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Auto blog

Nissan ZEOD RC stretches its legs for the first time

Ever see one of those videos where a baby deer is born and immediately starts walking? Well, this isn't one of those. For starters, the Nissan ZEOD RC isn't exactly a newborn. Nissan took the design of the DeltaWing, gave it a hybrid engine and called it something new. And it hardly started galloping straight out the box, either: this was just a low-speed demonstration run, held at Fuji Speedway where it debuted this past weekend.
Still, seeing the car that's destined to take the first lap of Le Mans under electric power alone actually start up and run is something of a landmark in the development of electric racing cars - even if this is, despite Nissan's best efforts to avoid the term, a hybrid, not a pure EV. The name stands for Zero Emissions On Demand, not zero emissions all the time. But then ZEATT wouldn't make for a very good name anyway, would it? See for yourself in the video below.

Five automakers now being investigated by NHTSA for airbag woes

It appears that Toyota's renotification to owners of recalled vehicles from last year is just the tip of the iceberg for what could potentially be a much larger industry-wide recall. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is opening a preliminary evaluation investigation into roughly 1.1 million vehicles from Chrysler, Honda, Mazda, Nissan, Toyota and parts supplier Takata regarding faulty airbag inflators in several models.
NHTSA has received six reports - three directly, two from Takata and one from Toyota - of vehicles with ruptured airbag inflators from 2002-2006, which resulted in three injuries. So far, all six incidents have occurred in high humidity areas like Florida and Puerto Rico. According to Toyota's latest recall announcement, the inflators may have an improper propellant that could cause it to rupture in a crash and the bag to deploy abnormally.
This new investigation follows a previous recall from April 2013 of about 3.4 million vehicles worldwide for the airbag inflators from Takata. As Autoblog reported, Toyota jumpstarted the new situation when it found that the original list of serial numbers for the faulty part was incomplete and discovered more cars in need of replacement. Honda and Nissan told us that they were investigating whether further models would need called in again as well. Mazda told Autoblog: "Regarding the current Takata situation, we're working closely with NHTSA and investigating the situation, but nothing else to report at this time." Chrysler Group responded to us with the statement: "Chrysler Group engineers are conducting the appropriate analysis. The Company will cooperate fully with the National Highway Traffic Administration."

2016 Nissan Titan coming to 2015 Detroit Auto Show

The Titan has continued to sit in a corner of Nissan's front yard, taken out on occasion but largely unloved, the same way you see a project truck in a neighbor's driveway that makes you wonder, "Are they ever going to do anything with that?" The fullsize pickup made the news about six months ago when reports surfaced that the next generation would offer a Cummins diesel engine that had originally been meant for Ram, then it returned to the shadows.
According to a report from Edmunds, the Titan will return to the spotlight in about a year, with the unveil of the 2016 model planned for next year's Detroit Auto Show. Along with that oil-burner, it will bring a gasoline V6 engine, a complete redesign and a regular cab configuration to finally give it a fighting chance against the thick end of the light-duty truck market. Toyota gets pressed for the molasses-like sales of the Tundra, but that fullsize entrant sold 7,890 units in January and 10,988 in December 2013. Nissan sold 887 Titans in January, 1,284 in December 2013 and broke 2,400 US sales in a single month just once in four years. (The segment-leading Ford F-150, for reference, sold 46,536 units in January.)
An entry-level model and a regular cab option should give the Titan a welcome and overdue sales boost. Better power numbers and fuel economy for the V8 would probably go a long way, too. We expect to start getting glimpses of its future later this year.