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Crowd lifts Cadillac to free pedestrian after two vehicles barrel toward him

An elderly Missourian is lucky to be alive today after a car that had pinned him to the ground was lifted off him by witnesses. According to WDAF, Orlando Gentry and Troy Robertson were working at a Kansas City, Mo., clothing store when a stolen minivan careened through a red light at 35th and Prospect and was immediately T-boned by a woman driving a gold Cadillac. The impact drove both vehicles up onto the sidewalk at the corner, side by side, directly at pedestrian Carlos Green. "We was out here with our kids, and we was at work, and the next thing we heard was a boom!" Gentry told WDAF. "Man, those cars came out of nowhere, and Carlos was just helpless," Robertson said. Gentry tried to escape but was caught between the vehicles and pinned beneath the Caddy. Then a light pole punctuated the crash by falling on top of the Caddy - and almost on top of Carlos Green. "Yeah, he tried to jump out of the way, but he just got pinned underneath the Cadillac. He definitely hurt his right leg. When I saw all that, I screamed, 'Somebody help me help get this car off Carlos,'" Robertson said. He, Gentry and passersby lifted the heavy Caddy off Green so he could crawl free. Thankfully, Green wasn't seriously injured. He was discharged from an area hospital bruised, with one leg in a cast, but ultimately healthy. The woman driving the Cadillac was unhurt, but the two men driving the minivan ran off during the confusion. Kansas City police are looking for the escaped car thieves. This is the second time in as many weeks that people banded together to lift a car off someone. On May 9 in Philadelphia, a group of good Samaritans lifted an SUV off a little girl who had been run down and pinned beneath an SUV tire. Related Video:

Consumer Reports no longer recommends Honda Civic

Consumer Reports annual Car Reliability Survey is out, and yes, there are some big surprises. First and foremost? The venerable publication no longer recommends the Honda Civic. In fact, aside from the walking-dead CR-Z and limited-release Clarity fuel-cell car, the Civic is the only Honda to miss out on CR's prestigious nod. At the opposite end there's a surprise as well – Toyota and Lexus remain the most reliable brands on the market, but Buick cracked the top three. That's up from seventh last year, and the first time for an American brand to stand on the Consumer Reports podium. Mazda's entire lineup earned Recommended checks as well. Consumer Reports dinged the Civic for its "infuriating" touch-screen radio, lack of driver lumbar adjustability, the limited selection of cars on dealer lots fitted with Honda's popular Sensing system, and the company's decision to offer LaneWatch instead of a full-tilt blind-spot monitoring system. Its score? A lowly 58. The Civic isn't the only surprise drop from CR's Recommended ranks. The Audi A3, Ford F-150, Subaru WRX/STI, and Volkswagen Jetta, GTI, and Passat all lost the Consumer Reports' checkmark. On the flipside, a number of popular vehicles graduated to the Recommended ranks, including the BMW X5, Chevrolet Camaro, Corvette, and Cruze, Hyundai Santa Fe, Porsche Macan, and Tesla Model S. Perhaps the biggest surprise is the hilariously recall-prone Ford Escape getting a Recommended check – considering the popularity of Ford's small crossover, this is likely a coup for the brand, as it puts the Escape on a level playing field with the Recommended Toyota RAV4, Honda CR-V, and Nissan Rogue. While Ford is probably happy to see CR promote the Escape, the list wasn't as kind for every brand. For example, of the entire Fiat Chrysler Automobiles catalog, the ancient Chrysler 300 was the only car to score a check – there wasn't a single Dodge, Fiat, Jeep, Maserati, or Ram on the list. That hurts. FCA isn't alone at the low end, either. GMC, Jaguar Land Rover, Mini, and Mitsubishi don't have a vehicle on CR's list between them, while brands like Mercedes-Benz, Volvo, Nissan, Lincoln, Infiniti, and Cadillac only have a few models each. You can check out Consumer Reports entire reliability roundup, even without a subscription, here.

Cadillac picks Publicis as new agency of record, continues cutting ties with Campbell Ewald

Cadillac is setting itself up for major changes in the coming years with its decision to hire Johan de Nysschen as the brand's new boss and moving some of the staff to new digs in the trendy SoHo neighborhood of Manhattan. With those two big shifts in place, there's one more on the way with the company's announcement that Publicis Worldwide is now its global creative agency of record, effective immediately. The firm replaces former, long-time General Motors associate Campbell-Ewald; now a portion of Lowe and Partners. "This appointment is designed to accelerate the global expansion and elevation of Cadillac into a truly global luxury brand," said Cadillac Chief Marketing Officer Uwe Ellinghaus in the company's announcement. "We have spent much of this year refocusing on the core values of our brand." Although, some work may remain at Lowe and Partners for now. According to Cadillac spokesperson David Caldwell via email to Autoblog: "The bulk of work makes this shift. It is possible that maybe a small individual smaller project or two might still be handled by Lowe. Not certain yet." The fruit of this new partnership shouldn't take long to mature, either. "We will have substantially new marketing and brand identity work in early 2015." said Caldwell. According to Ad Age, Cadillac's advertising had been handled by Lowe and Partners, Campbell-Ewald in Detroit (now entirely part of Lowe) and Hill Holiday. Caddy had a relationship with the agency since 2013 but has changed firms several times in 2006. GM had a long collaboration with Campbell-Ewald, though. Chevrolet was its partner for nearly a century until the automaker also jumped to Publicis in 2010. The firm was responsible for campaigns like, "The Heartbeat of America", "Like A Rock" and "An American Revolution." Scroll down to read Cadillac's full announcement of the change. Cadillac Appoints Publicis Worldwide 2014-12-04 DETROIT – Cadillac announced today the appointment of Publicis Worldwide as its global creative agency of record. Publicis Worldwide is the largest creative agency of the Publicis Groupe network and its appointment to Cadillac is effective immediately. A fully dedicated team, comprising key managers from Publicis Worldwide, will lead the account and have access to specialist and premium resources within the larger Publicis Groupe.