Nissan Recalls 515,000 U.S. Xterra, Frontier, Sentra Models
Nissan has issued a recall of more than a half a million Xterra SUVs and Frontier trucks in the U.S. for a potential steering issue.
Nissan explained in a release on the issue that "in certain rare instances, the lower steering column joint on the affected Frontier and Xterra vehicles can develop corrosion that limits the movement of the joint."
"If the vehicle continues to be driven in this condition it may, in an extreme case, lead to cracking of the steering shaft," said Nissan.
The automaker hasn't yet even experienced any issues with the components in the U.S., but it's seen three field reports of the problem in Canada and six in Brazil.
The steering-related recall covers about 240,000 Nissan Frontier and 261,000 Nissan Xterra models in all for the U.S. (plus nearly 15,000 in Canada), and it affects all 2002-2004 Nissan Frontier pickup models made from July 9, 2001 to October 20, 2004, as well as all 2002-2004 Nissan Xterra models made between July 9, 2001 and January 6, 2005. Both were made in Smyrna, Tennessee. Other international-market models of these vehicles are covered; consult Nissan or your dealership for more details if that affects you.
The 2010 Nissan Sentra recall, which was also announced today, deals with a separate issue: These vehicles—about 15,000 in all—might have left the Aguascalientes, Mexico, assembly plant with a faulty positive battery connector—potentially leading to trouble starting the vehicle, or perhaps stalling.
Owners of the affected vehicles will be prompted to bring their vehicle to the dealership to have new parts installed free of charge. Nissan says that the notification effort will begin in early December, once replacement parts are available.
[Nissan North America, via Detroit News]
This story originally appeared at The Car Connection
2011 Honda Accord, GM Crossovers Given Five-Star Safety Ratings
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), which oversees the federal government's vehicle crash-test program, has added a few more results to its set of completely revamped (and retested) 2011 model-year ratings.And for all the models added this time—the 2011 Buick Enclave, 2011 Chevrolet Traverse, 2011 GMC Acadia, and 2011 Honda Accord—it's good news. Five-star good news.
The Traverse, Acadia, and Enclave, which are closely related structurally, were awarded four-star ratings for frontal protection and rollover, and five-star ratings for side protection, but they still earned an Overall Rating of five stars. Frontal ratings included top five-star protection for a male driver but four-star protection for a (smaller) female passenger.
The 2011 Honda Accord fared even better, with five stars in all test categories—including the new side pole test as well as front and rear side barrier force measurements.
But the top rating isn't quite the icing on the cake for Honda. The Accord doesn't have a perfect record in tests from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), however; it's earned top 'good' ratings from the IIHS in frontal offset and side tests but only an 'acceptable' score in the new roof strength test.
The IIHS have applied top 'good' frontal and side-impact test results to the 2011 Enclave, Acadia, and Traverse, but it hasn't yet tested those models for roof strength.
[SaferCar.gov, via Kicking Tires]
This story originally appeared at The Car Connection
2011 Chevrolet Cruze Eco: Best Highway MPG Of Any Non-Hybrid
GM just dropped a very pleasant surprise for green-minded shoppers this morning. Up till now we've been anticipating that the 2011 Chevrolet Cruze Eco will return a very respectable 40 mpg.Turns out the 2011 Chevrolet Cruze Eco is even greener than we were led to think: 42 mpg highway.
That makes the 2011 Cruze Eco the most fuel-efficient traditional gasoline-powered vehicle in the U.S.—excluding hybrids, diesels, and electrics, of course. Only a few VW and Audi diesels—the 2011 Volkswagen Jetta TDI, Jetta Sportwagen TDI, and 2011 Audi A3 TDI—match the 42 mpg highway rating. Admittedly, those diesels are slightly higher in the EPA city rating, at 30 mpg.
GM points out that the Cruze Eco is 23-percent more fuel-efficient on the highway than the Honda Civic, that that it's more fuel-stingy than the 2011 Ford Fusion Hybrid, Nissan Altima Hybrid, and Toyota Camry Hybrid on the highway.
The 2011 Cruze Eco starts at just $18,895, including destination charges, so it costs considerably less than those hybrids and diesels, too. For comparison, the 2011 Ford Fusion Hybrid starts at $27,950, and the others cost nearly that much.
Green without the sacrifices in comfort, refinement
As our companion site Green Car Reports has outlined, the 2011 Cruze Eco isn't just a Cruze slapped with uncomfortably tall gearing, no A/C, and a basic, chintzy interior—we saw some of those strategies in the 1980s with vehicles like the Dodge Omni Miser and Chevrolet Chevette Scooter, or the HF versions of some Hondas. GM says that aerodynamic improvements alone—through extensive wind-tunnel testing—contributed about six mpg to the Cruze Eco's highway fuel economy, while a rear spoiler, lowered ride height, and underbody panels, plus grille air shutters, helped optimize airflow. In all, the Cruze Eco has a coefficient of drag of just 0.298.
Weight is also a factor. The Cruze Eco tips the scales at just 3,009 pounds—more than 200 pounds lighter than the Cruze 1LT, thanks to weight savings in the suspension, thinner sheetmetal, and reduced weld flanges, along with lighter wheels and tires.
The Cruze Eco uses the same 1.4-liter, turbocharged Ecotec four-cylinder engine that's used in most other Cruze models (except for the base LS, which gets a non-turbo 1.8-liter). The engine makes just 138 hp, but over several drives, The Car Connection has found it to be quite smooth, torquey, and responsive; it also works well with the six-speed automatic transmission (26 mpg city, 37 highway as such).
And as we found in a preview drive of a pre-production prototype of the 2011 Cruze Eco early this year, the Eco's manual transmission and taller ratios aren't much if anything of a handicap; it still feels like a very enjoyable, drivable powertrain even if it's not as quick as the other Cruze versions with the automatic.
We'll bring you more up-close impressions of what it's like to live with the 2011 Chevrolet Cruze Eco as soon as we can line up a longer drive.
[General Motors]
This story originally appeared at The Car Connection
TCC’s Best Car to Buy 2011: Green Cars
Whatever your color of politics might be, red or blue, there's little doubt you've been teased by the notion of green cars.
Environmentally concerned drivers want the same thing as security hawks: to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels. Though they get to the same place from different starting points, both factions are clearly turning their eyes, and their dollars, to green cars of all kinds, from hybrids, to electric cars, to everything in between.
TheCarConnection's Best Car to Buy 2011 award will pick one vehicle from among the 40 new or significantly revised cars, crossovers, SUVs and minivans to hit the road this model year. And for our inaugural award, the list of green cars counts almost every kind of low-emissions technology on the market, save for diesels.
For this short list, we've included nearly every new green car that has an eye to cutting fuel consumption, by any means possible. A total of five vehicles make that cut, and also carry a base price of less than $50,000; have been road-tested by our editors; will be offered for sale by January 31, 2011.
Our full road tests of each of these vehicles revealed the technology tweaks that produce strikingly different green vehicles. The Nissan Leaf is the first mass-market electric car, running on battery power alone; the MKZ Hybrid, CR-Z and Lexus CT 200h run on a blend of gas and electric power; and the Chevy Volt primarily drives its wheels with electric power, though it can blend in gas-engine-generated power in limited circumstances.
Are any of these radical cars of the future, the best car to buy today? You'll find out soon, as High Gear Media will be handing out our Best Car to Buy 2011 awards next week, during the 2010 Los Angeles Auto Show media days. You can follow the build-up here at TheCarConnection, on our Facebook page, or via Twitter @CarConnection #BestCarToBuy.
Until then, here's the list of green-car nominees, with our judges' notes:
2011 Chevrolet Volt: A blend of electric-car efficiency and gas-engine peace of mind, the 2011 Volt makes a uniquely American appeal to green-car fans.
2011 Honda CR-Z: Honda resurrects the ghost, if not the spirit, of the beloved CRX in an Insightful spin-off.
2011 Lexus CT 200h: The littlest Lexus is also its most fuel-efficient, and most sprightly, hybrid offering.
2011 Lincoln MKZ Hybrid: Like its Ford Fusion sibling, the MKZ Hybrid marshals outstanding city fuel economy, and layers on a rich-feeling interior.
2011 Nissan Leaf: A game-changing pure electric car for the masses, the Leaf carries an in-touch base price after tax credits, and makes for an undeniable call to action for earth lovers everywhere.
This story originally appeared at The Car Connection
TCC’s Best Car to Buy 2011 Nominees: SUVs and Crossovers
When SUVs truly ruled the American new-car roost, only a handful of names could be picked out of the best-seller list: Grand Cherokee, Explorer, and the outliers.
A decade or so later, it's crossovers that dominate the sales charts, and this year's list of nominees for TheCarConnection's Best Car to Buy 2011 award reflects the sea change in automakers' offerings, and in car shoppers' tastes.
Of the 40 new vehicles TheCarConnection has selected for our inaugural Best Car to Buy award, 11 are SUVs or crossovers. That means they have wagon body styles, available all-wheel drive, and a pinch or more of off-road capability, some much more than others.
This year's list includes many nameplates that weren't even on the market ten years ago--but it also includes two returning stalwarts of the SUV world, the Jeep Grand Cherokee and the Ford Explorer. The latter is purely a crossover this time around, spun off Ford's global family-car platforms; the Grand Cherokee is more of an SUV blend, with more rugged four-wheel drive setting the trail-blazing benchmark in this set.
We've included nearly every new SUV or crossover that abides by our rules. The list is composed of those vehicles new or heavily revised for the 2011 model year; those with a base price of less than $50,000 including destination charges; those made available for a full road test by our editors; and those which will be on sale by January 31, 2011, if not already on dealer lots.Some of the entrants are still under a veil of silence. Come Monday, our first drives of the 2011 Dodge Durango and of the 2011 Dodge Journey will be live on TheCarConnection. We've driven the new Explorer, but a full road test awaits a mid-December news embargo.
Will any of these SUVs or crossovers trump the impressive green machines, minivans, sedans, or hatchbacks assembled for our 2011 honors? You'll find out soon, as High Gear Media will be handing out our Best Car to Buy 2011 awards next week, during the 2010 Los Angeles Auto Show media days.You can follow the build-up here at TheCarConnection, on our Facebook page, or via Twitter @CarConnection #BestCarToBuy. In the meantime, the nominees from the batch of new crossovers and SUVs follows, with our judges' notes:
2011 BMW X3: Now an American citizen, the South Carolina-built X3 grows up with sedan-inspired styling and finally, great rear-seat room.2011 Dodge Durango: A cousin to the Jeep Grand Cherokee, the seven-seat Durango is to the Benz GL-Class what the Jeep is to the M-Class.
2011 Dodge Journey: A gracious new interior spiffs up the compact Dodge crossover, along with a new V-6 powertrain and retuned handling.
2011 Ford Edge: A substantial refresh of the Edge implants SYNC and MyFord Touch technology in its cabin, to pixellating effect.
2011 Ford Explorer: An SUV titan of the past clears its sales-arrest record with crossover credentials and a leading dose of LCDs, Wifi and Bluetooth.
2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee: Descended from the Mercedes-Benz ML-Class, the Grand Cherokee evolves high-quality running gear into something distinctly Jeep.
2011 Kia Sorento: Kia's first crack at a seven-passenger crossover is a resounding success, with all the value boxes checked and smart sheetmetal to boot.
2011 Kia Sportage: A bright replacement for a doddering sport-ute, the new Sportage walks the finest line between SUV cliches and hatchback pragmatism.
2011 Lincoln MKX: The high-grade companion to the Explorer wears its Lincoln wings up front, and gains its luxury bona fides with an elegant interior and Apple-inspired interfaces.
2011 MINI Cooper Countryman: A maxi MINI that's still small by SUV standards, the Countryman's a master communicator of the road ahead, and a packaging wonder.
2011 Volkswagen Touareg: More pricey but far nicer, the reorganized Touareg's lost a lot of weight and a lot of visual clutter--while adding an intriguing, expensive Hybrid model.
This story originally appeared at The Car Connection
Most Popular Nav Destinations: McDonald’s, Walmart, Home Depot
When Americans turn to navigation devices to search for services when on the road, they tend toward what's familiar: McDonalds when getting a fast-food bite; Holiday Inn when looking for a room; and Walmart when needing other items.That's one of the possible points to take home from TeleNav's latest roundup of search data. The company is one of the world's largest wireless location-based service providers, with over 17 million subscribers, and collected the latest results anonymously from users in September 2010.
Among chains, McDonald's trumps Subway, Taco Bell, KFC, or Burger King by a long shot among those searching for fast food. Holiday Inn was also by a wide margin the most-searched among hotel chains, followed by Marriott, Hampton, Motel 6, and Hilton. Among big-box stores, Walmart easily takes the cake, and when nav users were looking for a coffee Starbucks easily beat Dunkin' Donuts. Among do-it-yourselfers, Home Depot is by far the most popular search.
The data pertains mainly to smartphone-based nav systems, but TeleNav says that 84 percent of its nav searches are made while in the car.
The company--already used in Ford products with SYNC--is setting up a location-relevant 'mobile ad platform' that could bring on-the-spot discounts to those who search and then decide to drive to a sponsored restaurant, store, or point of interest.
[TeleNav]
This story originally appeared at The Car Connection
TCC’s Best Car to Buy 2011 Nominees: Sedans and Wagons
Work trucks aside, the heart of the U.S. new-car market is for sedans, hatchbacks and wagons under $50,000.
TheCarConnection's Best Car to Buy 2011 award will pick one vehicle from among the 40 new or significantly revised cars, crossovers, SUVs and minivans to hit the road this model year. And for our inaugural award, the list of new sedans, wagons and hatchbacks arriving in showrooms and eligible to win is a long one.
We've included nearly every new car fitting our parameters, and in this niche, 19 cars qualify to compete for our Best Car to Buy award. They all slot in with a base price of less than $50,000; each has been made available for a full road test by our editors; and each will be on sale by January 31, 2011, if not already on dealer lots.
Some of the contestants are still under wraps: come Monday, our first drives of the Chrysler 200 and Dodge Avenger will be live on TheCarConnection. We'll be driving the Acura TSX Wagon soon, and are including it here based on its slight mechanical differences from the well-reviewed TSX sedan. Also on the list: the 2011 Hyundai Elantra, which should make the trip from its Alabama factory to the brand's showrooms just in time to make our deadline.
Can any of these vehicles top the impressive new green machines, minivans, or SUVs and crossovers also due in 2011? You'll find out soon, as High Gear Media will be handing out our Best Car to Buy 2011 awards next week, during the 2010 Los Angeles Auto Show media days.
You can follow the build-up here at TheCarConnection, on our Facebook page, or via Twitter @CarConnection #BestCarToBuy. In the meantime, the nominees from the world of sedans, hatchbacks and wagons, with our judges' notes:
2011 Acura TSX Sport Wagon: Acura's appealing compact sedan grows a backpack without gaining too much weight.
2011 BMW 5-Series: The follow-up to five generations of fame, the new 5er sedan outweighs bigger size with ripe turbo power.
2011 Buick Regal: Once a Saturn, always an Opel, the Buick Regal brings continental manners to the mid-size sedan class.
2011 Chevrolet Cruze: Chevy's new compact sedan erases the Cobalt from our internal hard drives, though the hatchback would be a welcome addition.
2011 Chrysler 200: Chrysler says its new compact four-door is good enough to ditch the old Sebring nameplate.
2011 Dodge Avenger: Like the 200, the Avenger gets a new cabin and a new powertrain, but the sheetmetal revamp is less extensive.
2011 Dodge Charger: The HEMI is back, and it's hooked up with a new look that's even more in-your-face American than the average UCF match.
2011 Ford Fiesta: Piping hot off the European design desk, the Fiesta has major subcompact street cred off the bat--and SYNC to draw in all the mobile-media addicts.
2011 Hyundai Elantra: Borrowing the look from the bigger Sonata, the new Elantra swaps staid for savvy and aims squarely for Honda's Civic.
2011 Hyundai Sonata: Whether it's four-cylinder, turbo four or hybrid four, the new Sonata delivers astounding value in a handsome package.
2011 Infiniti G25: A 2.5-liter G sedan? Yes, and it's keeping the Infiniti's fame for sharp handling intact.
2011 Infiniti M37: The top-line Infiniti sedan qualifies in V-6 form only here, wrapped in gorgeous sheetmetal outside and finished to exacting standards inside.
2011 Kia Optima: A counterpart and a counterpoint to the Sonata, the Optima's catchy styling riffs give it a personality of its own--one its predecessor never knew.
2011 Mazda2: An out-of-country cousin to the Fiesta, the Mazda2 has pert good looks and steering to its credit.
2011 Nissan Juke: A wild offshoot of economy cars and crossovers, the funked-up Juke sports Nissan's most advanced engine and available all-wheel drive.
2011 Scion tC: A revamped tC draws itself with straighter lines and more power in a tuner-friendly format.
2011 Toyota Avalon: Big, quiet and unassuming, the Avalon does everything Toyota typically does well.
2011 Volkswagen Jetta: Supersized for American tastes, the U.S. version of the new Jetta has a cavernous back seat, and d'Silva-designed lines.
2011 Volvo S60: A sculpted bullet from Sweden lifts interior design to a Scandinavian plane.
This story originally appeared at The Car Connection
Will ‘Rising Tide’ Of Elderly Drivers Lead To A New Safety Agenda?
How, and at what point do you limit when older drivers can get behind the wheel—or decided if they're still okay to drive at all?Those are among many tough questions we face as our driving population ages, and they're among the concerns currently being covered in a National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) forum on older drivers.
The NTSB isn't necessarily looking at taking licenses away or making them more limited; that would be the states' domain, largely. But it is looking at establishing uniform testing requirements, as well as studying what changes could be made in the design of cars and roads.
It's the first time in the NTSB's 40-year history that it's looked specifically at older drivers.
Rising tide or a tsunami?
National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) chairman Deborah Hersman called the issue a "rising tide," according to Bloomberg, due to an aging population and rising life expectancy, plus drivers holding onto their licenses longer. Today there are 32 million licensed drivers age 65 and older. By 2025, more than one out of every five drivers will be over age 65. That's up markedly from today, when about 15 percent are over 65. By 2030, according to the National Institute on Aging, 25 percent of drivers will be older than 65. And by that year, the IIHS has predicted—when there will be 57 million elderly drivers on the road, 25 percent of all fatal traffic crashes will involve those 65 and older.
Another trend that's particularly concerning is that people are holding on to their licenses longer. From 1997 to this past year, the proportion of those 70 and older who still hold a license has gone from 73 to 79 percent. But older drivers are getting safer.
Dementia and driving
In addition to chronic issues that might prevent older drivers from responding as quickly; cognitive impairments and dementia might even keep older drivers from understanding risk—or even perceiving where they are. And instances such as these appear to be on an upswing over the past decade. Several—like the 2003 Santa Monica outdoor market accident, in which the driver killed ten and injured many more—have shown that those who were driving had such a diminished capacity that they shouldn't have still been licensed.
Furthermore, recent issues like unintended acceleration—investigated this past year in Toyota vehicles—have been experienced much more frequently among older drivers. Of 19 fatal accidents under investigation for unintended acceleration, 10 were older than 60 and five were older than 80, and according to NHTSA, the average age over all the Toyota crashes was 61.
Only minor changes so far
With the Baby Boomer generation aging, it's only going to get worse until we set some ground rules. Only New Hampshire and Illinois require an additional road test after 75, but at least 25 states have set some additional rules or test methods for older drivers.
However, as the senior-advocacy group AARP argues, older drivers do tend to respect that diminished capacity and self-limit their time behind the wheel to daylight hours and short trips in familiar places. They also tend to be more cautious, wear their seatbelts more often, and are less likely to drink and drive.
Those age 70 and older are more likely to be the victims, too; they're about three times as likely overall as those age 35-54 to be fatally injured in a crash, and some of that is due to physical fragility. Ford Motor Co. [NYSE: F], at this forum, again presented its inflatable seat belt system; the automaker says that it might better shield injury-prone older occupants in a crash. The system is included in the all-new 2011 Ford Explorer.
[Detroit News; Bloomberg via Automotive News]
This story originally appeared at The Car Connection
TCC’s Best Car to Buy 2011 Nominees: Minivans
Today's minivans may be a smaller part of the automotive world than in the past decade, but the big family haulers are back in a big way for 2011.
For TheCarConnection's Best Car to Buy 2011 award, we've included nearly every minivan offered for sale in the U.S. for the new model year. It's no accident: this year, almost all the automakers competing for family dollars have refreshed or reinvented their minivans with new looks, new features or new powertrains--or all three.
The sole minivan not on TCC's list of nominees this year is the 2011 Kia Sedona, which itself gets a new powertrain and a new grille as it returns, minus its former Hyundai Entourage counterpart.
We've driven each of the new entries, save for one. The 2011 Nissan Quest goes on sale early next year, and while it qualifies on all other counts, our editors were not able to drive and road-test the Quest before our November 1 deadline. It's included among the nominees, with an asterisk, because of the Quest's traditionally high scores in TCC's numeric ratings--but unfortunately is not eligible to win.
Our road testers have sampled both Chrysler minivans, and are busy prepping first drive stories for those to go live on Monday, November 15.
Will any of these wagons elbow aside the fun hatchbacks, able sedans, or performance coupes on our list? High Gear Media will be handing out our Best Car to Buy 2011 awards next week, during the 2010 Los Angeles Auto Show media days. You can follow the build-up here at TheCarConnection, on our Facebook page, or via Twitter @CarConnection #BestCarToBuy.
Meanwhile, the minivan nominees, with our judges' notes:
2011 Chrysler Town & Country: The more formally styled Chrysler minivan will take on comers in the $30,000-and-more price range, with a sleeker front end, a more refined interior and a new powertrain, Chrysler's Pentastar 3.6-liter V-6.2011 Dodge Grand Caravan: The companion piece to the Town & Country, the under-$30,000 Grand Caravan has all the features Chrysler's famous for, like stow-away second- and third-row seating, best-in-class entertainment options, even a fold-away picnic table. New this year: a much appreciated drivetrain with the Pentastar V-6, and better interior styling and materials.
2011 Honda Odyssey: That lightning bolt down the sides of the new Odyssey signifies thinking. Honda says it's bottled that energy into new creature comforts, better visibility, and more handsome design--while keeping the Odyssey's benchmark handling.
2011 Nissan Quest*: The 2011 Quest is the first Nissan minivan in a generation to come from Japan; in the migration back home, the Quest strikes a more upright pose, and caters to the more luxury-minded minivan buyers. The Quest goes on sale early next year, but alas, wasn't available for test drives before our award deadlines.
2011 Toyota Sienna: In spirit--or at least in advertising--this new Sienna is a "swagger wagon." Though it doesn't alter any of its minivan basics, and doesn't include fold-away seats middle or back, the Sienna's newfound interest in things like steering and braking fuses nicely with business-class seating in the second row, and a wide, gorgeous 16-inch LCD screen for its optional entertainment system.
This story originally appeared at The Car Connection
New GOP Governors Want To Spend High-Speed Rail Funds On Roads
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has rejected a request from two recently elected GOP governors-to-be asking to cancel light-rail projects in the works and funnel the money elsewhere.Ohio governor-elect John Kasich wants to use $400 in federal funds pledged to a Cleveland-to-Cincinnati high-speed passenger-rail project for road construction or freight lines instead.
Wisconsin governor-elect Scott Walker had already tried the same—with the same denial from LaHood—wanting to cancel an $810 million Madison-to-Milwaukee rail line in favor of more roadbuilding.
In both cases, the governors had decided that the projects weren't viable in this economy, as they rely on significant state funds in addition to those from the federal government.
Walker said he wanted to use the funds for state roads and bridges that he described as "literally crumbling."
That likely won't be possible, though—and it's not just a case of LaHood being difficult. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act set aside $8 billion toward high-speed rail and doesn't allow the funds to be spent for any other reason, according to the AP, citing the National Association of Railroad Passengers.
In his Fastlane blog, LaHood argues that high-speed rail will be a job-creation engine, putting skilled Rust Belt workers to work. Project advocates also argue that it means better connectivity between airports and, likely a safer alternative to the Interstate.
What do you think? Are major high-speed rail projects along clogged Interstate corridors worthwhile, or should we just keep adding lanes because it's cheaper?
This story originally appeared at The Car Connection
