2012 Hyundai Tucson Limited on 2040-cars

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Recharge Wrap-up: Alguersuari out for Formula E season 2, hydrogen range test video

A pair of hydrogen proponents drove a Hyundai Tucson Fuel Cell 1,480.73 miles in 24 hours. Arnt-Goran Hartvig and Marius Bornstein, nicknamed The Viking and The Scientist, drove a 186-mile route in Germany repeatedly as many times as they could over the course of a full day to set the distance record. The advantage of short refueling times for the hydrogen vehicle helped the duo spend more time on the road. See the video above, and read more from Hybrid Cars. Jaime Alguersuari will miss the second season of Formula E. His license was suspended after fainting at the end of the Moscow ePrix, and he is still waiting for a diagnosis. "During the month of July I underwent several tests for which there has not been a medical resolution and I am still waiting for the final diagnosis," says Alguersuari. "For this reason I need to announce that, unfortunately, I will not be able to take part in the FIA Formula E Championship for the 2015/16 season with my team DS Virgin Racing." The former Formula 1 driver will make an announcement about his future in September. Read more at Autosport. Jeb Bush has come out against the Renewable Fuel Standard. In an interview in an Iowa Falls Dairy Queen, the Republican presidential hopeful gave his opinion about the ethanol mandate. "The best way to get to energy security, in my mind, is letting the markets work," says Bush. "So the RFS has had great success, and over a period of time I think it has to be phased out." Ditching the ethanol mandate could hurt Bush in the important corn-growing state of Iowa, though he thinks his record as Florida governor will help his status with voters. Read more at Grist, and from KCCI.

Hyundai developing safety system calibrated for 'secondary impacts'

There is an inherent flaw with how traditional airbags are used and deployed: They can only reply to one impact. The Hyundai Motor Group wants to address this with a new "multi-collision airbag system" that focuses on impacts that occur after the first point of contact. Hyundai defines multi-collision accidents as "those in which the primary impact is followed by collisions with secondary objects, such as trees, electrical posts or other vehicles." In a press release, Hyundai noted that about 30 percent of roughly 56,000 accidents between 2000 and 2012 in North America involved these types of multi-collisions, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)'s National Automotive Sampling System Crashworthiness Data System division. The airbag systems in today's cars don't always go off when the first accident occurs, and when a car goes through a secondary impact, the airbags may no longer provide the best safety. Hyundai's new system can read the positions of the car's occupants and react in a more beneficial way. It can quickly recalibrate after the first impact based on readings from the vehicle and the people inside, which allows the second part of the crash to trigger the airbags. As of now the system is still in development, but Hyundai Motor Group is planning to use it in both Kia and Hyundai vehicles in the future. Which models and which markets it will apply to first are yet to be determined. Related Video:

Hyundai Azera large sedan officially dead in America

Hyundai has released its 2018 model year information, and it appears the Azera won't be making the cut for the new year. The large sedan has been cut from the American lineup, though overseas markets will still have access to the car. In fact, those markets will enjoy a fully redesigned model with muscular lines and an upright fascia. Hyundai's reasoning for dropping the Azera model is that other Hyundai models, as well as the current crop of Genesis cars, are becoming more widely appealing. So, basically, the narrow range of consumers that demanded a larger, more "luxurious" vehicle than the Sonata, but weren't willing to make the small jump to a Genesis, is too small to keep the model around. There are a couple of other noteworthy changes in the 2018 Hyundai lineup. The new Accent sedan is still on its way to dealerships, but the Accent hatchback is gone. Since the company hasn't shown an Accent hatch yet, we're not completely surprised by its omission. What is odd is that there's no hint in Hyundai's wording at it being introduced at a later date. Despite that, there's still the possibility Hyundai will simply introduce a hatchback version later, as it did with the Elantra and Elantra GT. And perhaps, in the vein of that i30-based Elantra GT, the Accent hatch could be based on the i20 this time. Speaking of hatchbacks, the Veloster won't have a 2018 model year. Instead, the 2017 model year has been extended through 2018. We of course know that the Veloster isn't going away permanently, since we've seen spy photos of new versions. So we suspect that this long model year indicates that we'll see the new Veloster by the end of this year, or possibly the start of 2018, with a launch a few months after for the 2019 model year. Related Video: