Safety Counts: IIHS Names 115 Top Vehicle Picks For 2012
Not too long ago, safety ratings were details that only the most meticulous (and safety-minded) new-car shoppers paid attention to. But today, new-car shoppers expect top safety as a given; frankly, it’s the price of entry for a family vehicle. And for 2012, those new priorities are showing: There are a whopping 115 Top Safety Picks—vehicles that get top scores across the board in Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) test categories.
According to the organization, 97 models that received the accolade last year carry over with it in 2012, while there are 18 new Top Safety Pick recipients for 2012.
Since electronic stability control is now required by the federal government for all new vehicles, the IIHS has dropped the feature as one of the requirements for Top Safety Pick Status. Now, it simply looks for top ‘good’ scores in all four of its test categories: frontal offset, side impact, roof strength, and rear crash (seat-based).
One differentiator: roof strength
The most recently introduced test is the roof strength category, for which the IIHS pushes a metal plate against one side of the roof at a particular rate, to see how much weight can be applied before the roof reaches five inches of crush. To get a ‘good’ rating in the test, it should withstand four times the vehicle’s weight—which corresponds to a much better chance of survival in a rollover crash.
The IIHS notes that their Top Safety Pick list still includes no small pickups—they tend to fare poorly in the roof strength test. But the Ford F-150, Toyota Tundra, and Honda Ridgeline are Top Safety Picks.
Plenty of safe and fuel-efficient picks
Those with high gas mileage (or plugging in) in mind have plenty of choices, though. The Chevrolet Volt and Nissan Leaf, along with the new Toyota Prius V, all also get the top nod. So do several minicars: the Fiat 500, Ford Fiesta, Honda Fit, and Toyota Yaris. The Fiat 500 was recently given a federal (NHTSA) combined safety score of just three (out of five) stars, however.
Subaru remains the only automaker with a full line of Top Safety Pick vehicles, while Toyota, Lexus, and Scion have a combined 15 vehicles on the list for 2012.
The all-new 2012 Toyota Camry also broke new ground; it earned the best-selling model’s first Top Safety Pick accolade ever, joining a long list of mid-size sedans—most of that market segment, really.
Click to the next page to see the new Top Safety Picks for 2012, listed by their individual IIHS vehicle categories. To see the full list of 2012 IIHS Top Safety Picks, see the vehicle safety ratings over at the Institute’s site. And to help you pick out the best of the best, we’d strongly recommend you also check out the federal crash-test results.
2013 Chevrolet Malibu Eco: First Drive Review
Chevrolet's car fortunes are on the upswing, the momentum generated by new vehicles like the beautifully finished Cruze compact sedan and the eager little Sonic hatchback. Now it's the Malibu's turn, and the venerable nameplate ushers in big changes for the 2013 model year, all in the name of getting smaller and more efficient.
The Malibu, Chevy says, is its first global sedan, but the version coming to dealers in the spring will be unique to the U.S. market. We'll be the only ones to get the amped-up Malibu Eco, a green-tinged four-cylinder, four-door, five-seat sedan, augmented with a battery pack and a motor that boost gas mileage and elbow aside any V-6 option in the process. GM hopes its variety of planet-hugging will cut through the clutter of, well, just about every other repositioned family sedan that's been electrified in the past few years.
We drove the 2012 Chevy Malibu Eco yesterday around Austin, Texas, in a fit of fog and rain, something Austin's been running lean on for far too long. Our first driving impressions? It's a completely different Malibu in look and feel than the four-door just drifting out of memory. On the handling and efficiency fronts, that's progress.
Camaro all over?
GM cites a lot of Camaro influence in the details, and it's easy to see some of the heritage appeal molded and shaped into the gauges and taillamps. The new Malibu looks much smaller than it did last year, though it's not even a half-inch shorter overall.
The quest for aero smoothness--and global dimensions--leaves this Malibu with a better front end than rear. The Malibu Eco's split grille wears the Chevy badge proudly--it's pretty large--and the Eco's front air dam has some pretty emphatic elbows embossed into its lower corners. That helps give it more heft, as does the pronounced, VW-like stagger of the grille and headlamps.
The aerodynamics start to have their way with the shape at the corners of the headlamps and at the small, set-off side mirrors. Down the sides, the Malibu picks up some subtle sculpturing, and by the time the sheetmetal wraps around the rear pillar, it's started to resemble Fortes and Camrys. The decklid and taillights are tiered like those on the last-generation Camry, too, but the rounded corners of the Malibu's high rear lamps bring it more in line with other current Chevys. While I'm more mixed on the Malibu's new shape, my colleagues aren't. They love it. To me, the former Malibu pulled off a more imposing look with flatter, plainer surfaces.
The cockpit delivers its details with more unity. Big square-ringed gauges sit behind a thick steering wheel at a lower vantage point, and the center console gets a perimeter of glossy grey plastic that's identical to the stuff in the Volt--though the Malibu gets real buttons, not capacitive switches, to run its major functions. There's a large LCD screen front and center but also big, grabby knobs for major audio and climate functions. Designers took some visual heft out of the dash by cutting strakes across the surface and glinting it with metallic trim, but the dash itself doesn't seem thick enough to warrant the fuss. There's also some trim on the Eco model that seems to want to be woodgrain, except up close it's more metallic and woven in appearance. Taste points aside, it all feels good to the fingertips.
November 2011 Car Sales: Ahead of the Curve
New vehicle sales continued their slow, steady improvement in November across most of the major brands, automakers reported along with monthly sales today.
Projections had the month coming in at anywhere from TrueCar's estimated seasonally adjusted selling rate (SAAR) of 13.3 million units, to some automaker estimates of a SAAR as high as 13.8 million.
Analysts said the baseline improvement over year-ago numbers means this recovery is solidly underway, even if it's not a particularly vigorous one.
“The improving performance of the past three months suggests that the current momentum, primarily driven by replacement demand and improvements in vehicle availability, is not an aberration,” said John Humphrey, senior vice president of global automotive operations at J.D. Power and Associates.
For the year, Power's figures now predict a year-end SAAR of 12.8 million units including fleet sales, with an early estimate of 13.8 million for calendar year 2012.
Which brands posted increases on the month, and which have more warning signs to read as economic recovery fails to gain steam? The results by automaker, with some still to come:
General Motors: GM (NYSE: GM) said it sold 180,402 vehicles in November, an increase of 7 percent over November 2010. Chevrolet sales grew by 9.8 percent, and GMC's numbers rose by 6.8 percent--but Buick fell 7.2 percent and Cadillac was off 5.6 percent, both somewhat victims of the wind-downs in sales of outgoing models like the Lucerne and DTS. Trucks accounted for a big part of GM's growth, with increases on most of its full-size SUVs. Of concern at Chevrolet, the mainstay Impala sedan was off 26 percent, while the big Traverse crossover was down 28 percent.
Ford: Ford (NYSE: F) saw its sales rise by 13.3 percent, while its Lincoln brand fell by 17.6 percent. Big numbers were posted by the Explorer, which was up 217 percent over November 2010, and the outgoing Ranger compact pickup truck, which was up 85 percent. On the downside, Ford's big crossovers were off: the Flex saw its sales fall 13 percent, while Lincoln's MKT was off 45 percent.
Chrysler: Chrysler Group reported buoyant sales of 107,172-- a 45-percent increase over sluggish November 2010 numbers. Chrysler as a brand was up 92 percent; Jeep was up 50 percent and Dodge rose 43 percent, while Ram truck sales were up 8 percent. Sales of the Fiat 500 hit a grand total of 17,444 units on the year, far off initial estimates of 50,000 units for calendar-year 2011.
Toyota / Lexus: Not yet reported.
Honda / Acura: Not yet reported.
Nissan / Infiniti: Nissan sales strengthened in November 2011 to 85,182 units, up 19.4 percent over a year ago. Nissan-brand sales rose 21 percent to 76,754 units, including 672 Nissan Leaf sales. Infiniti sales were up 3 percent on the month.
Hyundai: Not yet reported.
Kia: Not yet reported.
Volkswagen: VW continued its sales surge behind the year-old Jetta sedan and the new 2012 Passat sedan. The duo both are up 59 percent on the year. November sales for VW on the whole were 28,412 units, an increase of 40.7 percent; year to date, VW is up 25.3 percent. Last month, one in five vehicles sold by Volkswagen in the U.S. was powered by a diesel engine.
BMW / MINI: Not yet reported.
Mercedes-Benz: Not yet reported.
Subaru: Not yet reported.
Mazda: Not yet reported.
Audi: Not yet reported.
Mitsubishi: Not yet reported.
Volvo: Not yet reported.
Porsche: Not yet reported.
Jaguar/Land Rover: Not yet reported.
Suzuki: Not yet reported.
Saab: Not yet reported.
This story originally appeared at The Car Connection
2012 Ford Focus: TheCarConnection’s Best Car To Buy 2012
After driving thousands of miles in more than 200 new vehicles in the past year, and rating each one independently, High Gear Media's editors have chosen a winner.
TheCarConnection's Best Car To Buy 2012 is the 2012 Ford Focus.
Each year, our team rates each new vehicle we review based on styling, performance, utility, safety, and features. As the year progresses, we begin to see some winners emerge from the usual pack of 50 to 70 brand-new or significantly updated vehicles we drive each year--at home, or around the world.
To pick our Best Car To Buy winner, we sift through the numeric ratings to find the highest-scoring new car from the current model year. We also set a base-price limit of $50,000, since most car shoppers who come to TheCarConnection already know how we feel about the Astons, Maseratis and Ferraris of the world. It means some excellent cars don't stand a chance--but keeps us well aware of value, a critical piece of the puzzle for shoppers.
The Focus' win over vehicles like the Range Rover Evoque, Hyundai Veloster, Mercedes M-Class and Chevy Sonic, comes down to personality. Even in a day where dull, droning econoboxes are the exception rather than the rule, the 2012 Focus grabs attention, both for the way it looks and for the way it handles. That's held true for each of the more than half-dozen differently-equipped Focuses our editors have sampled.
The Focus' winning styling earned a 9 from our editors, as much for its aero-crisp exterior as for its flamboyant interior--and though we prefer the sleek five-door, the four-door sedan's rendered about as well as anything in the class. The Focus also earned a score of 8 for performance, a high rating for a compact car with just 160 horsepower on tap. Even before a turbo ST edition arrives, the Focus feels alive, with sweet steering and a sporty ride overcoming its lackluster optional automatic transmission.
It's compact in the European sense, which makes the back seat more snug than some vehicles in its class, but the Focus gets great front seats and class-leading safety features, like an available rearview camera. And when it comes to luxury and entertainment features, the 2012 Focus goes well beyond the state of the art, with an array of options that include Sony sound systems, active parking assist for tight parallel parking spots, and MyFord Touch and its voice- or touch-controlled interface.
In the balance, the 2012 Ford Focus is an engaging, premium-feeling compact car that nudges into sport-sedan territory--and we can't wait to drive the 240-hp ST.
Congratulations to the Focus, TheCarConnection's Best Car To Buy 2012--and also to our other winners. MotorAuthority, our performance and luxury-car destination, has chosen the 2012 Porsche 911 as its Best Car To Buy this year, while Green Car Reports has named the 2012 Toyota Prius family as its Best Car To Buy.
This story originally appeared at The Car Connection
Subaru Shares The Love With Five Charities Through January 3
'Tis the season for year-end deals, but for folks in search of something different -- and philanthropic -- Subaru is offering shoppers a chance to get a new car and make a gift to charity, all in one fell swoop.
The deal is part of Subaru of America's annual "Share the Love" promotion, running now through January 3, 2012. For every new car leased or sold during the promotional period, Subaru will make a donation of $250 to one of five outstanding charities (previously announced at Social Car News): American Forests, the ASPCA, the Make-A-Wish Foundation, Meals On Wheels Association of America, or the Special Olympics. Shoppers choose which of the five will receive Subaru's gift.
Not in the market for a new car? No problem: you can still make a donation to charity. Just visit Subaru of America on Facebook, click the "Share the Love" tab on the left-hand side, and tap the button in the center of the page to make a $1 donation to one of the five organizations. Subaru will contribute up to $250,000 for the Facebook gifts. (So far, the ASPCA has received over 80% of the clicks, which may not be surprising, given Subaru's reputation as being one of the most pet-friendly brands on the road.)
This is the fourth year that Subaru has run the "Share the Love" program. The automaker says it contributed over $15 million to charity during the first three years, and Subaru has set a goal of pushing that number to $20 million by January 3. Considering the lean economic times that led to that $15 million sum and the slowly recovering economy, we'd be surprised if Subaru didn't exceed that goal well before the program's end.
This story originally appeared at The Car Connection
As Car Sales Increase, Bargains Will Likely Be Harder To Find
Thanks in part to record incentives, car sales in the United States are up, but that brings with it both good news and bad news. First the good news: consumers don’t spend money on things like automobiles unless they have confidence in the economy, which could mean that the worst of the recession is behind us.
Now the bad news: more car sales mean less incentives and discounts from manufacturers, especially since the excess inventory that’s plagued the industry in recent years has been all but eliminated.
Japanese manufacturers are still recovering from the March disasters in Japan, so inventory levels at most Japanese brands are just beginning to normalize. Flooding in Thailand has disrupted production of certain Japanese car brands (most notably Honda), but we’re still a month or so away from seeing this in dealer showrooms.
With foreign cars in short supply and domestic quality on the rise, consumers embraced U.S. automakers this year, lowering inventory levels at GM, Ford and Chrysler dealerships. Smartmoney tells us that Ford has reduced available incentives by 13 percent in October, and it’s cutting rebates even further in November.
Thanks to record low interest rates, buyers with exceptional credit can still find good deals on auto financing, and some manufacturers (like Audi, for example) are actively promoting low interest financing.
If you’re in the market for a new car, it may pay to put off a buying decision until December. Inventory levels aren’t likely to improve, but manufacturers may be more inclined to deal in order to make year-end targets.
This story originally appeared at The Car Connection
2011 VPG MV-1 Has Wheelchair Users In Mind
With all due respect to Janis Joplin, freedom is not just another word for nothing else to lose. For America’s 14 million adults using wheelchairs and scooters, freedom means mobility. Vehicle Production Group had them in mind when it designed its MV-1, the first purpose-built vehicle for members of the disability community and their caregivers.
Wheelchair-accessible vehicles have been on the road for years. Typically, they’re minivans that undergo extensive and expensive aftermarket conversion, easily doubling the vehicle’s original sticker price while voiding the manufacturer’s warranty. Fit and finish and reliability are inconsistent also.
With production underway at AM General’s Indiana plant (the former home of HUMMER), the 2011 VPG MV-1 (for “first mobility vehicle”) should avoid those shortcomings and offer significant advantages.
Whether ordered in base SE trim starting at $39,950 or $41,950 for the DX (before any qualifying incentives), no modifications are required; the MV-1 meets National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) standards and is Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) compliant. VPG opted for traditional body-on-frame construction for durability but insists ride quality doesn’t suffer for it. It seats up to six and is configurable to accept multiple wheelchairs at once. A generous side doorway, wheelchair ramp and tie-down points are already there, including the shotgun position next to a conventional cockpit (VPG states most owners won’t do the driving themselves).
From the driver’s seat, the layout is straightforward. Ford’s bulletproof 4.6-liter V-8 is mated to its common four-speed automatic gearbox. Green-minded owners can choose a factory-installed Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) fueling system. Either way, VPG covers the powertrain with a five-year/75,000-mile warranty. That complements the three-year/36,000-mile bumper to bumper coverage, along with five years/75,000 miles for the ramp and five years/100,000 miles against corrosion.
This story originally appeared at The Car Connection
2012 GMC Terrain Debuts Camera-Based Collision Alert
While radar-based collision detection systems aren’t new, General Motors is the first automaker to debut a simpler, more economical camera-based system. The camera will also provide drivers with a lane departure warning system, and it’s now an affordable option on the 2012 GMC Terrain crossover.
The collision alert system, which operates at speeds above 25 miles per hour, uses a windshield-mounted high resolution digital camera to capture some 14 frames per second. Each frame is analyzed by an image processing algorithm to determine the change in position of objects in view.
If the system detects a car in front, it signals the driver with a green icon; follow too closely, and that green icon changes to a solid red warning bar. Close on a vehicle in front too quickly, and that red bar will flash, an audible alert will sound and the Terrain will pre-charge its braking system to reduce stopping distances.
That’s simplifying it a bit, since the system also takes into consideration speed, directional change, accelerator position and brake pedal position before calculating whether or not a warning is required. For rush hour commuting, warning range can be adjusted to accommodate traffic flow, or the system can be disabled entirely by the driver.
The camera also senses the Terrain’s position within painted lane markers, at speeds above 35 miles per hour. Deviate from your lane without using a turn signal, and the lane departure warning icon changes from green to flashing amber, accompanied by a series of beeps.
The camera and associated processing software is smart enough to function day or night, but can be affected by snow or mud obscuring the lens. Unlike radar-based systems, which can add thousands of dollars to the cost of a vehicle, GM’s camera-based system is a $295 option on the 2012 GMC Terrain.
This story originally appeared at The Car Connection
OnStar Committing ‘Brazen’ Invasion Of Privacy, Says Senator
On Thursday, we told you about OnStar's new terms of service, which go live this December. Among the more controversial features in the company's new customer agreement, OnStar now reserves the right to share details about owners' location, speed, and other factors with third parties. Worse: OnStar says it will continue collecting that data even after folks cancel their subscriptions.
Now, Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) is calling foul. He's calling on the Federal Trade Commission to investigate OnStar's new TOS to see if they violate federal consumer protection laws. Said the senator: "OnStar is attempting one of the most brazen invasions of privacy in recent memory."
Until now, OnStar's new TOS had received minimal attention, overshadowed by bigger public-relations disasters, like the trainwreck instigated by Netflix. To its credit, OnStar has tried to get ahead of the game, sending out letters to subscribers and owners well in advance of the launch date, and even going so far as to publish a video apologizing for the confusion those letters have caused. But with a well-known Senator of a populous state now calling attention to the TOS, OnStar might have to do some more serious backpedaling.
Our take
Like any corporate entity, OnStar is entitled to create products and terms of service to support its bottom line, so long as they don't break any laws. Conversely, the public is entitled to purchase those products (with their TOSes) or ignore them.
Frankly, we're not completely bothered by the possibility of OnStar selling data to third parties. After all, OnStar exists to capture data on customers -- without that, features like navigation and roadside assistance wouldn't be very useful. And though the practice of making customer data available to other companies for a fee might seem a little sketchy, it isn't too different from cable companies tracking subscribers' viewing habits so they'll know how to sell advertising.
No the problems here are (a) OnStar's intention to track data on non-subscribers, (b) OnStar making data collection for non-subscribers opt-out instead of opt-in, and (c) OnStar's ineptitude in handling the whole TOS rollout.
Item C can't be helped (other than replacing the company's PR staff). Items A and B, however, could be addressed with a couple of quick changes to the TOS. The new rules don't become effective for over two months -- surely there's time for a re-write.
This story originally appeared at The Car Connection
Hackers Are Targeting Cars, Says Antivirus Software Company
![Trinity, professional hacker [from The Matrix]](http://images.thecarconnection.com/sml/trinity-professional-hacker-from-the-matrix_100312595_s.jpg "Trinity, professional hacker [from The Matrix]")
It's no secret that cars have become increasingly dependent on computers, and there's no sign of that trend slowing anytime soon. But are computer hackers a threat to today's drivers? Antivirus software manufacturer MacAfee seems to think so.
MacAfee has issued a report called "Caution: Malware Ahead", which argues that many software systems used in today's cars are vulnerable to attack. The report offers a handful of potential scenarios in which hackers could unlock doors and generate false alarm signals using high-tech equipment.
The problem is that these hacks work only "if physical access to the vehicle’s electronic components inside the passenger cabin is available". Translation: for your vehicle to be affected, a hacker would need access to the inside of your car. As worries go, that puts hacking on par with snipping brake lines.
This is the same point that was brought up in last year's study of auto hacking by researchers at the University of Washington and the University of California, San Diego. As that report indicated, the primary means of hacking a modern automobile is through the on-board diagnostics port, which is, of course, located inside a vehicle.
So, can car computers be hacked?
Yes, it's possible that baddies could futz with your car's on-board computer, but you're unlikely to see that happen. Why? Simple economics: the payoff for hackers isn't yet big enough.
For starters, our cars aren't fully networked. The reason that email viruses work so beautifully is because they propagate quickly through networks, jumping from one computer to another, one server to another. But cars aren't yet wired like that, so remote hacking isn't viable. To fiddle with our cars nowadays, hackers need direct access to them, which is messy, dangerous, and time-consuming. When vehicle-to-vehicle technology becomes more commonplace -- as it undoubtedly will -- the potential become much more real.
Second, although automakers are toying with a number of protocols for existing in-car software, they've reached no consensus yet, meaning that automotive software works on different operating systems. So even if hackers were to write a virus for vehicles, it probably wouldn't work on computers from different manufacturers, or even different model lines. That makes the payoff of hacking pretty minimal. This is why, in the computer world, so few baddies write viruses for Macs; they'd rather build viruses for PCs, which are far more common -- especially among corporations with delicious bank accounts.
Despite all our naysaying, we understand why MacAfee would publish such a report. Even though it's pretty vague, "Caution: Malware Ahead" will no doubt generate interest in antivirus software for automobiles -- and potentially, interest in MacAfee products.
We also understand why some media outlets would take MacAfee's report at face value. After all, in a 24-hour news cycle, you have to write about something.
But in all, "Caution: Malware Ahead" seems alarmist at best. We're not saying that computer malfunctions aren't a danger: just this week, we saw that software gone awry can cause vehicles to do very unpleasant things. And certainly, if you've raised the hackles of a very dedicated hacker, she could take a swipe at your on-board computer (if she has the keys to your car). But for the average driver, there are much more important things to worry about -- for now, anyway.
[MacAfee PDF]
This story originally appeared at The Car Connection
