2014 Buick Enclave Leather on 2040-cars

Auto blog

GM recalls nearly 1 million vehicles for airbag defect

WASHINGTON — General Motors said on Friday it will recall nearly 1 million sport utility vehicles in the United States because the driver's airbag inflator may explode during deployment. The recall covers 994,763 Buick Enclave, Chevrolet Traverse, and GMC Acadia vehicles from the 2014 through 2017 model years with modules produced by ARC Automotive Inc. Dealers will replace the driver's airbag module. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said a driver in Michigan of a 2017 Chevrolet Traverse was in a crash in which the front-driver airbag inflator ruptured during deployment causing facial injuries. An April 25 inspection confirmed that the front driver airbag inflator ruptured in the vehicle. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) demanded the recall of 67 million air bag inflators because it believes there is a safety defect, but auto supplier ARC Automotive Inc rejected the U.S. regulator's request, documents released on Friday show. The auto safety agency said the inflators pose an unreasonable risk of death or injury. Even as ruptures mount, "ARC has not made a defect determination that would require a recall of this population," NHTSA said in its demand letter to the Tennessee-based company. "Air bag inflators that project metal fragments into vehicle occupants, rather than properly inflating the attached air bag, create an unreasonable risk of death and injury." GM said it was still investigating the issue with the assistance of a third-party engineering firm. "GM is taking this expanded field action out of an abundance of caution and with the safety of our customers as our highest priority," the Detroit automaker said. GM said it was aware of two prior ruptures of ARC-manufactured airbag inflators in 2015 Chevrolet Traverse vehicles, and GM conducted two earlier small recalls of about 3,000 ARC inflators. All three rupture events in Chevrolet Traverse vehicles involved the same inflator variant. ARC noted in a letter made public Friday that no root cause for those ruptures has been identified by ARC or GM. ARC said it was assessing the scope of GMÂ’s recall.  Government/Legal Recalls Buick Chevrolet GMC Safety Crossover SUV

2022 Buick Envision mostly costs a little less than in 2021

When Buick gave the world the second-gen Envision for the 2021 model year, the brand also gave Buick shoppers big discounts, cutting $1,700 from the entry-level Preferred trim's price compared to 2021. Buick's done the same on a smaller scale for 2022, albeit this time the brand made it an exchange, not a freebie. Pricing for the 2022 Envision after the $1,195 destination charge, as well as the differences from 2021, is: Preferred FWD: $32,695 ($300 less) Preferred ST FWD: $34,140 ($180 less) Preferred AWD: $36,345 ($1,550) Preferred ST AWD: $37,790 ($1,670) Essence FWD: $36,795 ($400 less) Essence ST FWD: $38,290 ($230 less) Essence AWD: $38,595 ($400 less) Essence ST AWD: $40,090 ($230 less) Avenir FWD: $41,045 ($550 less) Avenir AWD: $42,845 ($550 less) Buick's publicized list of changes for the 2022 Envision are the addition of a new Sapphire Metallic exterior color, and the Sport Touring package now including the "ST" logo embroidered on the front seat headrests and alloy pedals for all trims, plus contrasting red stitching on the Essence ST trim. What Buick left out, as GM Authority reports, is that some previously standard equipment is now optional, explaining the discounts of a few hundred bucks. Buyers need to buy a new $200 Safety Package to get blind spot and rear cross traffic alerts, which used to be standard with the Driver Confidence Plus suite. Powered lumbar for the driver's seat is also a new option that was formerly standard, bundled with different items and costing a different amount depending on trim. The real shocker is the four-figure price leap tacked onto the Preferred all-wheel-drive trims. In 2021, it cost $1,800 to send power to the rear axle. For 2022, it costs $3,650 to get AWD on the Preferred, but the AWD option on Essence and Avenir trims hasn't budged from $1,800. We aren't clear on the reasons for the change. Every Avenir is powered by a 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder with 230 horsepower and 258 pound-feet of torque, shifting through a nine-speed automatic transmission. Related video:

Poor headlights cause 40 cars to miss IIHS Top Safety Pick rating

Over the past few months, we've noticed a number of cars and SUVs that have come incredibly close to earning one of the IIHS's highest accolades, the Top Safety Pick rating. They have great crash test scores and solid automatic emergency braking and forward collision warning systems. What trips them up is headlights. That got us wondering, how many vehicles are there that are coming up short because they don't have headlights that meet the organization's criteria for an "Acceptable" or "Good" rating. This is a revision made after 2017, a year in which headlights weren't factored in for this specific award. This is also why why some vehicles, such as the Ford F-150, might have had the award last year, but have lost it for this year. We reached out to someone at IIHS to find out. He responded with the following car models. Depending on how you count, a whopping 40 models crash well enough to receive the rating, but don't get it because their headlights are either "Poor" or "Marginal." We say depending on how you count because the IIHS actual counts truck body styles differently, and the Infiniti Q70 is a special case. Apparently the version of the Q70 that has good headlights doesn't have adequate forward collision prevention technology. And the one that has good forward collision tech doesn't have good enough headlights. We've provided the entire list of vehicles below in alphabetical order. Interestingly, it seems the Volkswagen Group is having the most difficulty providing good headlights with its otherwise safe cars. It had the most models on the list at 9 split between Audi and Volkswagen. GM is next in line with 7 models. It is worth noting again that though these vehicles have subpar headlights and don't quite earn Top Safety Pick awards, that doesn't mean they're unsafe. They all score well enough in crash testing and forward collision prevention that they would get the coveted award if the lights were better.