor offered in the 2015 and 2016 model years as Ford retooled and launched the new generation of the F-150, on which the Raptor is based. The Raptor is the first Ford product to use a new 10-speed automatic transmission, jointly developed with General Motors. GM is using a version of the 10-speed transmission in its Camaro ZL1, track ready sports coupe. Raptor goes on sale in December with a starting price of $49,520 including shipping. Ford Press Release - https://media.ford.com/content/fordmedia/fna/us/en/news/2016/09/29/all-new-ford-f-150-raptor-draws-a-line-in-the-sand-with-450-hors.html . .

Land Line (OOIDA) / September 29, 2016 A legal interpretation issued by The Transportation Safety Administration moves the industry one step closer to having the Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC) a universal access card for high-security facilities. TSA is providing notice it has issued a legal interpretation of the phrase “field of transportation” in reference to the statute that requires the agency to charge fees to recover the cost of its vetting services. The notice was published on Regulations.gov, on Wednesday, Sept. 28. The interpretation clarifies which individuals TSA may collect and retain fees from for providing background checks and other vetting services, including the TWIC program. The clarification specifically addresses questions TSA said it received from employers and employees in the chemical industry as to whether they fall within the scope of “field of transportation” in TSA’s vetting services. “This interpretation states that the ‘field of transportation’ under 6 U.S.C. 469(a) includes an individual, activity, entity, facility, owner, or operator that is subject to regulation by TSA, DOT, or the U.S. Coast Guard, and individuals applying for trusted traveler programs,” the notice states. Doug Morris, OOIDA security operations director said the legal definition is one more step in the move toward making TWIC a universal access card. “Originally the TWIC was only supposed to be for maritime and port facilities,” he said. “Now, it opens it up for basically anybody involved in transportation to get a TWIC card.” According to the supplementary information published in the notice, both federal agencies and industry stakeholders had approached TSA at various times over the last decade, asking whether their employees could enroll for security vetting and pay TSA for the service. More recently, the agency says it received inquiries from other industries “concerning the delineation of where transportation begins and ends” and that the answer was “not so apparent” prior to issuing the clarification.

Transport Engineer / September 29, 2016 In a UK first, bulk tanker operator Clugston Distribution Services has taken delivery of three Range T Mini Mid-Lift (MML) ADRs with PET regs for use with petroleum tankers. Supplied by dealer Thompson Commercials Hull, the 44-tonne Range T460.26 MML tractors have Safe Loading Pass (SLP) certification required by all petroleum refineries. The Range Ts are additional vehicles for Clugston’s 100-strong fleet and are fitted with hydraulic-driven pumping equipment and alloy wheels. As well as meeting strict compliance requirements, whole life operating costs were key to the selection. “Together with Thompson Commercials we’ve worked hard to prepare these vehicles for use within the fuel petroleum transportation sector,” says Clugston’s fleet manager Nigel Graham. “They have to meet the stringent requirements of ADR and SLP so that they can be used to get in and out of the UK’s fuel refineries, and we are extremely pleased with the final result.” The operator has been a Renault customer for 10 years and says its commercial vehicle range is “ideally suited” to its activities. “The whole life operating costs of the Premium tractor unit was the lowest we have experienced and the Range T is looking to be just as impressive – with the MML derivative also being significantly lighter than the standard 6x2, we will see increased payloads and yet lower running costs,” says Graham. He continues: “The Range T MML also offers greater flexibility across our fleet with the extra chassis space for fitment of our various ancillary equipment requirements. We also take maximum advantage of the Renault Optifleet on board fuel management system, vehicle tracking and various fuel economy pack driver aids that are all available within the Range T.” .

For those of you who weren't able to attend the IAA show, these videos give you a feel of how in-depth, professional and vast it was. And yes, free German beer and food is endlessly on tap.

Wells Fargo will pay $24 million to settle allegations that it mistreated members of the military -- including illegally repossessing their cars. CNN Money / September 29, 2016 The bank, already reeling from a scandal over fake accounts, will pay $4.1 million to settle Justice Department charges that it seized 413 cars owned by service members without a court order, a violation of federal law. The Justice Department said the illegal repossessions took place from 2008 to 2015. [Where were the authorities those EIGHT years? Sleeping at the switch or lobbied to intentionally look the other way?] The first complaint came from an Army National Guardsman in North Carolina who said the bank seized his car while he was preparing to deploy to Afghanistan. Wells Fargo then auctioned his car and tried to collect a balance of $10,000 from his family, the Justice Department said. The bank will pay $10,000 to each of the affected service members, plus lost equity in the cars with interest, and repair their credit. The bank was fined $20 million more by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency for breaking three provisions of the same law by denying members of the military certain banking protections, including capping their interest rates at 6%. Those violations began in 2006, the OCC said. Wells Fargo said in a statement that it apologizes for not living up to its commitment of ensuring that all service members "receive the appropriate benefits and protections." "We have been notifying and fully compensating customers and will complete this work in 60 days," the company said. News of the penalties came as Wells Fargo and CEO John Stumpf faced the wrath of the House Financial Services Committee at a hearing about the millions of fake bank and credit card accounts, plus claims that it retaliated against whistleblowers. The company is also facing lawsuits from shareholders, former employees and customers.

With the introduction of Volvo's "I-Shift with crawler gears" (aka. mDrive HD) in the North American market product, Volvo will soon discontinue the legacy Maxitorque transmissions. Though volumes are low, they put standard Volvo policy aside for a time until "I-Shift with crawler gears" could be launched. The dealers are the only people that push Maxitorque........Mack brand management doesn't. In five years, you won't be able to order a manual transmission. In order to meet future emissions and fuel economy targets, the AMT is the only way (amongst current known technology). I personally prefer the former Mack Truck's signature triple-countershaft transmission design, particularly for vocational/severe service, and remain angered over Volvo terminating the plan of Mack engineers to apply AMT technology to the Maxitorque transmission line-up. No doubt, all those Mack brand trucks you saw at your dealer with vendor rears also had vendor steer axles.

This spectacular video allows you to meet Navistar CEO Troy Clarke, the man who, supported by his "Paccar gang", has successfully turned around a US truckmaker and put it once more on a successful path. He deserves a lot of credit and respect.

Low floor.....hybrid......alternative fuels.......electric.........Scania offers it all - today. Because the culture at Scania has the company developing product so far ahead of the curve, it allows the bus maker to offer cutting edge designs that are mature, high-performing and trouble-free. From Stockholm to London, from Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) to Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), Scania buses help cities around the world provide comfortable and efficient transport while reducing their environmental footprint.

International Trucks Press Release / September 29, 2016 .

Freightliner Trucks Press Release / September 29, 2016 Load One is an expedite trucking company out of Taylor, Michigan. They operate 385 units, the majority of which are Freightliner models. Load One puts safety first by spec’ing their Freightliner trucks with the Detroit Assurance™ suite of safety systems. It includes Active Brake Assist, Adaptive Cruise Control, and Lane Departure Warning. All in one platform. .

Survey: Speed limiter usage widespread among fleets, ELD adoption flat despite mandate Commercial Carrier Journal (CCJ) / September 29, 2016 More than 85 percent of fleet respondents in a recent survey equip their fleet’s trucks with speed limiters, according to a survey performed this year by the American Transportation Research Institute. The survey also showed adoption of electronic logging devices in 2015 was flat compared to 2014. ATRI’s reported figure comes less than a month into the public comment period for a proposed rule from the U.S. DOT to require nearly all trucks in the U.S. to be equipped with speed limiting devices. Since 2011, ATRI has asked survey respondents in its annual Operational Costs of Trucking survey to report whether they use speed limiters (aka speed governors). This year, 85.1 percent said they utilized limiters in 2015, and 85 percent of such fleets said they use limiters on 100 percent of their fleet’s trucks. Another 7 percent, ATRI says, use speed limiters on 70 to 99 percent of their trucks. The most common speed limit was 65 mph, ATRI notes. Though ATRI considers use of 85.1 percent of survey respondents — who accounted for more than 107,000 power units — “consistently high,” the figure is the lowest since ATRI began asking the question of survey respondents for 2011. In 2014, speed limiter usage was nearly 92 percent. In 2011, speed limiter use was reported at 93.2 percent, and in 2012 and 2013, speed limiter usage was 86 percent and 86.8 percent, respectively. Meanwhile, use of electronic logging devices by surveyed fleets remained flat, at 63 percent. The DOT published in December 2015 a final rule to mandate the use of electronic logging devices to keep records of duty status, which likely had little effect on the survey results, given its late-in-the-year publication.. The rule takes effect December 2017. “It is assumed that this figure (63 percent) will increase toward 100 percent as the industry responds” to the mandate’s requirements, ATRI writes. ATRI’s Operational Costs report found that carriers’ costs fell in 2015, primarily due to cheaper fuel. Click here to read CCJ‘s coverage of the report.

Overdrive / September 29, 2016 The state of that enter the state from other states after the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association reached a $44.4 million tax refund agreement with the state. The state’s Supreme Court agreed earlier this year with OOIDA’s challenge that the registration and decal taxes in the state were unconstitutional and discriminatory against out-of-state truckers who drive mostly in other states. OOIDA established that the taxes resulted in a higher per-mile tax rate being imposed on out-of-state trucks, and therefore violated the Commerce Clause of the Constitution. “We fought against a number of similar taxes back in the 1980s and 1990s and the states lost in every one of those cases,” said OOIDA President Jim Johnston. “Given that history, we were shocked that New York even thought they could get away with this blatantly unconstitutional tax. The amount for the New York HUT decal is $19, which may seem insignificant, but if other states were to do the same thing, it would be huge – collectively and in administrative costs.” New York didn’t appeal the ruling and agreed to negotiate with OOIDA to develop a class-wide refund program. OOIDA said class members will receive a “virtually complete tax refund, plus interest, subject to attorneys’ fees, based upon the state’s reapportionment of the taxes in conformity with constitutional criteria.” OOIDA said it will also ask the court to require carriers who charged any registration or decal payments to owner-operators to reimburse the full amount of refunds for these taxes to the owner-operators. The refund program will become effective after class notice and final court approval. Prime Inc. (No. 15 on the CCJ Top 250) sued the state for nearly $500,000 for repayment of the two taxes ruled unconstitutional in OOIDA’s lawsuit. Another lawsuit brought against New York by the American Trucking Associations and a number of individual truckers claiming the New York State Thruway Authority charges excessive tolls is still under contention. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo in January froze tolls on the state’s thruway through at least 2020.

If a small business owner acted alike Stumpf and was caught, he'd be in jail. But when you lead a large company, you can avoid punishment, as the senior management at VW has done.

The Washington Post / September 29, 2016 For the second time in two weeks, John Stumpf, the long-time chief executive of Wells Fargo, entered into the halls of Congress to take a bipartisan beating from lawmakers over the bank's role in a scandal involving the creation of hundreds of thousands of sham accounts to meet aggressive sales goals. "Fraud is fraud and theft and is theft. What happened at Wells Fargo over the course of many years cannot be described any other way," said Rep. Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee. Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., called the case "some of the egregious fraud we have seen since the financial crisis." Wells Fargo has turned into a "school for scoundrels," said Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y. Stumpf has repeatedly apologized for those misdeeds and agreed earlier this week to forfeit $41 million in his own personal unvested stock and go without a 2016 bonus. "I am fully accountable for all unethical sales practices in our retail banking business, and I am fully committed to fixing this issue, strengthening our culture, and taking the necessary actions to restore our customers' trust," he told the House Financial Services Committee. But the hearing quickly turned hostile as some lawmakers called for Stumpf to resign and questioned whether he should be criminally prosecuted. "Why shouldn't you be in jail?" Rep. Michael Capuano, D-Mass., asked. "When prosecutors get hold of you, you are going to have a lot of fun." "Do you think what you did was criminal?" Rep. David Scott, D-Georgia, asked. Stumpf responded that he had led the bank with "courage," but was interrupted again. Several lawmakers raised the prospect of calling executives from other banks to testify about their sales tactics, and the practice of cross selling--an effort to persuade customers to sign up for multiple products like a checking or savings accounts. Others called for a separate hearing to hear from former Wells Fargo workers, who were either fired for setting up unauthorized accounts or were fired for not meeting the company's aggressive sales goals. "These were people trying to make a living," said Rep. Al Green, D-Texas. "These people deserve a fair day, not just an exit from your company. . . They deserve an opportunity to be heard." Stumpf was repeatedly questioned about when he, and others in the bank's leadership, realized there was a problem. Hensarling noted the Federal Reserve had found the bank had weak internal controls in 2011 in its mortgage lending business. "If you saw the problem in one area of the business, why wouldn't you do it for the other?," he said. For years, Stumpf has strived to separate Wells Fargo, one of the largest banks in the country, from the controversy that has typically dogged many of its biggest competitors. But now the San Francisco-based institution has become entangled in a controversy of its own after acknowledging that it fired 5,300 employees over five years for setting up unauthorized accounts customers didn't request. In some cases, customers were charged fees for accounts they didn't know they had or employees moved money from authorized accounts in order to create a fake one. "You fired 5,300 people, you took 5,300 good Americans and turned them into felons with a system that you created, benefited from and drove your stock price up by bragging about your levels of new accounts," said Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Calif. In one tense exchange, Rep. Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y., said Stumpf was running a "criminal enterprise," noting that the bank had been penalized multiple times during the CEO's leadership, and should step down. "I serve at the pleasure of the board," Stumpf responded. "Then the entire board needs to go," Meeks said. "Something is going wrong with this bank. If the bucks stops with you" then you should be held responsible. "The board has that power," Stumpf said. In another exchange, Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., noted that Stumpf sold $13 million in stock around the time he learned of the problem in 2013. "My question was did you dump the stock after you found out about the fraudulent accounts," Maloney said. "Because it seems the timing is very very suspicious and raises a very serious question." Stumpf said the sale was unrelated. The controversy has already blossomed with investigations being conducted by the Department of Labor and federal prosecutors. On Wednesday, California Treasurer John Chiang imposed sanctions, saying the state would not invest in the firm's stock or use many of its services for a year. On Thursday, several lawmakers, including Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., asked the Securities and Exchange Commission to investigate whether Wells Fargo and senior officials violated the law by misleading investors. Wells Fargo was fined $185 million and has returned more than $2 million to customers who were charged fees for accounts they didn't authorize. Stumpf said the bank's efforts were costly even before any fines were levied or refunds paid. Just the paperwork involved in opening and closing the sham accounts cost the institution $10 million. This was not a money-making scheme, he said. "We have a culture based on ethics, and doing what's right," Stumpf said. "I stand with the people who are doing the right thing." As the hearing dragged into its third hour, Stumpf was asked about the show "Undercover Boss" and if he had ever served as a teller when visiting one of the bank's more than 6,000 branches and experienced the pressure to sell customers more products. "I'm not trained or permitted to do that," he said. .

Our Secretary of Transportation, ex-Charlotte, North Carolina mayor Anthony Foxx, has no clue what he is talking about. No surprise given he lacks any and all “qualifications” applicable to the position. City mayor…..transportation…..parallels? NOT If the U.S. transports freight more efficiently in the years ahead, which I fully expect, to both reduce emissions and increase profitability, the number of trucks on America's roads will decrease.

Transport Topics / September 29, 2016 In the coming decades, consumer demand for goods and services will lead to a sharp increase of trucks on the country's roadways, prompting a need for greater capacity, the nation's top transportation official told an audience in downtown Washington, D.C., on Sept. 28. “Over the next 30 years, we’re going to have 65% more trucks on the road,” said Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx, speaking at the Center for American Progress, a promoter of liberal policy. Foxx was reminding audiences of the findings from the Department of Transportation’s “Beyond Traffic” report, which highlighted the impact a rapid rise in freight volume will have on the on the transportation network in cities and suburbia. Boosting freight connectivity is among the top priorities for Obama administration officials and trucking industry executives. Last year, Congress passed and President Obama signed into law a five-year highway law that established additional sources of funding to build large-scale infrastructure projects. According to the “Beyond Traffic” report, unveiled last year, the economy has benefited from the “deregulation of the trucking and rail industries, which has led to increases in productivity and innovations in supply chain logistics.”

I would love to see Scania buses on the streets of US cities. The subject comes up in discussions. However, by the time you build a bus to meet "every" US regulation, you have created a tank that weighs 100 tons. There's a reason why GM walked away from the municipal bus business, why Daimler sells cheap Nova buses in the US rather than quality Mercedes-Benz buses, and why Volvo long ago gave up on plans to build/sell articulated buses in the US. Scania aside, the modern municipal transit buses on the streets of China's big metropolises costs a fraction of what US cities pay, and yet they perform reliably for years and years, safely carrying passengers to and fro, all the while powered by clean Cummins-Westport natural gas engines paired with proven Allison transmissions. The US is the country that absurdly expects a sub-compact car to survive crash tests as well as a full-size car. It defies logic.

Car & Driver / September 29, 2016 The EPA uses dyno cells like in the image above for tests from 20-degree cold starts to 86-degree highway runs. A separate cell with high-intensity lights simulates the solar load of a sunny day for the high-temp tests. Recent cases of “misstated” fuel economy involving Ford, GM, Hyundai, and Mercedes-Benz have this in common: All were caught by the EPA during audits of data submitted by the manufacturers for certification. That’s because the EPA—lacking the personnel, facilities, and funding to test every vehicle—lets the manufacturers largely certify themselves and just submit the data. All automakers follow the same set of procedures designed to generate comparable mpg numbers, but manufacturers have obvious incentive to exploit gray areas and loopholes to produce higher ratings. The goal is to net the best window-sticker numbers without netting ones so good that they raise suspicions. It’s a delicate dance, and engineers we spoke with described it as pervasive. These are a few manufacturer approaches: It’s a Drag The EPA-prescribed dynamometer tests incorporate calibration settings intended to align laboratory results with real-world performance. Road-load coefficients—determined from a coast-down test wherein a car coasts in neutral from 80 mph—are programmed into the dyno to account for the energy lost to aerodynamic drag and friction. Recently, the EPA had to remind automakers to test cars on typical road surfaces and with critical components such as brake pads in place—their removal lowers friction. The EPA also warned against “adjustments,” such as special alignments or using extra-worn parts. Mi­tsu­bishi is currently being investigated for manipulating coast-down data, and Hyundai had to lower the ratings of 1.2 million cars in 2014 after it cherry-picked favorable figures instead of using averaged data. Body Swap In 2013, Ford used a legal EPA provision allowing cars of similar weight and with the same powertrain to share ratings, assigning the C-Max hybrid the same 47-mpg combined figure as the Fusion hybrid. Customer backlash and an EPA audit revealed real-world C-Max fuel economy to be far lower, however, prompting Ford’s “voluntary” reduction of the hybrid wagon’s rating. For a time, Toyota used the same clause, without issue, to apply the Camry’s fuel-economy rating to the larger Avalon. Popularity Contest Per EPA rules, only the expected sales leader within a model family sharing a powertrain must be tested. This explains why, out of the four available trim levels on the 2016 Chevrolet Cruze—two with multiple transmission choices—only the automatic LS has a smaller, 12.1-gallon fuel tank. A smaller tank means less weight. GM used this lighter LS model to generate the 30-mpg city/42-mpg highway ratings for multiple automatic Cruzes, a group that includes the better-equipped LT that rides on wider 16-inch wheels, fills the LS’s empty trunk well with a spare tire, and sits in a higher EPA test-weight class. Legally, Chevrolet could apply the superleggera LS’s ratings to the heavier, range-topping Premier, too, but it tested that one separately and rated it at a lower 30 mpg city/40 highway. We’ll likely see more such caution. The EPA issued a memo last year promising to increase audits of reported data and to test more cars itself. The message is clear: Generate reproducible test results or prepare to make adjustments—and headlines.

The Washington Post / September 29, 2016 The Obama administration is maneuvering to pay health insurers billions of dollars the government owes under the Affordable Care Act, through a move that could circumvent Congress and help shore up the president’s signature legislative achievement before he leaves office. Justice Department officials have privately told several health plans suing over the unpaid money that they are eager to negotiate a broad settlement, which could end up offering payments to about 175 health plans selling coverage on ACA marketplaces, according to insurance executives and lawyers familiar with the talks. The payments most likely would draw from an obscure Treasury Department fund intended to cover federal legal claims, the executives and lawyers said. This approach would get around a recent congressional ban on the use of Health and Human Services money to pay the insurers. The start of negotiations came amid an exodus of health plans from the insurance exchanges that are at the heart of the law. More than 10 million Americans have gained coverage through the marketplaces since they opened in 2014. But many insurers are losing money on their new customers, who tend to be relatively sick and expensive to treat. As a result, some smaller plans have been driven out of business and a few major ones are defecting from exchanges for the coming year. The administration’s efforts reflect the partisan thorns that still surround the sprawling law a half-dozen years after its passage. The payouts that officials want to salvage were part of an ACA strategy to help the marketplaces flourish early on. But Republican opponents in Congress branded them an insurance industry “bailout” and restricted the use of HHS funds. A settlement probably would rely on Treasury’s Judgment Fund, a 1950s creation that is allowed as much money as it needs to satisfy valid claims against the government. The fund’s website shows that it has been used for a few hundred claims against HHS in the past decade. Taken together, they amounted to about $18 million — a fraction of what the insurers are owed. In the administration’s waning months, officials are continuing their upbeat portrayal of all aspects of the law. Behind the scenes, they think that making these payments to insurers — $2.5 billion for 2014 and an as-yet-undisclosed sum for 2015 — is crucial to the exchanges’ well-being. “It’s a legacy item for the White House,” said Dan Mendelson, president of the health consulting firm Avalere and an adviser on the payout effort. “It’s more than just a lawsuit. It’s really about the future . . . and stability of these markets.” GOP lawmakers are already beginning to cry foul. “It’s an end run on the clear . . . intent of Congress,” said Rep. H. Morgan Griffith (Va.). The money in question involves one of three strategies to help coax insurers into the marketplaces by promising to cushion them from unexpectedly high expenses for their new customers. This particular strategy, known as “risk corridors,” was for the marketplaces’ first three years, when it was unclear how many people would sign up and how much medical care they would use. The idea, patterned after a similar arrangement for health plans that sell Medicare drug benefits, is to balance out insurers’ costs by requiring those with unexpectedly low expenses to pay into a fund that would be used to compensate companies with unexpectedly high expenses. The program originally was not supposed to pay for itself, but two years ago the Republican-led Congress restricted HHS from using any of its other money for that purpose. The risk corridors started in 2014. The crunch became apparent last fall, when federal health officials announced that they faced an enormous gap because so many more health plans incurred high expenses for their ACA customers than low ones. For that reason, HHS made less than $400 million in 2014 risk-corridor payments — just 12.6 percent of $2.9 billion it owed overall. Beyond the 175 insurers owed money for the first year, health officials have not said how many need to be paid for 2015, how much they are due or how much money is available. But in a five-paragraph memo this month, HHS’s Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said any money that is available will be put toward what the government still owes for 2014. The risk corridor payments are “an obligation of the federal government,” acting administrator Andy Slavitt told a recent House hearing. The shortfall has contributed to the collapse of most of the 23 nonprofit, consumer-oriented health plans created under the ACA, forcing several hundred thousand people to find new coverage. Just six co-ops remain. Four of them, including two that have closed, are among the seven insurers suing the government for lack of payment. CMS spokesman Aaron Albright referred questions to the Justice Department. Justice spokeswoman Nicole Navas declined to confirm the settlement talks because the litigation is pending. One health plan executive, whose attorney has spoken with Justice officials, said the department is trying to reach an agreement with suing insurers in the next two weeks on what percentage of the remaining $2.5 billion would be paid out. At that point, the same offer would be made to every other insurer owed money. A judge would need to approve the arrangement, according to the executive, who spoke about the pending litigation on the condition of anonymity. Stephen Swedlow, a lawyer for Health Republic Insurance in Oregon, a co-op that was forced to close early this year, said he is preparing a settlement proposal to send to Justice. Said Health Republic chief executive Dawn Bonder: “I don’t think DOJ is making a secret that they would like [the lawsuits] to go away.”