Motoramic’s Dash for Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2011

What we're reading this morning about idled Cruzes, big-fine lobbying and a new way to pace the world's fastest human:

Chevy Cruze output idled at Ohio plant [Detroit Free Press] Nothing costs an automaker more than when it has a factory full of workers standing around with nothing to build — which is why dozens of GM executives will pull all-nighters until the Lordstown, Ohio, plant that builds Chevy Cruzes goes back online. It's not going to affect the healthy supply of Cruzes in dealers, but automakers don't make money when you buy a car — they make money when a dealer buys a car from the factory.

Auto groups fight hike in recall fines [Detroit News] During the Toyota recall ruckus, the federal government fined the Japanese automaker $48.8 million for hiding defects in thousands of vehicles. Had the fines not been capped by law, Toyota might have owed $13.8 billion. An auto safety bill in the Senate would raise the maximum fine per violation to $250 million per incident from $16 million today; all automakers and dealers oppose the raise.