Photo: GM
In today's issue:
GM redesigns its best-selling trucks' screens days after a JD Power study named screens the industry's top complaint
Volvo's facelifted PHEVs post an EPA-rated 78 miles of EV range, the longest of any plug-in hybrid sold in the US
The Hurricane lawsuit we covered September 13 resurfaces with a new detail: one owner's Ram 1500 began stalling and throwing check-engine codes at just 1,200 miles
SCREEN TEST
GM revealed a more minimalist infotainment UI for the 2027 Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra that brings CarPlay back to the dash, per Ars Technica. Pickups make up five of the ten best-selling nameplates in the US, and the Silverado and Sierra are two of them, per Autoblog.
GM frames the redesign around how "driving experiences are shaped as much by voice, touch, and digital interactions as they are by steering wheels and pedals," per GM News.
JD Power's 2026 Multimedia Quality and Satisfaction Study found infotainment problems now drive 25% of all vehicle complaints, the only major category to get worse year over year, even though multimedia problems themselves held roughly flat at 42.4 per 100 vehicles, per WardsAuto and The Truth About Cars. The five most frequently reported problems across the entire industry are all multimedia-related, and 46% of owners who complained about distraction while driving blamed the infotainment system or touchscreen, per The Truth About Cars.
The Autopian isn't buying the pitch, running the headline "GM Thinks Truck Buyers Are Gonna Want A Bunch Of Screens For Some Reason."
JD Power's own numbers say owners complain about screens more than anything else in the car. GM is betting this redesign breaks that pattern.
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Also worth knowing
Ford Freshens the F-150 While Inventory Stays Tight: The 2027 F-150 swaps its base 2.7-liter EcoBoost V6 for a 3.0-liter unit making the same 400 lb-ft but at 2,250 rpm instead of 3,500, adds a Carhartt trim and BlueCruise hands-free towing, and starts at $40,585, per Car and Driver and Edmunds. Ford still can't keep the outgoing truck in stock, per Automotive News. #analyst
Photo: Ford
Waymo Opens Its 15th Robotaxi Market: Las Vegas is Waymo's 15th commercial robotaxi market, per TechCrunch, five days after Lyft's driverless debut in Nashville launched on Waymo's own fleet. It's also the city where Lyft ran its earlier AV pilot with Aptiv, before Nashville became its first fully driverless commercial rollout, per TechCrunch. #news
Photo: 9yz / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0
Barrett-Jackson's Vegas Return Nets $36 Million: The September 10-12 sale moved close to $36 million in cars and automobilia, the second-most-successful Las Vegas Auction in company history, led by a 2019 Ford GT Lightweight Carbon Series that sold for $968,000, per Old Cars Weekly. #market
Reveals & culture
Volvo's New PHEVs Go 78 Miles Without the Gas Engine: The facelifted 2028 XC60 and XC90 pack 37.9-kWh batteries good for an EPA-rated 78 miles of EV range on the XC60 and 73 on the XC90, the longest of any plug-in hybrid sold in the US, per Road & Track. Both keep a 2.0-liter turbo-four making up to 247 hp for backup, per Motor1. #enthusiast
Photo: Volvo
Bought in July, Sold By September: A Ram 1500 SRT TRX owner listed the truck for sale after driving just 214 miles, seven weeks after buying it new, per autoevolution. #culture
Photo: via autoevolution
Recalls & legal action
Ram's New Turbo Six Draws a Lawsuit Before Its First Oil Change: Following up on the Hurricane class action we reported September 13, Autoblog reports one plaintiff's 2025 Ram 1500 began stalling and throwing check-engine codes at just 1,200 miles, per Autoblog and AutoGuide. No recall has been filed; the complaint relies on owner drivability reports rather than a formal defect finding.
Ford Recalls 2,711 Broncos Over a Metal Burr: A production defect at Michigan Assembly Plant left a metal burr that can tear airbags in 2026 Broncos built between June 27 and July 26, per autoevolution. → If you own one: Check your Bronco's build date and VIN against Ford's recall lookup before your next service visit.
Quick links
Subaru Tops Customer Satisfaction Survey: Subaru ranked No. 1 in safety and overall quality in the 2026 American Customer Satisfaction Index auto study, per Subaru Newsroom.
NACTOY Names 25 Contenders for 2027: North American Car, Truck and Utility Vehicle of the Year narrowed its field to 25 vehicles for 2027, per PR Newswire.
Half of BMW M2 Buyers Still Shift Gears Themselves: 50% of US M2 buyers choose the manual transmission, per Jalopnik, keeping pace with yesterday's 90% of Subaru BRZ buyers and other entries in the Manual Transmission Registry.
Yesterday's picks
Ford Recalls 223,472 F-150s Over Fuel Tanks That Can Fall Off: The fuel tank strap campaign covers 223,472 F-150s from the 2023 to 2027 model years where corroding or loose straps can let the tank drop, leak, or fully detach while driving, per Road & Track and AutoGuide. Combined with two other smaller F-150 campaigns issued this week, Ford recalled more than 223,500 trucks in total, per Motor Illustrated. → If you own one: Check your VIN at NHTSA.gov for campaign coverage and schedule the strap inspection before your next highway trip.
Trump Says He'd Accept Chinese Car Plants in America: In a Friday interview on Fox News' "The Ingraham Angle," Trump said he would not oppose Chinese automakers building EVs in the US if they hire American workers, per Automotive News and Motor1.
The week in attention
How many separate outlets ran a headline naming each company over the last 7 days, across the 560+ sources we monitor. Press releases and Reddit are excluded, so this counts what got written about, not what got announced.
Bugatti and Rimac: one story drove both, "End of an Era: Porsche Sells Remaining Stake in Bugatti to Rimac." Bugatti ran in 30 outlets this week (about 13 in a median week), Rimac in 21 (about 1 in a median week).
Quieter than usual: General Motors (51 outlets against about 79).
Most covered overall: Volkswagen Group, Stellantis, Toyota Motor.
Worth a listen
One episode from Car Curious, our sister car-podcast platform, picked out of everything the shows published in the last day.
How Police Catch Speeders, And How to Beat Their Tech | Vortex Radar (Eleven After Nine | A Porsche Culture Podcast): Host breaks down how police radar actually bounces off your car down the road, then walks through which detection tools Porsche drivers can legally use to stay ahead of enforcement.
Suspension is the daily email that makes you the most informed car person in the room.