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Poor headlights cause 40 cars to miss IIHS Top Safety Pick rating

Over the past few months, we've noticed a number of cars and SUVs that have come incredibly close to earning one of the IIHS's highest accolades, the Top Safety Pick rating. They have great crash test scores and solid automatic emergency braking and forward collision warning systems. What trips them up is headlights. That got us wondering, how many vehicles are there that are coming up short because they don't have headlights that meet the organization's criteria for an "Acceptable" or "Good" rating. This is a revision made after 2017, a year in which headlights weren't factored in for this specific award. This is also why why some vehicles, such as the Ford F-150, might have had the award last year, but have lost it for this year. We reached out to someone at IIHS to find out. He responded with the following car models. Depending on how you count, a whopping 40 models crash well enough to receive the rating, but don't get it because their headlights are either "Poor" or "Marginal." We say depending on how you count because the IIHS actual counts truck body styles differently, and the Infiniti Q70 is a special case. Apparently the version of the Q70 that has good headlights doesn't have adequate forward collision prevention technology. And the one that has good forward collision tech doesn't have good enough headlights. We've provided the entire list of vehicles below in alphabetical order. Interestingly, it seems the Volkswagen Group is having the most difficulty providing good headlights with its otherwise safe cars. It had the most models on the list at 9 split between Audi and Volkswagen. GM is next in line with 7 models. It is worth noting again that though these vehicles have subpar headlights and don't quite earn Top Safety Pick awards, that doesn't mean they're unsafe. They all score well enough in crash testing and forward collision prevention that they would get the coveted award if the lights were better.

Cadillac issues stop sale on ATS to recall 82k units

Cadillac is issuing a recall on 82,620 examples of the 2013-2016 ATS worldwide to fix a compliance issue with the sunroof controls. Until a service bulletin goes out to take care of things, there's also a stop sale on the luxury compact in the United States, The Detroit News reports. Of the affected models, 63,665 are in the US, according to a statement sent to Autoblog, and 7,922 of them are in Canada. The problem is actually the same issue as a recall on nearly 59,000 examples of the 2013-2015 ATS in the US in February. In them, the controls for the tilt and slide of the roof aren't recessed enough to meet government standards for the force necessary to operate the buttons. The Feds believe that someone could accidentally activate the auto-close and potentially be at risk. At the time, Cadillac dealers installed a new trim plate to add the needed clearance. In the latest update, the company is adding the 2016 model year, and according to The Detroit News, 70 percent of the cars from the original campaign also need another new trim plate. Unsurprisingly for such a minor defect, there are no known crashes, injuries, fatalities, or customer complaints related to this issue, according to the announcement by General Motors. Cadillac ATS Statement: General Motors is recalling 63,665 Cadillac ATS sedans in the United States from the 2013-2016 model years because the power-operated roof panel systems on these vehicles will auto-close when the non-recessed portion of the "Slide" or "Tilt" switches are pressed and the roof panel is open. Because these switches are not fully recessed, they can be actuated with less force than required to comply with applicable federal standards. GM knows of no crashes, injuries or fatalities related to this issue and has received no customer complaints. The total population of the recall including Canada, Mexico and exports is 82,620. Transport Canada Recall # 2015322 Recall Date 2015/07/21 Notification Type Compliance Mfr System Electrical Manufacturer Recall Number 15568 Units Affected The number of vehicles or components affected by the recall. 7,922 Category Car Recall Details Certain vehicles equipped with power-operated sunroof system may fail to conform to Canada Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (CMVSS) 118 - Power-Operated Window, Partition and Roof Panel Systems.

Car subscription services: A slow, expensive start — but the potential is huge

Americans are used to paying for subscriptions — to magazines and cable television, for instance — but experience shows they'll cancel when the price of admission gets too high, or there are more tempting alternatives. Cord cutters ditched nearly 1.5 million pay-TV subscriptions in 2017, according to a survey by Leichtman Research Group. Cable TV started out cheap with basic offerings, and then got expensive. The auto industry's subscription offerings are new, but they're starting out costly, and not price-competitive with traditional leasing. The upside is that they take the hassle out of car ownership for busy people by letting the service take care of maintenance, insurance, licensing and taxes. And they give consumers choice, often allowing relatively painless switches between different cars in the automakers' lineup. Subscription services also point the way toward an ownership-free auto experience, and offer an easy transition to a potential world where ride- and car-sharing will be dominant. Subscriptions are here to stay, but consumers may take a while to "get" them. Lincoln's subscription service for lightly used 2015 to 2017 models, offered through the Ford-owned Canvas beginning this year, got off to a slow start. Many early subscribers canceled. Last month, Cadillac announced it would " temporarily pause" its $1,800-per-month Book subscription service for "adjustments" as of December 1. According to the Wall Street Journal, "Snags with the back-end technology used to support the service made some customer-service functions tedious and time-consuming, adding costs for the company." The challenge for automakers is to come up with a strategy that offers consumers a compelling, affordable option to regular ownership, and one that can also make a profit. I think they'll find that sweet spot, but they're not there yet. Jack Nerad, former executive editorial director at Kelley Blue Book and author of " The Complete Idiot's Guide to Buying or Leasing a Car," points out that "A lot of people expected that subscriptions would be very valuable for people who wanted inexpensive transportation, but the reality is quite the opposite. Subscriptions are offering more choices for the wealthy.