2011 Hyundai Elantra Se Manual on 2040-cars

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IIHS Top Safety Pick and Top Safety Pick+ awards get tougher: Here are the latest winners

Automakers love to trumpet the accolades from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, but the agency keeps making its best grades harder to achieve. For 2020, it is raising the bar again, requiring a better score in the passenger-side small-overlap crash test, wider availability of top-performing headlights, and automatic emergency braking systems that effectively avoid collisions with pedestrians, in addition to its previous benchmarks. Why the 2020 criteria is harder: To be named either a Top Safety Pick or Top Safety Pick+, the required performance in the passenger-side small-overlap crash test has been raised from Acceptable to Good, meaning that the model must achieve Good ratings in all crash tests. The Nissan Rogue, for example, scored an Acceptable in the passenger-side small overlap crash, and so it loses its Top Safety Pick rating for 2020. To achieve either of the top ratings, a vehicle's automatic emergency braking system must effectively avoid hitting pedestrians as well as other vehicles. (The automatic emergency braking system can be optional, but then the award applies to the model only when so equipped.) Any vehicle whose automatic emergency braking system does not include pedestrian detection would lose its TSP or TSP+ rating for 2020, the Ram 1500 being one example. To be named a Top Safety Pick+, the model can have no variant with headlights that achieve less than an Acceptable rating (most new cars have different headlights — often LEDs — that are exclusive to upper trim levels).

2020 Hyundai Ioniq Electric reportedly getting more range

With the introduction of the Hyundai Kona Electric, Hyundai's first full EV on the market, the Ioniq Electric, has seemingly been neglected. But that doesn't seem to be the case according to Inside EVs. The news outlet spoke to someone from Hyundai who revealed that for 2020 the Ioniq Electric will get a boost in range, but it won't match the Kona Electric. For reference, the current Hyundai Ioniq Electric has a range of 124 miles, and the Kona Electric is rated at 258 miles. That leaves a lot of room for Hyundai to decide how much range the new Ioniq will have, and makes it hard to estimate what the final figure will be. It would seem a safe bet that the range will at least be 150 miles, maybe a bit more, since that would put the Ioniq Electric on par with the base Nissan Leaf for range. This is especially likely since both cars compete at the same price point of between $30,000 and $36,000 before incentives. There's a chance Hyundai could offer more range, or perhaps an optional long-range model with over 200 miles, but that might raise the price, and Hyundai will probably point buyers that need more range to the Kona anyway. We'll also be curious to see if Hyundai ups the power of the Ioniq. Its current 118 horsepower is pretty low, even in the EV segment. The standard Leaf produces 147 horsepower. Apparently the Kona Electric's 200-horsepower motor can fit in the Ioniq, as proven by the Hyundai team racing a Kona-powered Ioniq in the Optima Ultimate Street Car competition. But again, if Hyundai isn't going to give the Ioniq as much range as Kona, there's not much reason to give it a bigger motor either. Especially when the Ioniq Electric buyers probably aren't that interested in speed. Related Video:

Hyundai, Kia looking to cut costs

Hyundai and Kia are off to roaring starts in the United States this year, underscored by Kia's best sales month ever in May. But globally the situation for the South Korean siblings hasn't been nearly so positive. Recently, they reported their fourth consecutive quarter of decreasing operating profits worldwide, and now they're "making efforts to cut costs," according to a statement in a joint email obtained by Bloomberg. However, the companies aren't detailing where they would make the cuts or how much they want to save. The amount could be significant, though. An unnamed Hyundai senior executive reportedly told a South Korean newspaper that the business might be aiming for up to 30 percent in reductions. According to Bloomberg, Hyundai and Kia are facing falling total sales worldwide. Making the situation worse is that the strong Korean won versus the weaker Japanese yen gives competitors an advantage. The automakers also angered investors enough last year to prompt a stock buyback after paying $10 billion for the land for a future headquarters. The prognosis doesn't look utterly dire, though, and new products are on the way. For example, the Hyundai Santa Fe is being refreshed in South Korea, and the next-gen Elantra debuts at this year's Los Angeles Auto Show. There's also the Creta on the way for foreign markets. Additionally, several models are still awaiting the green light, including a Hyundai Genesis-based luxury crossover, a compact CUV, and the Santa Cruz unibody pickup. Meanwhile, the Kia GT is reportedly close to production, too. Related Video: