2014 Honda Accord Ex-l on 2040-cars

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Autoblog Minute: Honda drops Takata, airbag maker fined $70M

US regulators hit Takata Corporation with a substantial fine, and Honda drops the embattled parts supplier. Autoblog's Adam Morath reports on this edition of Autoblog Minute. Show full video transcript text [00:00:00] US regulators hit Takata with a substantial fine, and Honda drops the embattled supplier. I'm Adam Morath and this is your Autoblog Minute. In the latest developments surrounding Takata's deadly airbag scandal, Transportation secretary Anthony Foxx released a statement accusing Takata of providing investigators with quote, "incomplete, inaccurate, and misleading information." Foxx also announced that a 70 million dollar fine, [00:00:30] which could grow to 200 million should Takata Corporation not meet certain conditions. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration exercised its authority, issuing a mandate to speed up repairs citing 2019 as the deadline to fix recalled cars. Japanese automaker Honda dropped Takata in the wake of the scandal. The company said in a statement: "Honda expects its suppliers to act with integrity at all times and we are deeply troubled by this apparent behavior by one of our suppliers." We'll continue to report [00:01:00] as the story evolves. For Autoblog, I'm Adam Morath. Autoblog Minute is a short-form video news series reporting on all things automotive. Each segment offers a quick and clear picture of what's happening in the automotive industry from the perspective of Autoblog's expert editorial staff, auto executives, and industry professionals.

In 2014, living with a hydrogen car is fun, challenging

Read his lips: more hydrogen stations, please. That's the crux of the commentary from a Southern California gentleman who's been tooling around in a Honda FCX Clarity hydrogen fuel-cell electric vehicle since 2005. Jon Spallino, the first "retail customer" to lease the Clarity, tells The Wall Street Journal that he enjoys "everything about the car," including the peppy acceleration from the car's electric powertrain. The added bonus, of course, is the fact that the car's emissions are nothing more than water vapor. He pays $600 a month to lease the car, including the hydrogen refueling costs, and says he can go about 230 miles on a full tank. The flipside is the paucity in hydrogen refueling stations, which is understandable considering that they cost an estimated couple million dollars a pop to open. It's no accident that Spallino is one of the early hydrogen drivers, though, since there are eight public refueling stations in Southern California (and one in Northern California), more than any other state, according to US Department of Energy records. The only other public station is in South Carolina, so road trips are tough. Spallino, a resident of Redondo Beach, joins higher-profile folks such as actress Jamie Lee Curtis and former pro hockey player Scott Niedermayer among those who've gotten the opportunity to lease the super-low-volume fuel-cell vehicle. How low? Honda leased out 10 of them last year and just five in 2012. You can read more of Spallino's hydrogen-powered thoughts here.

Honda asking used-car buyers to sign liability document [w/poll]

New cars under recall must be repaired before a dealer can sell them but used cars are under no such mandate.
When it comes to informing the car-buying public about potential safety hazards on used vehicles, there are two emerging schools of thought among used-car dealers.