2004 Honda Element Ex 4-door 2.4l Awd Side-airbag Mt 5-speed Lots Of New Parts! on 2040-cars

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Honda asked for Takata inflator change without telling Feds

Honda and Takata could be in legal hot water after the automaker requested a design change to the supplier's airbag inflators in 2009 without notifying the government. According to internal documents obtained by Reuters, the updated parts had extra vents to reduce the force directed occupants if a rupture occurs. Automakers generally need to tell the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration about any safety-related changes to their vehicles, but Honda argues to Reuters that the disclosure wasn't necessary in this case. The company wanted the changes to the parts to "protect against the possibility of future manufacturing errors – it was not an acknowledgement of a larger design flaw in the inflators," Honda spokesperson Chris Martin told Reuters. The revised components started going into some Honda models in 2011. However, a jury might not agree with Honda's position, and a lawyer could argue the company had a responsibility to report the alterations. There's already a pending class action lawsuit against automakers and Takata for violations of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act, and there are many more from individuals. Among those is the case of a pregnant woman in Malaysia who died from a rupturing airbag. An investigation by the Independent Testing Coalition found three factors for the inflators'' rupturing. The use of ammonium nitrate is part of the problem, but the inflator's assembly doesn't keep moisture from reaching the chemical. If a vehicle is in a high humidity area, the danger is even worse. When they combine, these issues make the explosions more likely. Takata allegedly knew about the problem as far back as 2000 but hid the failures. Emails even reportedly showed workers joking about changing the data. Related Video:

Hydrogen could deliver one fifth of world carbon cuts by 2050, industry says

BONN, Germany — Increasing the use of hydrogen in power, transport, heat and industry could deliver around one fifth of the total carbon emissions cuts needed to limit global warming to safe levels by mid-century, a report by the Hydrogen Council said on Monday. To encourage industries to use hydrogen, Toyota and Air Liquide helped set up the Hydrogen Council, a global lobby launched in January this year. Its 27 members include automakers Audi, BMW, Daimler, Honda and Hyundai, and energy firms such as Shell and Total. The council said using hydrogen for transport, energy generation, energy storage, industry, heat and power could cut annual carbon emissions by 6 billion tonnes by 2050. "This would ... contribute roughly 20 percent of the additional abatement required to limit global warming to two degrees Celsius," the council said in a report released on the sidelines of a U.N. climate conference in Bonn. To achieve a two-degree limit this century agreed by governments in Paris in 2015, the world must reduce energy-related carbon emissions by 60 percent by 2050. The report said one in 12 cars sold in California, Germany and Japan were expected to be powered by hydrogen by 2030. By 2050, hydrogen could power 400 million cars, 15 million to 20 million trucks, around 5 million buses, a quarter of passenger ships and a fifth of non-electrified train tracks, as well as some airplanes and freight ships. Achieving this shift in transport and other sectors would require investment of $280 billion by 2030, with about $110 billion to fund hydrogen output, $80 billion for storage, transport and distribution, and $70 billion to develop products. Fuel cell vehicles combine hydrogen and oxygen to produce electricity to power an electric motor, producing water as a byproduct. However, making hydrogen from fossil fuels, a common route, also produces some greenhouse gas emissions. So far the take-up of hydrogen vehicles is tiny and industry experts say their wider use is years away, with high purchase prices and a lack of refueling stations the major barriers. But some firms, such as miner Anglo American and carmaker Toyota, are pushing for fuel cell cars to play a role even with the rise of battery-powered electric vehicles (EVs). Woong-chul Yang, vice chairman of automotive research and development at Hyundai said EVs and hydrogen fuel cell cars were needed because EVs were better for city driving and fuel cell vehicles better for longer journeys.

2016 Honda Accord Coupe V6 Quick Spin

Popular opinion is that Honda has not been a friend to enthusiasts in recent years. The company killed the awesome S2000, got away from building low-cost driver's cars like the CRX, ruined the Civic Si (on multiple occasions, most notably in 2002 and again in 2012), and kind of neutered Acura into a listless near-premium brand devoid of its original charm. But there are bright spots: We're finally going to get a Civic Type R in the US, and while the new NSX is a long way from the lightweight original, it's still an extremely impressive specimen. And then there's the Accord Coupe, which doesn't necessarily look like a typical performance Honda on first glance. Honda has been building the two-door Accord for decades, even as virtually every other mainstream brand has abandoned the segment. What's even more interesting, is that Honda makes one for the car guys. The company builds a V6-powered, two-door coupe with a six-speed manual transmission that probably accounts for maybe half a percent of the Accord's overall volume. Such a blatant disregard for things like economies of scale could only be achieved by a brand with a real passion for performance. Now that the Accord has been fully refreshed for 2016, we set out to revisit our V6/manual hero. Driving Notes This naturally aspirated V6 produces 278 horsepower and 251 pound-feet of torque, which admittedly isn't as much as you'd get from the slightly larger V6 engines you'd find in the likes of the Dodge Challenger, Chevrolet Camaro, or Ford Mustang. But the Honda is extremely willing to rev. That, combined with a startlingly smooth, linear torque curve, means the 3.5-liter Earth Dreams V6 is remarkably composed in both normal and aggressive driving. Low-end grunt is easy to access, despite the 6,200-rpm torque peak, while the throttle response is relatively sharp for what you might expect in an Accord. It sounds spectacular too, with a howly, Civic Si-worthy exhaust note and a notable lack of any piped-in induction silliness. It simply sounds like, you know, an engine – and a very good one at that. The buttery smooth, six-speed manual transmission has a light action, making this a true case where all you need to shift is a flick of the wrist. The clutch pedal is light and the catch point is almost too broad, meaning it's easy to ride the clutch until you get used to this setup. Once you adjust, heel-and-toeing this front-drive coupe actually becomes an entertaining activity.