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(credit: Megan Geuss)

Tesla is suing a Swiss parts vendor that the electric-vehicle maker said produced a defective hydraulic system for the Model X's signature, vertically opening winged doors. Hoerbiger's prototype never was used in Tesla's latest electric car, and Tesla had to retool "the entire vehicle in order to support a different engineering solution," Tesla claims.

According to Tesla's lawsuit (PDF), filed Tuesday in San Francisco federal court:

On numerous occasions, Tesla notified Hoerbiger of the multitude of defects with its product. While Hoerbiger insisted it could fix the problems, Hoerbiger failed to do so.

Instead, Hoerbiger provided a product that never came close to being ready for production. For example, the system was prone to overheating, which caused it to shut down—making the doors inoperable—when Tesla stress-tested a prototype vehicle. The doors also did not open with the speed or symmetry that Tesla required, including when a prototype vehicle was parked at an incline or when the system was exposed to extreme temperatures. Hoerbiger's doors also “sagged” beyond Tesla's specified tolerance levels.

Furthermore, the product persistently leaked oil, both internally and externally, which, as Hoerbiger acknowledged, was entirely unacceptable, negatively impacting performance as well as leaving unsightly markings and stains inside the vehicle. In sum, Hoerbiger's prototype never came close to fulfilling the promises made by Hoerbiger. Ultimately, the deficiencies in Hoerbiger's product made it an unworkable engineering solution for the Falcon Wing doors of the Model X.

The hydraulics maker declined Ars' request for comment. But the suit, which seeks millions in damages, notes that the parties are disputing whether "Tesla was contractually obligated to purchase production parts from Hoerbiger and whether Hoerbiger is entitled to recover for Tesla's decision not to purchase such parts." Tesla said Hoerbiger's demands are "unreasonable."

Outlet glacier Hoffellsjökull as seen in Vatnajökulsþjóðgarður National Park in southeast Iceland. Due to climate change, Hoffellsjökull glacier has retreated a considerable distance and a deep glacial lake is rapidly developing in the depression left behind. (credit: Cheryl Strahl)

As record months piled up, it became clear a while ago that 2015 was going to be the hottest year on record. Now the final numbers are coming in—and like the official times from a race between me and Usain Bolt, they’re hardly a surprise.

Just as La Niñas hold down the global average temperature because of the cool ocean water rising to the surface in the eastern equatorial Pacific, El Niño conversely pushed the average temperature up. And 2015 saw a doozy of an El Niño that rivaled the monsters of 1997 and 1982. As the long-term trend of global warming continues, El Niño years are likely to be your record-setters.

By coloring individual months as El Niño (red) or La Niña (blue) conditions, you can see that El Niño years tend to rise above the warming trend. (credit: NOAA/NASA)

The US saw the second-warmest year on record for the Lower 48 (2012 is still tops), and the third wettest year as Oklahoma and Texas set records. California, however, had its 13th-driest year, with the promise of El Niño rains yet to deliver. The UK had its sixth-wettest year on record, but not quite as warm—15 years have been warmer.

Prosecutors say that Johnny Quenga had a laser mounted to an airsoft rifle like this. (credit: Eastern District of California)

A man who pleaded guilty last year to pointing an airsoft rifle-mounted laser at a Fresno, California Police Department helicopter was sentenced Tuesday to six months in prison and three years of supervised release.

Johnny Quenga’s saga began on March 5, 2015, when FPD helicopter pilot Ken Schneider was on routine patrol at 500 feet in the air. (Ars flew with Schneider as part of our 2014 feature on laser strikes.)

According to an FBI affidavit, both Schneider and Tactical Flight Officer Jeffrey Logue were struck several times by Quenga’s laser. Logue then used the on-board Forward Looking Infrared (FLIR) camera to determine that the laser emanated from a particular intersection in the Pinedale neighborhood of Fresno. Logue radioed down to officers on the ground, who attempted to find the suspect.

A MIKEY-SAKKE message is sent from the initiator to responder. (credit: benthamsgaze.org)

A security scheme that Britain's spy agency is promoting for encrypting phone calls contains a backdoor that can be accessed by anyone in possession of a master key, according to an analysis published Tuesday by a security expert at University College in London.

The MIKEY-SAKKE protocol is a specification based on the Secure Chorus, an encryption standard for voice and video that was developed by the Communications Electronics Security Group, the information security arm of the UK's Government Communications Headquarters. British governmental officials have indicated that they plan to certify voice encryption products only if they implement MIKEY-SAKKE and Secure Chorus.

According to Steven J. Murdoch, a Royal Society University Research Fellow in the Information Security Research Group of University College, MIKEY-SAKKE contains a backdoor that allows communications to be decrypted in bulk. It can be activated by anyone who has access to a master private key that's responsible for generating intermediate private keys. Because the master key is required to create new keys and to update existing ones, network providers must keep the master key permanently available.