Toyota launched a total of 13 recall campaigns in 2011 covering over 3.5 million vehicles. Those figures put the Japanese automaker at the top of the most-recalled list for the third year in a row, according to Ward’s Auto. Between 2009 and 2010, Toyota recalled nearly 11.5 million vehicles in North America for a variety of reasons, including troublesome floor mats and sticky accelerators tied to the company’s unintended acceleration woes. The company says that around 85 percent of vehicles involved in the pedal recall have been fixed, with lower volume models continuing to trickle into dealers.

But Toyota wasn’t the only automaker with recall woes in 2011. Ford found itself in second place for the number of vehicles recalled this year with 10 campaigns covering 3.2 million vehicles. For its part, General Motors issued a total of 21 recalls, but the fixes involved far fewer vehicles: 455,901. All told, Ward’s says automakers issued 130 recalls in 2011, down from 136 campaigns in the U.S. last year.

*Update: The expanded Honda airbag recall pushed the automaker past Toyota for the greatest number of recalled vehicles in 2011. Head to our followup post for more information.

Toyota tops recall list again in 2011, overall number of U.S. recalls down *UPDATE originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 29 Dec 2011 14:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Toyota launched a total of 13 recall campaigns in 2011 covering over 3.5 million vehicles. Those figures put the Japanese automaker at the top of the most-recalled list for the third year in a row, according to Ward’s Auto. Between 2009 and 2010, Toyota recalled nearly 11.5 million vehicles in North America for a variety of reasons, including troublesome floor mats and sticky accelerators tied to the company’s unintended acceleration woes. The company says that around 85 percent of vehicles involved in the pedal recall have been fixed, with lower volume models continuing to trickle into dealers.

But Toyota wasn’t the only automaker with recall woes in 2011. Ford found itself in second place for the number of vehicles recalled this year with 10 campaigns covering 3.2 million vehicles. For its part, General Motors issued a total of 21 recalls, but the fixes involved far fewer vehicles: 455,901. All told, Ward’s says automakers issued 130 recalls in 2011, down from 136 campaigns in the U.S. last year.

Toyota tops recall list again in 2011, overall number of U.S. recalls down originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 29 Dec 2011 14:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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2011 may have been the first full year that multiple mainstream plug-in vehicles were available in the U.S., but it will also be remembered – most likely – as the year when the U.S. federal government was offering the most money to plug-in vehicle buyers (based on the number and types of incentives offered, not in total funds spent). As of the end of 2011 – i.e., three short days from now – three incentives will go the way of an ethanol subsidy. A fourth – arguably the most important one – will remain on the books.

The three federal electric vehicle tax credits that are set to expire are the $1,000 (maximum) to install a home charging station, the $2,500 (max) for two- or three-wheeled EV that have 2.5-kWh batteries or larger and the $4,000 (max) for converting either a hybrid to plug-in or a regular ICE to EV power. The big tax credit that’s sticking around is the $7,500 (max, depending on the size of the battery) for buying a new plug-in vehicle. This credit is set to phase out on a manufacturer-by-manufacturer basis once an automaker sells 200,000 plug-in cars. That could take a while, if the credit is left alone. Plug In America’s legislative director, Jay Friedland, thinks this may not be so easy. In a recent email to PIA supporters, he wrote:

What keeps me awake at night are ongoing challenges to the overall plug-in car tax credit. I am sure you have heard all of the major media talking about the Payroll Tax Extension; but what you may not have known is that EVs are part of the political football, too. Here’s what is going on:

We fought hard (and won!) to get all of these expiring electric vehicle tax credits included in the “energy tax credit extenders package,” covering items like the production tax credit for electricity (wind/solar) and the 30% investment tax credit for manufacturing equipment. And with support on both sides of the aisle, we made it onto the list under consideration by the Senate Finance committee.

Now the House has finally joined the Senate in passing a two-month extension on the Payroll Tax Holiday, Unemployment Insurance, and Medicare reimbursement; but at the final moment all other extenders (including ours!) were pushed aside. These EV tax credits are now in play for the full fix, which could come at the end of the two-month extension.

PIA encourages plug-in vehicle supporters to take action and keep the credits in place.

Three federal electric vehicle incentives expiring at end of 2011 originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Wed, 28 Dec 2011 12:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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New Updates Soften Japan’s Super Sedan

Mid-course corrections are a common occurrence when speaking about high-flying commercial aircraft and oceangoing freighters – both are often pushed off track by errant winds and powerful currents. But when it comes to automobiles, a mid-course correction can be a sign that something was wrong the moment a new model was unveiled.

The Lexus IS F was introduced at the 2007 Detroit Auto Show. The compact, high-performance sports sedan was a fresh Japanese alternative to the Audi RS4, BMW M3, Cadillac CTS-V and Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG. Yet, despite a full suite of performance enhancements that lifted it above and well beyond the standard IS, the 416-horsepower rear-wheel-drive sedan arrived lacking the refinement and performance to properly battle its competition.

Lexus reviewed the situation, noted it was not on the proper path and made a series of corrections this past year. The 2011 IS-F four-door boasts a host of improvements, both inside and out, promising a smoother ride, better handling, improved ergonomics and a freshened exterior. So is the Lexus IS F firmly back on track?

Continue reading 2011 Lexus IS F [w/video]

2011 Lexus IS F [w/video] originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 20 Dec 2011 11:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Meaningful Updates Rekindle A Once Top Competitor

If you woke up today hoping to read a minivan review, then it’s your lucky day. We know that sliding doors and third-row seating aren’t the most exciting traits, but the minivan needs love, too. In fact, the entire minivan segment was all but ignored for nearly a decade as automakers responded to our fevered clamoring for more sport utility vehicles and crossovers. The good news is the minivan is back, and every option in the segment has been completely redesigned or updated within the past two years, including the Chrysler Town & Country.

Chrysler is, of course, the company that invented the modern minivan. But while Team Pentastar can lay claim to being the segment’s father, many soccer moms and dads have long since migrated to the Honda Odyssey and Toyota Sienna. In fact, while the Town and Country emerged as last year’s best-selling minivan, it won’t repeat that feat this year. Its sales so far this year are behind both the Odyssey and Sienna, the latter of which may be the new best-selling minivan if the Dodge Grand Caravan doesn’t finish up strong.

Why has the Town and Country slipped? The competition’s fresher designs and higher build quality are at the top of the list of reasons. To dig a littler deeper, we got an adequately equipped base model 2011 Town & Country Touring to see if Chrysler’s redesigned mainstay is doing enough to regain its place at the top of the minivan hierarchy.

Continue reading 2011 Chrysler Town & Country Touring

2011 Chrysler Town & Country Touring originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 08 Nov 2011 11:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If you like the classic lines of the 1960s Mustang but prefer the amenities of a modern car, then you’ll definitely want to check out this unique pony car. Built by 23-year-old Johnny “Sparks”, this 2011 Ford Mustang GT has been fitted with body panels from the 1968 and 1969 model years for a very unique look. Of course, the body panels weren’t an exact fit so most of the panels had to be lengthened, widened or stretched to fit over the chassis. Some parts, like the front portion of the hood, had to be completely built from scratch. The result looks better than you might think, with the lines of the car flowing together quite well.

In addition to the new body panels, the car has also been fitted with a variety of modifications including a full exhaust system, cold-air intake and 20-inch wheels and tires. Finally, the car has been finished off in a matte red paint with black graphics.

You can get a closer look at the re-skinned Mustang in the gallery above.

2011 Mustang re-skinned with classic body panels originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 03 Nov 2011 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Honda showed off a gaggle of wild concepts for SEMA 2011, but the most interesting of the bunch may very well be a demure 2011 Accord Coupe V6. The two-door has been worked over by the go-fast fiends at Honda Factory Performance and boasts a range of bolt-on goodies that include a HFP suspension and body kit. More importantly, the Accord Coupe V6 Concept is laden with a smattering of prototype engine components. Engineers crafted a prototype supercharger, intake and exhaust systems just for the vehicle, and the end result is a very respectable 335 horsepower 285 pound-feet of torque.

Those figures mark an increase of 64 ponies and 34 lb-ft of twist over the stock 3.5-liter V6, which should do plenty to make the Accord a more interesting piece of metal. Right now, Honda says that the concept was built purely to gauge public interest and determine whether or not Accord Coupe buyers would actually be interested in a hotter version of the vehicle. We say extra horsepower is always a good thing, especially when it comes with a factory warranty.

2011 Honda Accord Coupe V6 Concept goes supercharged originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 04 Nov 2011 07:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Pasadena Art Center College of Design held its annual Car Classic this past weekend, an event that has been a must-attend on our calendars for the past few years. While rain hampered last year’s Car Classic, this year’s event benefited from a typically beautiful Southern California day.

Anyone from the Art Center will tell you that the Car Classic is not a concours event, but rather a display of automotive art. As a result, the selection of cars is fairly eclectic and the vehicles are strewn about the campus lawn in a rather unorganized fashion. While the layout may not be as photogenic, it makes it easy to wander through the sea of cars and simply enjoy each and every one.

Each Car Classic does have a theme, though, and for 2011 the event celebrated Southern California’s influence on automotive design. In addition to the Art Center producing some of the world’s most famous automotive designers, more than twenty advanced automotive design studios call the area home, several of which brought recent concept cars to display. There were also special displays for California hot rods and California beach culture as well as cars designed by Peter Brock. The Petersen Automotive Museum and Mullin Museum also brought out cars from their impressive collections. You can see a sample of the cars in attendance in the high-res gallery above.

2011 Art Center Car Classic celebrates Southern California’s influence on automotive design originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 24 Oct 2011 19:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Taking home the win at Honda Eco Mileage Challenge 2011 means you’ll have to field a vehicle that sips down fuel at such a slow rate that it’s barely even measurable. We’re talking a supremely efficient vehicle that could drive a distance equal to the circumference of the globe (approximately 24,901.55 miles) on only 2.9 gallons of fuel. That’s efficiency. And a reality.

Team Fireball took home the crown at the Honda Eco Mileage Challenge 2011 by achieving a record-setting 3644.869 kilometers per liter of fuel. That’s a stunning 8,571 miles per gallon. While Team Fireball’s ride lacks amenities, it most certainly belongs to a class of vehicles the EPA wouldn’t know what to do with on its fuel economy test cycles.

This year marks the 31st annual running of the Honda Eco Mileage Challenge and the field of 412 entrants had to extract efficiency from Honda’s 50-cc gasoline engine, which commonly powers the automaker’s lineup of urban scooters. In these highly-controlled tests, entrants must lap the track three times at speeds of 25-plus km/h (15.5 mph). The amount of fuel consumed during those three laps is then measured and overall fuel economy is calculated. Back in 1981, at the inaugural Eco Mileage Challenge, the winning team achieved 292.5 km/l. An efficiency record was set ten years ago at 3432.325 km/l, but that was shattered by Team Fireball.

Winner of Honda Eco Mileage Challenge 2011 turns it up to 3,644 km/liter (that’s 8,571 mpg) originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Thu, 13 Oct 2011 07:54:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Decent Fuel Economy, Better Looks, Solid Value

The auto show transition seemed to happen in a flash. One year, automakers were jockeying for dealer traffic with high horsepower, rear-wheel-drive retro rides, and the next year, each one of them ushered in a hybrid or electric vehicle. The paradigm shift was a welcome sight for car buyers wanting to shrink their carbon footprint and save money on fuel, but the majority of those products were years from production. Fast-forward to 2011, and the variety of fuel efficient transportation on offer in the industry has improved quite a bit, including this sleekly styled mid-size offering from Hyundai.

The Sonata Hybrid may have taken longer than expected to hit the market, but its lithium-polymer battery pack and host of fuel-saving features have given Hyundai 35 miles per gallon city and 40 mpg highway fuel economy numbers to flash before consumers. And the Sonata Hybrid isn’t battling the competition on fuel economy alone. It also features attractive styling that sharply differentiates it from non-hybrid Sonata models, while also carrying an MSRP thousands of dollars less than the Toyota Camry Hybrid and Ford Fusion Hybrid.

We spent a week with a modestly equipped Sonata Hybrid, but rather than going light on the pedal to gather up as many Eco points as possible, we drove it like we would any mid-sized sedan to see if it could hang with the daily drudgery of suburban life.

Continue reading 2011 Hyundai Sonata Hybrid

2011 Hyundai Sonata Hybrid originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 05 Oct 2011 11:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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