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Automotive April Fools' joke roundup [w/videos]

Happy April, everyone. And we all know what this first day of the month means: April Fools' Day. Today is a national holiday for pranksters with the Internet acting as a serious enabler, and it's always fun to see what kind of vivid imaginations exist out there in the automotive world. The abundance of fake news gets a little old as the day rolls on, but we did manage to get in a few chuckles thanks to a handful of major automakers and automotive news outlets that got into the pranking spirit this year
Some of our favorites this year includes Subaru showing what happens when you combine a bunch of rumors, a Corvette some may have already thought was a joke or Honda providing some in-car innovation circa the late 1980s. Honestly, we're still waiting for official confirmation from Mitsubishi that the recently introduced 2014 Mirage is an elaborate April Fools' joke using a failed design intended for the 1995 Geo Metro. We dug up as much "official" OEM foolishness we could find, as well as some of our other favorites, and posted them all 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."

Honda and Michael Bolton wish you happy holidays, social-style

There's nothing like landing a big celebrity for a high-profile advertising campaign to say to the world "Our brand has still got it!" Dodge, for instance, has been getting huge publicity by landing Will Ferrell as Ron Burgundy, to pitch its entire lineup on TV and on YouTube. Honda meanwhile, has reeled in the biggest fish in the 1990s Soft Pop category, the ineffable Michael Bolton. (We're assuming that Kenny G was booked.) We don't see how this can backfire, Honda.
In an effort to promote its annual holiday-season sales event, Honda has tapped the multitalented Bolton - he sings, acts and stares longingly at you from across the room - to dangle himself as a prize for ardent social media users. That's right, for the next few days (November 18 to 22), people that use the hashtag #XOXOBolton on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram or Vine, will be entered to win one-of-a-kind "musical greeting cards" from the now very blond crooner.
Not enough Bolton for you? Don't worry, Honda's got Michael booked for six TV commercials to air throughout the holiday season, too. Scroll down to get lost in Bolton's luxuriant eyes watch the promotional video from Honda.