2003 Pontiac Sunfire on 2040-cars

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2008-2009 Pontiac G8 recalled over airbag concern

General Motors is recalling around 38,000 Pontiac G8 sedans from its 2008 and 2009 model years. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports that the cars may have a passenger-side airbag flaw that might prevent proper deployment in certain scenarios.
According to NHTSA, the airbag might not adequately protect a fifth percentile woman - that is, a woman around four-foot, 11-inches weighing 108 pounds. The New York Times indicates that the anomaly was found during a crash test conducted by GM's Australian branch, Holden, which was testing the G8's twin (read: Commodore) for head injuries. According to that report, the test in question is specifically tailored to simulate injuries to females, so the results do not apply to men or children.
The issue has been blamed on a seat position sensor that governs airbag deployment rates. NHTSA indicates that when the front passenger seat is moved all the way forward, the faulty sensor may inappropriately trigger a 30-millisecond delay between airbag stages, potentially leading to greater injuries.

1969 Pontiac GTO Judge vs. 2006 GTO, which Goat gets your vote?

The Pontiac GTO was perhaps the most iconic muscle car of the '60s and early '70s. With its beefy V8 and color palette screaming for attention, it summarized in a single vehicle everything that made the era so appealing to many young people. Pontiac tried to collect just a few drops of that aura again in the 2000s with a revived GTO, but with decidedly mixed results. The performance was still there with its big V8, but the looks never quite lived up to the powertrain. Now, Generation Gap wants to know which of these Goats is the one to own.
Things are skewed immediately because the 2006 GTO here is a real ringer. It comes from famous tuner Ken Lingenfelter's collection, and it's a one-off example partially fettled by GM Performance boasting a twin-turbocharged LS2 V8 with a claimed 750 horsepower and a wide-body kit. This Goat definitely isn't what you're going to find just browsing for one to buy in the newspaper. Still, dip the throttle just a little, and this GTO pulls like a freight train. It's enough to turn the two hosts into giggling schoolboys behind the wheel.
The '69 GTO Judge here is also out of Lingenfelter's collection, but this one is all stock with a 400-cubic-inch (6.6-liter) V8 and a Ram Air hood for a claimed 366 hp. It might not have the unbelievable power of the turbo '06, but it makes up for it with style to spare.

This classic Firebird restomod swallowed a Prius

It takes an unusual eye to look at a 1967 Pontiac Firebird and see the Toyota Prius hidden inside. But that's just the kind of eye that a creative mechanic known online as "Bill the Engineer" has. Bill is updating his old Firebird into a true classic for the 21st century and has documenting the changes over at Priuschat and EcoModder. The TL,DR version of the story: he's replacing the worn-out powertrain with the gas-electric hybrid one from a Prius V, because it turns out the two vehicles have almost exactly the same wheelbase. Bill, who's from Columbus, Ohio and doesn't want his full name used, said in his posts on the conversion project that he's made many memories with this vehicle since buying it back in 1979. Since then, a few moves, a few decades, and some time in storage meant that the car would no longer function as he wanted it to. As he wrote, "when it comes to mice in the vehicles IT IS WAR." His solution is to make new memories and making a greener vehicle, and so we wanted to ask him how things have been going. Bill's been traveling a bit recently, but told AutoblogGreen that he's now figuring out the next steps for this amazing and complicated project. "I always plan things out before I do them," he said. That's the only way something like this can work. ABG: I think we have to start with what gave you the inspiration for this project. Was it simply that you had the two cars and wanted to see them merged into one cool mashup, or was it something else? "One day my wife wondered out loud if the car could be converted into a hybrid... The rest is history." Bill: I have been the owner of my 1967 Firebird convertible since 1979 when I bought it for $750.00. I drove it for years and made many memories. Afterward it was in storage for many years during which time mice at their way into the car and trashed the interior and wiring. I started working on a conventional restoration but always ran into major problems with hidden corrosion, electrical issues and an engine on its last legs. The car was never going to be as nice as I wanted going the conventional route. One day my wife wondered out loud if the car could be converted into a hybrid like our two daily driver Prii. That got me thinking about how it could be done. The rest is history... ABG: It looks like you started in late 2014. Have things gone well since then, or has it been one hassle after another? What has been the biggest setback, and what were the biggest victories?